WILLI A&1 D. BARGE, 
CHICAGO. 

HISTORY 

*2> u\j 



of 2 2 <f 

VERMILION COUNTY, ' 



TOGETHER WITH 



HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST, 



GLEANED FROM EARLY AUTHORS, OLD MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS, 

PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND OTHER 

AUTHENTIC, THOUGH, FOR THE MOST PART, 

OUT-OF-THE-WAY SOURCES. 



By H. W. BECKWITH, 



Of the Danville Bar ; Corresponding Member or the Historical Societies of 
Wisconsin and Chicago. 



WITH MAP AND. ILLUSTRATIONS. 



CHICAGO: 

H. H. HILI/jAND COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 

1879. 






4 /Si'/ 

'01 

Copyright, 1879. 



By H. W. BECKWITH AND SON. 



I KIIISHT I LEcilARD. 1 



PREFACE. 



/ 

In the following pages the writer has limited himself, for the most part, to the ter- 
ritory watered by the Illinois, the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, the Maumee and the 
Wabash rivers. He has chosen to do so to the end that the early history of the country 
treated of might be the more fully considered. The topographical features of, and the 
military and civil events occurring in, localities beyond these limits have been noticed 
only in so far as they are directly connected with, or tend to illustrate the field occu- 
pied. 

It has been an aim of the writer to perpetuate the history of the relations which the 
discovery and early commerce of the northwest has sustained to its peculiar topograph- 
ical features. Nature made the routes and pointed out the means of our inland com- 
munication. The first explorations of the northwest were made by way of the lakes, 
the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, the St. Josephs of Lake Michigan, the Illinois River 
and Chicago Creek, the Maumee and the Wabash and their connecting portages. 
These were also the routes by which the first commerce was carried on. Formerly the 
country was a wilderness of forests and prairies, and the abode of wild animals and the 
wild men who hunted them for their furs and skins, which were the only commodities 
for export. In the progress of time the fur-bearing animals and the Indians have dis- 
appeared. The wilderness has been subdued, and the products of its cultivated fields 
now find their way to the marts of Europe. The canoe which carried the furs and pel- 
tries to tide water gave way to the canal boat, and the canal boat has been supplanted 
by the steamer and the railway car. The routes hare always remained essentially the 
same. They have merely been enlarged and perfected from time to time, to meet the 
ever-increasing demands of the west in the successive stages of its development. 

The country drained by the rivers we have named is rich in the poesy and romance 
of history, reaching back nearly two centuries in the past, where the outlines of 
written records fade away in the twilight and charm tradition. By the routes we have 
named came the Jesuit Fathers, with crucifix and altar, bearing the truths of Chris- 
tianity to distant and savage tribes. Along these routes passed the Coureurs-de-bois 
and the Voyageurs, — gay and happy sons of France — with knives, guns, blankets and 
trinkets to exchange with the Indians for products of the chase. Following the 
traders came French colonists, who, on their way from Canada to Louisiana, passed 
up the Maumee and down the Wabash, nearly three-quarters of a century before the 
Declaration of Independence was proclaimed. 

Along these streams were the villages of the most powerful Indian confederacies. 
It was but natural that they should defend their country against the encroachment of 
another race; and the strife between the two for its possession furnishes material for 
many thrilling events in its history. In treating of the Indians, the writer has had no 
theories to advocate or morbid sentiments to gratify; he has only quoted what he has 
found in volumes regarded as standard authorities, without prejudice in favor or 
against this people. They have given away before an inexorable law, the severity of 
which could have been only modified at best. The writer believes the dominant race, 
out of their love for truth, will accord the Indian that even-handed justice to which he 



4 PREFACE. 

is historically entitled. Our knowledge of this people is fragmentary at best. They 
kept no records, and have no historians. All we know of them is to be found in the 
writings of persons who, if not their open enemies, at least had little interest in doing 
them justice. As a rule, early travelers have only alluded in an incidental way to the 
aboriginal inhabitants, or their manners and customs. We know, at best, but very 
little of the Indians who formerly occupied the country east of the Mississippi. They 
have passed away, and the information that has been preserved concerning them is so 
scattered through the volumes of authors who have written from other motives, and at 
different dates or of different nations, without taking thought to discriminate, that 
anything like a satisfactory account of a particular tribe is not attainable. However, 
the writer has in the following pages given the result of his gleanings over a wide 
field of authors, — French, English and American, — so far as they relate to the several 
tribes who formerly occupied that portion of the Northwest to which the attention of 
the reader has been called. The writer has preserved the aboriginal, as well as the 
French and early English names of the lakes, rivers, Indian villages and other locali- 
ties possessing historical interest, whenever attainable from books, maps or manu- 
scripts to which he has had access. 

Commercial enterprise led to the exploration of the northwest. It was competition 
for the fur trade between rival races, the French and the Anglo-Saxon, that produced 
the collision between the subjects of the two colonies in America, that finally cul- 
minated in a war between France and England, aided by their respective colonies, 
that resulted in the loss of the whole Mississippi valley to its first discoverers. It was 
a desire to retain control of the fur trade that contributed largely to the bitterness of 
the Indian border wars that commenced as soon as emigration began to extend itself 
west of the Alleganies; and the same cause prolonged the Indian troubles for years 
after the country had ceased to be a part of the dominion of either France or Great 
Britain. 

Beginning with the mission work of the Jesuit Fathei-s on the southern shore of 
Lake Superior, in 16G0, and extending down to 1800, but little is known of the country 
lying north and west of the Ohio river; and the meagre material is only to be found in 
antiquated books and maps long out of print, or in manuscript correspondence of 
a private or official character, none of which is accessible to the general reader. It is 
chiefly from these sources that most of the matter contained in the present volume has 
been collated. As far as practicable the writer has preferred to introduce his author- 
ities upon the stand and let them tell their stories in their own language, leaving the 
readers to draw their own conclusions from what the witnesses have stated. Wherevei; 
attainable, original sources of information are given. 

Besides such authors as Hennepin, Charlevoix and the invaluable translations and 
contributions of Dr. John G. Shea, the writer has availed himself freely of the Jesuit 
Relations and the publications of the historical societies of Louisiana, Pennsylvania, 
Massachusetts, New York and Wisconsin. 

The writer is conscious that his task, voluntarily assumed, has been but indifferently 
performed. H. W. B. 

Danville, III., Nov. 5, 1879. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Topography — The drainage of the Lakes and the Mississippi, and the Indian and 

French names by which they were severally called 10 

CHAPTER II. 

Drainage of the Illinois and Wabash — Their tributary streams — The portages 
connecting the drainage to the Atlantic with that of the Gulf 17 

CHAPTER III. 

The ancient Maumee Valley — Geological features — Formerly Lakes Michigan and 
Superior drained into the Illinois, and Lakes Huron and Erie into the Wa- 
bash — The portage of the Wabash and the Kankakee 21 

CHAPTER IV. 

The rainfall — It has increased, although the rivers seem to have diminished, since 
the settlement of the Northwest — Cultivation of the soil tends to equalize rain- 
fall, and prevent the recurrence of drouths and floods 26 

CHAPTER V. 

Origin of the prairies — Their former extent — Gradual encroachment of the for- 
est — Prairie fires — Aboriginal names of the prairies, and the Indians who 
lived exclusively upon them 29 

CHAPTER VI. 

Early French discoveries — Jaques Cartier ascends the St. Lawrence in 1535 — 
Samuel Champlain founds Quebec in 1608 — In 1642 Montreal is established — 
Influence of Quebec and Montreal upon the Northwest continues until subse- 
quent to the war of 1812 — Early explorations of the French missionaries along 
the shore of Lake Superior — They first learn of the Mississippi — Father Mar- 
quette^desires to explore it — The French government determine on its explora- 
tion — Theories as to whether the Mississippi emptied into the Sea of Califor- 
nia, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Atlantic — Joliet and Marquette selected to 
solve the problem — Spanish discoveries of the lower Mississippi in 1525 87 

CHAPTER VII. 

Joliet and Marquette's Voyage— They leave Mackinaw May 17, 1673 — They pro- 
ceed, by way of Green Bay and the Wisconsin, as far as the mouth of the 
Arkansas — Return by way of the Illinois and Chicago Creek — Father Mar- 
quette's Journal, descriptive of the journey and the country through which they 
traveled — Biographical sketches of Marquette and Joliet 43 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



La Salle's Voyage — Biographical sketch of La Salle — His concessions and titles 
of nobility — Preparations for his explorations — Sketch of Father Hennepin 
and the merit of his writings — La Salle reaches the Niagara River in Decem- 
ber, 1678, builds the ship Griffin and proceeds up Lake Erie, and reaches 
Mackinaw in August, 1679 54 

CHAPTER IX. 

La Salle's Voyage continued — Mackinaw the headquarters of the Indian trade — 
The Griffin starts back to Niagara River with a cargo of furs, and is lost upon 
the lake — La Salle resumes his voyage in birch canoes, south along the west 
shore of Lake Michigan, and around its southern extremity to the mouth of 
the St. Joseph, where he erects Fort Miamis 68 

CHAPTER X. 

The several rivers called the Miamis — La Salle's route down the Illinois — The 
Kankakee Marshes — The French and Indian names of the Kankakee and 
Des Plaines — The Illinois — "Fort Crevecoeur " — La Salle goes back to. 
Canada — Destruction of his forts by deserters — His return to Fort Miamis, 
and the successful prosecution of his exploration to the mouth of the Missis- 
sippi — The whole valley of the great river taken possession of in the name of 
the King of France ; 72 

CHAPTER XL 

Death of La Salle, in attempting to establish a colony near the mouth of the 
Mississippi — Chicago Creek — The origin of the name — Fort St. Louis built 
by Tonti at Starved Rock — La Salle assassinated and his colony destroyed — ^ 
Joutel, with other survivors, return by way of the Illinois — Second attempt 
of France, under Mons. Iberville, in 1699, to establish settlements on the 
Gulf — Cession of all Louisiana to M. Crozat — Crozat's deed from the King — 
The Western Company — Law's scheme of inflation and its consequences — 
New Orleans founded in 1718 — Fort Chartes erected, and its appearance. ... 87 

CHAPTER XII. 

Surrender of Louisiana to the French Crown in 1731 — Early routes by way of the 
Kankakee, Chicago Creek, the Ohio, the Maumee and Wabash described — 
The Maumee and Wabash, and the number and origin of their several names 
— Indian villages 96 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Aboriginal inhabitants — The several Illinois tribes — Of the name Illinois, and its 
origin — The Kaskaskias, Cahokkis, Tamaroas, Peorias and Metchigamis, sub- 
divisions of the Illinois Confederacy — First mentioned by the Jesuit mission- 
aries in 1655 — Their habits and morals — Their country and villages — Their 
wars with the Iroquois and other tribes — The tradition concerning the Iro- 
quois River — Their decline and removal westward of the Missouri 105 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



The Miamis — The Miami, Piankeshaw and Wea bands — They are kindred to the 
Illinois, originally from the west of the Mississippi — Their superiority and 
their military disposition — Their subdivisions and various names — Their trade 
and difficulties with the French and the English — Their migrations — They 
are upon the Maumee and Wabash — Their Villages — From their position 
between the French and English they suffer at the hands of both — They defeat 
the Iroquois —They trade with the English, and incur the anger of the French 
— Their bravery — Their decline— Destructive effects of intemperance— Cession 
of their lands in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio — Their removal westward and 
present condition 119 

CHAPTER XV. 

The Pottawatomies — They and the Ottawas and Ojibbeways one people — Origi- 
nally from the north and east of Lake Huron — Their migrations by way of 
Mackinaw to the country west of Lake Michigan, and thence south and east- 
ward — Their games — Origin of the name Pottawatomie — Allies of the French 

— Occupy a portion of the country of the Miamis along the Wabash — Their 
villages — At peace with the United States after the war of 1812 — Cede their 
lands — Their exodus from the Wabash, the Kankakee and Wabash — Their 
condition in Kansas — Their progress toward civilization 137 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Kickapoos and Mascoutins reside about Saginaw Bay in 1612; on Fox River, 
Wisconsin, in 1670 — Their reception of the Catholic fathers — Not inclined 
to their teachings — They kill one missionary and retain another in captiv- 
ity — On the Maumee in 1712 — In southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois 

— Migrate to the Wabash — Derivation of the name Mascoutin — Dwellers 
of the prairie — Identity of the Kickapoos with the Mascoutins — Their 
destruction at the siege of Detroit — They were always enemies of the 
French, English and Americans — Nearly destroy the Illinois and Pianke- ' 
shaws, and occupy their country — Join Tecumseh in a body — They, with 
the Winnebagoes, attack Fort Harrison — Pa-Tcoi-shee-can' 's account of the 
engagement — Ka-en-ne-kuck becomes a religious teacher — The wild bands 
make trouble on the Texas border — Their country between the Illinois and 
Wabash — Their resemblance to the Sac and Fox Indians 153 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Shawnees and Delawares — Originally east of the Alleghany Mountains — 
Are subdued aud driven out by the Iroquois — Marquette finds the Shawnees 
on the Tennessee in 1673 — At one time in Florida — In 1744 they are in Ohio 
— They war on the American settlements — Their villages on the Big and 
Little Miamis, the St. Mary's, the Au Glaize, Maumee and Wabash — The 
The Delawares — Made women of by the Iroquois — Their country on White 
River, Indiana, and eastward defined — Become friendly to the United States 
after Wayne's victory at Maumee Rapids, in 1794 — They, with the Shawnees, 
sent west of the Mississippi — They furnish soldiers in the war for the Union 

— Adopting ways of the white people 170 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



The Indians — Their implements, utensils, fortifications, mounds, manners and 
customs 180 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Stone implements used by the Indians before they came in contact with the Euro- 
peans — Illustrations of various kinds of stone implements, and suggestions 
as to their probable uses 195 

CHAPTER XX. 

The war for the fur trade — Former abundance of wild animals and water-fowl in 
the Northwest — The buffalo; their range, their numbers, and final disappear- 
ance — Value of the fur trade; its importance to Canada — The coureurs de 
bois; their food and peculiarities — Goods for Indian trade — The distant parts 
to which the fur trade was carried, and the manner in which it was conducted — 
Competition between French and English for control of the fur trade — It 
results in broils — French traders killed on the Vermilion — The French and 
' Indians attack Fort Pickawillany — War 208 

CHAPTER XXI. 

The war for the empire — English claims to the Northwest — Deeds from the Iro- 
quois to a large part of the country — Military expeditions of Major Grant, 
Mons. Aubry and M. de Ligneris — Aubry attempts to retake Fort Du Quesne 
— His expedition up the Wabash — Goes to the relief of Fort Niagara — Is de- 
feated by Sir William Johnson — The fall of Quebec and Montreal — Surrender 
of the Northwest to Great Britain — The territory west of the' Mississippi ceded 
to Spain 224 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Pontiac's war to recover the country from the English — The siege of Detroit — The 
fall of Mackinaw, Saint Joseph, Miamis and Ouiatanon — Relief of Detroit — 
Pontiac's confederacy falls to pieces — Croghan sent west to recover possession 
of the country from the Indians — Is captured and carried to Fort Ouiatanon — 
The country turned over to the English — Pontiac's death 234 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Gen. Clark's conquest of the "Illinois"— The Revolutionary war — Indian depre- 
dations upon the settlements of Kentucky — The savages are supplied with 
arms and ammunition from the English posts at Detroit, Vincennes and Kas- 
kaskia — Gen. Clark applies to Gov. Henry, of Virginia, for aid in an enter- 
prise to capture Kaskaskia and Vincennes — Sketch of Gen. Clark— His 
manuscript memoir of his march to the Illinois — He captures Kaskaskia— 
The surrender of Vincennes — He treats with the Indians, who agree to quit 
their warfare on the Big Knife — Gov. Hamilton, of Detroit, re-captures Vin- 
cennes — Clark's march to Vincennes — He re-takes Vincennes, and makes the 
English forces prisoners of war — Capt. Helm surprises a convoy of English 
boats at the mouth of the Vermilion River — Organization of the northwest 
territory into Illinois county of Virginia — Clark holds the Northwest until the 
conclusion of the revolutionary war. For this reason only it became a part of 
the United States 245 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Illinois county established — The northwest territory — The ordinance of 1787 — 
A bill of rights — Free-school system — Provisions for states — Old boundaries 
between Canada and Louisiana — Indian wars — The Indian country on the 
Wabash and Maumee ravaged — England refuses to surrender military posts 
within the northwest territory — The first treaty between the United States 
and the Wabash tribes, at Vincennes, in 1792 — The great white wampum 
belt of peace, with medal suspended, delivered by Gen. Putnam — The medal, 
and where afterward found — The British medal — St. Clair's defeat — Futile 
efforts to obtain peace — Wayne marches from Greenville to the Maumee and 
gains a great victory over the confederated tribes — Treaty of Greenville — 

Wayne's death 260 

• 

CHAPTER XXV. 

The northwest territory divided — Wm. H. Harrison appointed governor of the 
Indiana territory — Its subdivision into counties — Biographical sketch of Gov. 
Harrison — Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet — They organize a scheme 
to drive the white settlers beyond the Ohio — Illinois Territory formed — Its 
subdivision into the counties of Randolph and St. Clair — Development of 
Tecumseh's plans — The Tippecanoe campaign — Line of Harrison's march — 
Official account of the battle — Incidents — War of 1812 — A large part of the 
Northwest in the hands of the English and Indians — Fall of Fort Dearborn — 
Siege of Forts Wayne and Harrison — Gen. Taylor's report of the attack on 
Fort Harrison — The naval engagement on Lake Erie — The battle of the 
Thames — Tecumseh had "fought it out" with Gen. Harrison — The north 
recovered by Gen. Harrison — The old boundaries restored — Peace concluded — 
Advance of population — Conclusion 278 

COUNTY HISTORY.* 

History of Danville Township 305 

Biographical ... 367 

History of Georgetown Township 497 

Biographical 536 

History of Elwood Township 560 

Biographical 592 

History of Catlin Township 609 

Biographical 628 

History of Ross Township 651 

Biographical 670 

History of Grant Township 701 

Biographical 719 

History of Carroll Township 761 

Biographical 784 

History of Middle Fork Township 792 

Biographical .' 814 

History of Oakwood Township 834 

Biographical 857 

* Errata. — On account of a want of space, in consequence of more matter than the publishers 
had provided for, the County History is duplicated in pages with the first seventy-two pages of Town- 
ship History. 

On page f>20, line 27, instead of Dan, read H. W. 



10 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

History of Blount Township 874 

Biographical 894 

History of Pilot Township .- 904 

Biographical 914 

History of Newell Township 926 

Biographical •" 950 

History of Vance Township 969 

Biographical 983 

History of Butler Township 1000 

Biographical 1013 

History of Sidell Township 1024 

Biographical 1030 

Business Directory 1035 

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Map Illustrating French and Indian War Frontispiece 

Indian Implements 197-207 

Buffalo 209 

Gen. George Rogers Clarke 245 

Washington Medal 270 

British Medal 273 

Gen. W. H. Harrison 289 

The Prophet 282 

Fort Harrison in 1812 288 

Plan of Battle of Tippecanoe 291 

Map of Vermilion County 305 

Joseph Barron 305 

City Mills, Danville 311 

Amber Mills, Danville 315 

High School 329 

County Court House 330 

Ellsworth Coal Shaft 337 

Coffeen & Pollock's Store 352 

Lincoln Opera House 379 

I lanville Planing Mill 444 

Whitehall's < larriage Shops 466 

Hoopeston Public School 715 

McFerron's Bank Building 718 

Clark's Hall 745 

Pioneer Cabin 876 

LIST OF PORTRAITS. 

William J . Moore 129 John Kyger 545 

John L. Tincher 305 Alexander Pollock 625 

A. C. Daniel 337 William Geddings 673 

R. T. Leverich 384 L. W. Anderson 737 

O. F. Harmon 417 David Dickson 785 

H. A. Coffeen 465 J. G. Leverich 817 

George Wheeler Jones 497 William ( !. Harrison : 865 

William Sheets 513 J. Peters 977 



HISTORIC NOTES- ON THE NORTHWEST. 



CHAPTER I. 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



The reader will have a better understanding of the manner in 
which the territory, herein treated of, was discovered and subse- 
quently occupied, if reference is made, in the outset, to some of its 
more important topographical features. 

Indeed, it would be an unsatisfactory task to try to follow the routes 
of early travel, or to undertake to pursue the devious wanderings of 
the aboriginal tribes, or trace the advance of civilized society into a 
country, without some preliminary knowledge of its topography. 

Looking upon a map of North America, it is observed that west- 
ward of the Alleghany Mountains the waters are divided into two 
great masses; the one, composed of waters flowing into the great 
northern lakes, is, by the river St. Lawrence, carried into the Atlantic 
Ocean ; the other, collected by a multitude of streams spread out like 
a vast net over the surface of more than twenty states and several ter- 
ritories, is gathered at last into the Mississippi River, and thence dis- 
charged into the Gulf of Mexico. 

As it was by the St. Lawrence River, and the great lakes connected 
with it, that the Northwest Territory was discovered, and for many 
years its trade mainly carried on, a more minute notice of this remark- 
able water communication will not be out of place. Jacques Cartier, 
a French navigator, having sailed from St. Malo, entered, on the 10th 
of August, 1535, the Gulf, which he had explored the year before, and 
named it the St. Lawrence, in memory of the holy martyr whose feast 
is celebrated on that day. This name was subsequently extended to 
the river. Previous to this it was called the River of Canada, the 
name given by the Indians to the whole country.* The drainage of 
the St. Lawrence and the lakes extends through 14 degrees of longi- 
tude, and covers a distance of over two thousand miles. Ascending 

* Father Chailevoix' "History and General Description of New France;" Dr. 
John G. Shea's translation ; vol. 1, pp. 37, 115. 

n 



12 HISTORIC NOTES OF THE NORTHWEST. 

this river, we behold it flanked with bold crags and sloping hillsides ; 
its current beset with rapids and studded with a thousand islands ; 
combining scenery of marvelous beauty and grandeur. Seven hundred 
and fifty miles above its mouth, the channel deepens and the shores 
recede into an expanse of water known as Lake Ontario.* 

Passing westward on Lake Ontario one hundred and eighty miles 
a second river is reached. A few miles above its entry into the lake, 
the river is thrown over a ledge of rock into a yawning chasm, one 
hundred and fifty feet below ; and, amid the deafening noise and clouds 
of vapor escaping from the agitated waters is seen the great Falls of 
Niagara. At Buffalo, twenty-two miles above the falls, the shores of 
Niagara River recede and a second great inland sea is formed, having 
an average breadth of 40 miles and a length of 240 miles. This is 
Lake Erie. The name has been variously spelt, — Earie, Herie. Erige 
and Erike. It has also born the name of Conti.f Father Hennepin 
says : " The Hurons call it Lake Erige, or Erike, that is to say, the Lake 
of the Cat, and the inhabitants of Canada have softened the word to 
Erie ; " vide " A New Discovery of a Yast Country in America," p. 77 ; 
London edition, 1698. 

Hennepin's derivation is substantially followed by the more accurate 
and accomplished historian, Father Charlevoix, who at a later period, 
in 1721, in writing of this lake uses the following words : "The name 
it bears is that of an Indian nation of the Huron language, which was 
formerly settled on its banks and who have been entirely destroyed by 
the Iroquois. Erie in that language signifies cat, and in some accounts 
this nation is called the cat nation." He adds : " Some modern maps 
have given Lake Erie the name of Conti, but with no better success 
than the names of Conde, Tracy and Orleans which have been given 
to Lakes Huron, Superior and Michigan.":]; 

At the upper end of Lake Erie, to the southward, is Maumee Bay, 
of which more hereafter ; to the northward the shores of the lake again 

* Ontario has been favored with several names by early authors and map makers. 
Champlain's map. 1632, lays it down as Lac St. Louis. The map prefixed to Colden's 
'• History of the Five Nations" designates it as Cata-ra-qui, or Ontario Lake. The 
word is Huron- Iroquois, and is derived, in their language, from Ontra, a lake, and to, 
beautiful, the compound word meaning a beautiful lake; vide Letter of DuBois 
D'Avaugour, August 16, 1663, to the Minister: Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 16. Baron 
LaHontan, in his work and on the accompanying map, calls it Lake Frontenac; ride 
" New Voyages to North America," vol. 1, p. 219. And Frontenac, the name by which 
this lake was most generally designated by the early French writers, was given to it in 
honor of the great Count Frontenac. Governor-General of Canada. 

f Narrative of Father Zenobia Membre, who accompanied Sieur La Salle in the 
voyage westward on this lake in 1679 ; vide " Discovery and Exploration of the 
Mississippi." by Dr. John G. Shea, p. 90. Barou La Hontan's "Voyages to North 
America," vol. 1, p. 217, also map prefixed ; London edition, 1703. Cadwalder Col- 
den's map. referred to in a previous note, designates it as "Lake Erie, or Okswego." 

^Journal of a Voyage to North America, vol. 2, p. 2 ; London Edition, 1761. 






THE LAKES. 13 

approach each other and form a channel known as the River Detroit, a 
French word signifying a strait or narrow passage. Northward some 
twenty miles, and above the city of Detroit, the river widens into a 
small body of water called Lake St. Clair. The name as now written 
is incorrect : " we should either retain the French form, Claire, or take 
the English Clare. It received its name in honor of the founder of the 
Franciscan nuns, from the fact that La Salle reached it on the day con- 
secrated to her."* Northward some twelve miles across this lake the 
land again encroaches upon and contracts the waters within another 
narrow bound known as the Strait of St. Clair. Passing up this strait, 
northward about forty miles, Lake Huron is reached. It is 250 miles 
long and 190 miles wide, including Georgian Buy on the east, and its 
whole area is computed to be about 21,000 square miles. Its magnitude 
fully justified its early name, La Mer-douce, the Fresh Sea, on account 
of its extreme vastness.f The more popular name of Huron, which 
has survived all others, was given to it from the great Huron nation of 
Indians who formerly inhabited the country lying to the eastward of 
it. Indeed, many of the early French writers call it Lac des Hurons, 
that is, Lake of the Hurons. It is so laid down on the maps of Hen- 
nepin, La Hontan, Charlevoix and Colden in the volumes before quoted. 

Going northward, leaving the Straits of Mackinaw, through which 
Lake Michigan discharges itself from the west, and the chain of 
Manitoulin Islands to the eastward, yet another river, the connecting 
link between Lake Huron and Superior, is reached. Its current is 
swift, and a mile below Lake Superior are the Falls, where the water 
leaps and tumbles down a channel obstructed by boulders and shoals, 
where, from time immemorial, the Indians of various tribes have 
resorted on account of the abundance of fish and the ease with which 
they are taken. Previous to the year 1670 the river was called the 
Sault, that is, the rapids, or falls. In this year Fathers Marquette and 
Dablon founded here the mission of " St. Marie du Sault " (St. Maiw 
of the Falls), from which the modern name of the river, St. Mary's, is 
derived.:}; Recently the United States have perfected the ship canal 
cut in solid rock, around the falls, through which the largest vessels 
can now pass, from the one lake to the other. 

Lake Superior, in its greatest length, is 360 miles, with a maximum 
breadth of 1-10, the largest of the five great American lakes, and the 
most extensive body of fresh water on the globe. Its form has been 

*Note by Dr. Shea, " Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi," p. 143. 
tChamplain's map, 1632. Also "Memoir on the Colony of Quebec," August 4, 
1663 : Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 16. 

i Charlevoix' "History of New France," vol. S, p. 110; also note. 



14 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

poetically and not inaccurately described by a Jesuit Father, whose 
account of it is preserved in the Relations for the years 1669 and 1670 : 
" This lake has almost the form of a bended bow, and in length is more 
than 180 leagues. The southern shore is as it were the cord, the arrow 
being a long strip of land [Keweenaw Point] issuing from the south- 
ern coast and running more than 80 leagues to the middle of the 
lake." A glance on the map will show the aptness of the comparison. 
The name Superior was given to it by the Jesuit Fathers, " in conse- 
quence of its being above that of Lake Huron.* It was also called 
Lake Tracy, after Marquis De Tracy, who was governor-general of 
Canada from 1663 to 1665. Father Claude Allouez, in his " Journal 
of Travels to the Country of the Ottawas," preserved in the Relations 
for the years 1666, 1667, says : " After passing through the St. 
Mary's River we entered the upper lake, which will hereafter bear 
the name of Monsieur Tracy, an acknowledgment of the obligation 
under which the people of this country are to him." The good father, 
however, was mistaken ; the name Tracy only appears on a few ancient 
maps, or is perpetuated in rare volumes that record the almost for- 
gotten labors of the zealous Catholic missionaries ; while the earlier 
name of Lake " Superior " is familiar to every school-boy who has 
thumbed an atlas. 

At the western extremity of Lake Superior enter the Rivers Bois- 
Brule and St. Louis, the upper tributaries of which have their sources 
on the northeasterly slope of a water-shed, and approximate very near 
the head-waters of the St. Croix, Prairie and Savannah Rivers, which, 
issuing from the opposite side of this same ridge, flow into the upper 
Mississippi. 

The upper portions of Lakes Huron, Michigan, Green Bay, with 
their indentations, and the entire coast line, with the islands eastward 
and westward of the Straits of Mackinaw, are all laid down with quite 
a degree of accuracy on a map attached to the Relations of the Jesuits 
for the years 1670 and 1671, a copy of which is contained in Bancroft's 
History of the United States,f showing that the reverend fathers were 
industrious in mastering and preserving the geographical features of 
the wilderness they traversed in their holy calling. 

Lake Michigan is the only one of the five great lakes that lays 
wholly within the United States, — the other four, with their connect- 
ing rivers and straits, mark the boundary between the Dominion of 
Canada and the United States. Its length is 320 miles; its average 
breadth 70, with a mean depth of over 1,000 feet. Its area is some 

* Relations of 1660 and 1669. f Vol. 3, p. 152; fourth edition. 



LAKE MICHIGAN. 15 

22,000 square miles, being considerably more than that of Lake Huron 
and less than that of Lake Superior. 

Michigan was the last of the lakes in order of discovery. The 
Hurons, christianized and dwelling eastward of Lake Huron, had been 
driven from their towns and cultivated fields by the Iroquois, and scat- 
tered about Mackinaw and the desolate coast of Lake Superior beyond, 
whither they were followed by their faithful pastors, the Jesuits, who 
erected new altars and gathered the remnants of their stricken follow- 
ers about them ; all this occurred before the fathers had acquired any 
definite knowledge of Lake Michigan. In their mission work for the 
year 1666, it is referred to " as the Lake Illinouek, a great lake adjoin- 
ing, or between, the lake of the Hurons and that of Green Bay, that 
had not [as then] come to their knowledge." In the Relation for the 
same year, it is referred to as " Lake Illeaouers," and " Lake Illinioues, 
as yet unexplored, though much smaller than Lake Huron, and that the 
Outagamies [the Fox Indians] call it Machi-hi-gan-ing." Father Hen- 
nepin says : " The lake is called by the Indians, ' Illinouek,' and by the 
French, ' Illinois,' " and that the " Lake Illinois, in the native lan- 
guage, signifies the ' Lake of Men.' " He also adds in the same para- 
graph, that it is called by the Miamis, " Mischigonong, that is, the 
great lake." * Father Marest, in a letter dated at Kaskaskia, Illinois, 
November 9, 1712, so often referred to on account of the valuable his- 
torical matter it contains, contracts the aboriginal name to Michigan, 
and is, perhaps, the first author who ever spelt it in the way that has 
become universal. He naively says, " that on the maps this lake has 
the name, without any authority, of the ' Lake of the Illinois? since 
the Illinois do not dwell in its neighborhood." f 

* Hennepin's " New Discovery of a Vast Country in America," vol. 1, p. 35. The 
name is derived from the two Algonquin words, Michi (mishi or missi), which signifies 
great, as it does, also, several or many, and Sagayigan, a lake, vide Henry's Travels, 
p. 37, and Alexander Mackenzie's Vocabulary of Algonquin Words. 

t Kip's Early Jesuit Missions, p. 222. 



CHAPTER II. 

DRAINAGE OF THE ILLINOIS AND WABASH. 

Tiie reader's attention will now be directed to the drainage of the 
Illinois and Wabash Rivers to the Mississippi, and that of the Maumee 
River into Lake Erie. The Illinois River proper is formed in Grundy 
county, Illinois, below the city of Joliet, by the union of the Kanka- 
kee and Desplaines Rivers. The latter rises in southeastern Wisconsin ; 
and its course is almost south, through the counties of Cook and Will. 
The Kankakee has its source in the vicinity of South Bend, Indiana. 
It pursues a devious way, through marshes and low grounds, a south- 
westerly course, forming the boundary-line between the counties of 
Laporte, Porter and Lake on the north, and Stark, Jasper and Newton 
on the south ; thence across the dividing line of the two states of Indi- 
ana and Illinois, and some fifteen miles into the county of Kankakee, 
at the confluence of the Iroquois River, where its direction is changed 
northwest to its junction with the Desplaines. The Illinois passes 
westerly into the county of Putnam, where it again turns and pursues 
a generally southwest course to its confluence with the Mississippi, 
twenty miles above the mouth of the Missouri. It is about five hun- 
dred miles long ; is deep and broad, and in several places expands into 
basins, which may be denominated lakes. Steamers ascend the river, in 
high water, to La Salle ; from whence to Chicago navigation is contin- 
ued by means of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The- principal trib- 
utaries of the Illinois, from the north and right bank, are the Au Sable, 
Fox River, Little Vermillion, Bureau Creek, Kickapoo Creek (which 
empties in just below Peoria), Spoon River, Sugar Creek, and finally 
Crooked Creek. From the south or left bank are successively the Iro- 
quois (into the Kankakee), Mazon Creek, Vermillion, Crow Meadow, 
Mackinaw, Sangamon, and Macoupin. 

The Wabash issues out of a small lake, in Mercer county, Ohio, and 
runs a westerty course through the counties of Adams, Wells and 
Huntington in the state of Indiana. It receives Little River, just 
below the city of Huntington, and continues a westwardly course 
through the counties of Wabash, Miami and Cass. Here it turns 
more to the south, flowing through the counties of Carroll and Tippe- 
canoe, and marking the boundary-line between the counties of Warren 

16 



THE MAUMEE AND PORTAGES. 17 

and Vermillion on the west, and Fountain and Park on the east. At 
Covington, the county seat of Fountain county, the river runs more 
directly south, between the counties of Vermillion on the one side, 
and Fountain and Parke on the other, and through the county of Vigo, 
some miles below Terre Haute, from which place it forms the boundary- 
line between the states of Indiana and Illinois to its confluence with 
the Ohio. 

Its principal tributaries from the north and west, or right bank of 
the stream, are Little River, Eel River, Tippecanoe, Pine Creek, Red 
Wood, Big Vermillion, Little Vermillion, Bruletis, Sugar Creek, Em- 
barras, and Little Wabash. The streams flowing in from the south and 
east, or left bank of the river, are the Salamonie, Mississinewa, Pipe 
Creek, Deer Creek, Wildcat, Wea and Shawnee Creeks, Coal Creek, 
Sugar Creek, Raccoon Creek, Otter Creek, Busseron Creek, and White 
River. 

There are several other, and smaller, streams not necessary here to 
notice, although they are laid down on earlier maps, and mentioned in 
old " Gazetteers" and "Emigrant's Guides." 

The Maumee is formed by the St. Joseph and St. Mary's Rivers, 
which unite their waters at Ft. Wayne, Indiana. The St. Joseph has 
its source in Hillsdale county, Michigan, and runs southwesterly 
through the northwest corner of Ohio, through the county of De Kalb, 
and into the county of Allen, Indiana. The St. Mary's rises in 
An Glaize county, Ohio, very near the little lake at the head of the 
Wabash, before referred to, and runs northwestwardly parallel with the 
Wabash, through the counties of Mercer, Ohio, and Adams, Indiana, 
and into Allen county to the place of its union with the St. Joseph, 
at Ft. Wayne. The principal tributaries of the Maumee are the Au 
Glaize from the south, Bear Creek, Turkey Foot Creek, Swan Creek 
from the north. The length of the Maumee River, from Ft. Wayne 
northeast to Maumee Bay at the west end of Lake Erie, is very little 
over 100 miles. 

A noticeable feature relative to the territory under consideration, 
and having an important bearing on its discovery and settlement, is 
the fact that many of the tributaries of the Mississippi have their 
branches interwoven with numerous rivers draining into the lakes. 
They not infrequently issue from the same lake, pond or marsh situated 
on the summit level of the divide from which the waters from one end 
of the common reservoir drain to the Atlantic Ocean and from the other 
to the Gulf of Mexico. By this means nature herself provided navig- 
able communication between the northern lakes and the Mississippi 
Valley. It was, however, only at times of the vernal floods that the 



18 HISTORIC NOTES OF THE NORTHWEST. 

communication was complete. At other seasons of the year it was 
interrupted, when transfers by land were required for a short distance. 
The places where these transfers were made are known by the French 
term portage, which, like many other foreign derivatives, has become 
anglicized, and means a carrying place ; because in low stages of water 
the canoes and effects of the traveler had to be carried around the dry 
marsh or pond from the head of one stream to the source of that beyond. 

The first of these portages known to the Europeans, of which 
accounts have come down to us, is the portage of the Wisconsin, in the 
state of that name, connecting the Mississippi and Green Bay by means 
of its situation between the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers. The next is 
the portage of Chicago, uniting Chicago Creek, which empties into 
Lake Michigan at Chicago, and the Desplaines of the Illinois River. 
The third is the portage of the Kankakee, near the present city of 
South Bend, Indiana, which connects the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan 
with the upper waters of the Kankakee. And the fourth is the portage 
of the Wabash at Ft. Wayne, Indiana, between the Maumee and the 
Wabash, by way of Little River. 

Though abandoned and their former uses forgotten in the advance 
of permanent settlement and the progress of more efficient means of 
commercial intercourse, these portages were the gateways of the 
French between their possessions in Canada and along the Mississippi. 

Formerly the Northwest was a wilderness of forest and prairie, with 
only the paths of wild animals or the trails of roving Indians leading, 
through tangled undergrowth and tall grasses. In its undeveloped 
form it was without roads, incapable of land carriage and could not 
be traveled by civilized man, even on foot, without the aid of a savage 
guide and a permit from its native occupants which afforded little or no 
security to life or property. For these reasons the lakes and rivers, with 
their connecting portages, were the only highways, and they invited 
exploration. They afforded ready means of opening up the interior. 
The French, who were the first explorers, at an early day, as we shall 
hereafter see, established posts at Detroit, at the mouth of the Niagara 
River, at Mackinaw, Green Bay, on the Illinois River, the St. Joseph's 
of Lake Michigan, on the Maumee, the Wabash, and at other places 
on the route of inter-lake and river communication. By means of 
having seized these strategical points, and their influence over the 
Indian tribes, the French monopolized the fur trade, and although 
feebly assisted by the home government, held the whole Mississippi 
Valley and regions of the lakes, for near three quarters of a century, 
against all efforts of the English colonies, eastward of the Alleghany 
ridge, who, assisted by England, sought to wrest it from their grasp. 



CHICAGO PORTAGE. 19 

Recurring to the old portage at Chicago, it is evident that at a com- 
paratively recent period, since the glacial epoch, a large part of Cook 
county was under water. The waters of Lake Michigan, at that time, 
found an outlet through the Desplaines and Illinois Rivers into the 
Mississippi.* This assertion is confirmed from the appearance of the 
whole channel of the Illinois River, which formerly contained a stream 
of much greater magnitude than now. The old beaches of Lake 
Michigan are plainly indicated in the ridges, trending westward several 
miles away from the present water line. The old state road, from 
Vincennes to Chicago, followed one of these ancient lake beaches from 
Blue Island into the city. 

The subsidence of the lake must have been gradual, requiring 
many ages to accomplish the change of direction in the flow of its 
waters from the Mississippi to the St. Lawrence. 

The character of the portage has also undergone changes within 
the memory of men still living. The excavation of the Illinois and 
Michigan Canal, and the drainage of the adjacent land by artificial 
ditches, has left little remaining from which its former appearance can 
now be recognized. Major Stephen H. Long, of the U. S. Topo- 
graphical Engineers, made an examination of this locality in the year 
1823, before it had been changed by the hand of man, and says, con- 
cerning it, as follows : " The south fork of Chicago River takes its rise 
about six miles from the fort, in a swamp, which communicates also 
with the Desplaines, one of the head branches of the Illinois. Hav- 
ing been informed that this route was frequently used by traders, and 
that it had been traversed by one of the officers of the garrison, — who 
returned with provisions from St. Louis a few days before our arrival 
at the fort, — we determined to ascend the Chicago River in order to 
observe this interesting division of waters. We accordingly left the 
fort on the 7th day of June, in a boat which, after having ascended 
the river four miles, we exchanged for a narrow pirogue that drew 
less water, — the stream we were ascending was very narrow, rapid and 
crooked, presenting a great fall. It so continued for about three miles, 
when we reached a sort of a swamp, designated by the Canadian voy- 
agers under the name of 'Z<? Petit Lac." 1 f Our course through this 
swamp, which extended three miles, was very much impeded by the 
high grass, weeds, etc., through which our pirogue passed with diffi- 
culty. Observing that our progress through the fen was slow, and the 
day being considerably advanced, we landed on the north bank, and 
continued our course along the edge of the swamp for about three 

* Geological Survey of Illinois, vol. 3, p. 240. 

t What remains of this lake is now known by the name of Mud Lake. 



20 HISTORIC NOTES OF THE NORTHWEST. 

miles, until we reached the place where the old portage road meets the 
current, which was here very distinct toward the south. We were 
delighted at beholding, for the first time, a feature so interesting in 
itself, but which we had afterward an opportunity of observing fre- 
quently on the route, viz, the division of waters starting from the same 
source, and running in two different directions, so as to become feed- 
ers of streams that discharge themselves into the ocean at immense dis- 
tances apart. Lieut. Hobson, who accompanied us to the Desplaines, 
told us that he had traveled it with ease, in a boat loaded with lead 
and flour. The distance from the fort to the intersection of the port- 
age road is about twelve or thirteen miles, and the portage road is 
about eleven miles long ; the usual distance traveled by land seldom 
exceeds from four to nine miles ; however, in very dry seasons it is 
said to amount to thirty miles, as the portage then extends to Mount 
Juliet, near the confluence of the Kankakee. Although at the time 
we visited it there was scarcely water enough to permit our pirogue 
to pass, we could not doubt that in the spring of the year the route 
must be a very eligible one. It is equally apparent that an expendi- 
ture, trifling when compared to the importance of the object, would 
again render Lake Michigan a tributary of the Gulf of Mexico." * 

* Long's Expedition to the Source of the St. Peter's River, vol. 1, pp. 165, 166, 
167. The State of Illinois begun work on the construction of a canal on this old 
portage on the 4th day of July, 1836, with great ceremony. Col. Guerdon S. Hubbard, 
still living, cast the first shovelful of earth out of it on this occasion. The work was 
completed in 1848. The canal was fed with water elevated by a pumping apparatus 
at Bridgeport. Recently the city of Chicago, at enormous expense sunk the bed 
of the canal to a depth that secures a flow of water directly from the lake, by means 
of which, the navigation is improved, and sewerage is obtained into the Illinois River. 



CHAPTER III. 

ANCIENT MAUMEE VALLEY. 

What has been said of the changes in the surface geology of Lake 
Michigan and the Illinois River may also be affirmed with respect to 
Lake Erie and the Maumee and Wabash Rivers. There are peculiari- 
ties which will arrest the attention, from a mere examination of the 
course of the Maumee and of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's Rivers, as 
they appear on the map of that part of Ohio and Indiana. The St. 
Joseph, after running southwest to its union with the St. Mary's at 
Ft. Wayne, as it were almost doubles back upon its former course, 
taking a northeast direction, forming the shape of a letter Y, and after 
having flowed over two hundred miles is discharged at a point within 
less than fifty miles east of its source. It is evident, from an exami- 
nation of that part of the country, that, at one time, the St. Joseph 
ran wholly to the southwest, and that the Maumee River itself, 
instead of flowing northeast into- Lake Erie, as now, drained this lake 
southwest through the present valley of the Wabash. Then Lake 
Erie extended very nearly to Ft. Wayne, and its ancient shores are 
still plainly marked. The line of the old beach is preserved in the 
ridges running nearly parallel with, and not a great distance from, the 
St. Joseph and the St. Mary's Rivers. Professor G. K. Gilbert, in his 
report of the " Surface Geology of the Maumee Valley," gives the 
result of his examination of these interesting features, from which we 
take the following valuable extract.* 

" The upper (lake) beach consists, in this region, of a single bold 
ridge of sand, pursuing a remarkably straight course in a northeast and 
southwest direction, and crossing portions of Defiance, Williams and 
Fulton counties. It passes just west of Hicksville and Bryan ; while 
Williams Center, West Unity and Fayette are built on it. When 
Lake Erie stood at this level, it was merged at the north with Lake 
Huron. Its southwest shore crossed Hancock, Putnam, Allen and 
Van Wert counties, and stretched northwest in Indiana, nearly to Ft. 
Wayne. The northwestern shore line, leaving Ohio near the south 
line of Defiance county, is likewise continued in Indiana, and the two 
converge at New Haven, six miles east of Ft. Wayne. They do not, 

* Geological Survey of Ohio, vol. 1, p. 550. 
21 



22 HISTORIC NOTES OF THE NORTHWEST. 

however, unite, but, instead, become parallel, and are continued as the 
sides of a broad watercourse, through which the great lake basin then 
discharged its surplus waters, southwestwardly, into the valley of the 
Wabash River, and thence to the Mississippi. At New Haven, this 
channel is not less than a mile and a half broad, and has an average 
depth of twenty feet, with sides and bottom of drift. For twenty-five 
miles this character continues, and there is no notable fall. Three 
miles above Huntington, Indiana, however, the drift bottom is replaced 
by a floor of Niagara limestone, and the descent becomes comparatively 
quite rapid. At Huntington, the valley is walled, on one side at least, 
by rock in situ. In the eastern portion of this ancient river-bed, the 
Maumee and its branches have cut channels fifteen to twenty-five feet 
deep, without meeting the underlying limestone. Most of the inter- 
val from Ft. Wayne to Huntington is occupied by a marsh, over which 
meanders Little River, an insignificant stream whose only claim to the 
title of river seems to lie in the magnitude of the deserted channel of 
which it is sole occupant. At Huntington, the Wabash emerges from 
a narrow cleft, of its own carving, and takes possession of the broad 
trough to which it was once an humble tributary." 

Within the personal knowledge of men, the Wabash River has been, 
and is, only a rivulet, a shriveled, dried up representative in comparison 
with its greatness in pre-historic times, when it bore in a broader 
channel the waters of Lakes Erie and Huron, a mighty flood, south- 
ward to the Ohio. Whether the change in the direction of the flow of 
Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan toward the River St. Lawrence, instead 
of through the Wabash and Illinois Rivers respectively, is because 
hemispheric depression has taken place more rapidly in the vicinity of 
the lakes than farther southward, or that the earth's crust south of the 
lakes has been arched upward by subterraneous influences, and thus 
caused the lakes to recede, or if the change has been produced by 
depression in one direction and elevation in the other, combined, is not 
our province to discuss. The fact, however, is well established by the 
most abundant and conclusive evidence to the scientific observer. 

The portage, or carrying place, of the Wabash,* as known to the 
early explorers and traders, between the Maumee and Wabash, or rather 
the head of Little River, called by the French " La Petit Riviere," 
commenced directly at Ft. Wayne ; although, in certain seasons of the 
year, the waters approach much nearer and were united by a low piece 

* Schoolcraft's Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley, ' ' in the year 
1821, pp. 90, 91. In this year, Mr. Schoolcraft made an examination of the locality, 
with a view to furnish the public information on the practicability of a canal to unite 
the waters of the Maumee and the Wabash. It was at a time when great interest 
existed through all parts of the country on all subjects of internal navigation. 






PORTAGE OF THE WABASH. 23 

of ground or marsh (an arm or bay of what is now called Bear Lake), 
where the two streams flow within one hundred and fifty yards of each 
other and admitted of the passage of light canoes from the one to the 
other. 

The Miami Indians knew the value of this portage, and it was a 
source of revenue to them, aside from its advantages in enabling them 
to exercise an influence over adjacent tribes. The French, in passing 
from Canada to New Orleans, and Indian traders going from Montreal 
and Detroit, to the Indians south and westward, went and returned by 
way of Ft. Wayne, where the Miamis, kept carts and pack-horses, with 
a corps of Indians to assist in carrying canoes, furs and merchandise 
around the portage, for which they charged a commission. At the 
great treaty of Greenville, 1795, where General Anthony Wayne met 
the several Wabash tribes, he insisted, as one of the fruits of his victory 
over them, at the Fallen Timbers, on the Mauniee, the year before, that 
they should cede to the United States a piece of ground six miles 
square, where the fort, named in honor of General Wayne, had been 
erected after the battle named, and on the site of the present city of 
Ft. Wayne ; and, also, a piece of territory two miles square at the 
carrying place. The distinguished warrior and statesman, " Mishe- 
kun-nogh-quah" (as he signs his name at this treaty), or the Little Turtle 
on behalf of his tribe, objected to a relinquishment of their right to 
their ancient village and its portage, and in his speech to General 
Wayne said : " Elder Brother, — When our forefathers saw the French 
and English at the Miami village — that ' glorious gate ' which your 
younger brothers [meaning the Miamis] had the happiness to own, 
and through which all the good words of our chiefs had to pass [that 
is, messages .between the several tribes] from north to south and from 
east to west, the French and English never told us they wished to 
purchase our lands from us. The next place you pointed out was the 
Little River, and said you wanted two miles square of that place. This 
is a request that our fathers the French or British never made of us ; 
it was always ours. This carrying place has heretofore proved, in a 
great degree, the subsistence of your brothers. That place has brought 
to us, in the course of one day, the amount of one hundred dollars. 
Let us both own this place and enjoy in common the advantages it 
affords. " The Little Turtle's speech availed nothing.* 

The St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, a fine stream of uniform, rapid 
current, reaches its most southerly position near the city of South 
Bend, Indiana, — the city deriving its name from the bend of the river ; 

* Minutes of the Treaty of Greenville: American State Papers on Indian Affairs, 
vol. 1, pp. 576, 578. 



24 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

here the river turns northward, reenters the State of Michigan and dis- 
charges into the ,lake. West of the city is Lake Kankakee, from 
which the Kankakee River takes its rise. The distance intervening be- 
tween the head of this little lake and the St. Joseph is about two miles, 
over a piece of marshy ground, where the elevation is so slight " that 
in the year 1832 a Mr. Alexander Croquillard dug a race, and secured 
a flow of water from the lake to the St. Joseph, of sufficient power to 
run a grist and saw mill." * 

This is the portage of the Kankakee, a place conspicuous for its 
historical reminiscences. It was much used, and offered a choice of 
routes to the Illinois River, and also to the Wabash, by a longer land- 
carriage to the upper waters of the Tippecanoe. A memoir on the 
Indians of Canada, etc., prepared in the year 171S (Paris Documents, 
vol. 1, p. SS9), says: "The river St. Joseph is south of Lake Michi- 
gan, formerly the Lake of the Illinois ; many take this river to pass to 
the Rocks [as Fort St. Louis, situated on ' Starved Rock ' in La Salle 
county, Illinois, was sometimes called], because it is convenient, and 
they thereby avoid the portages c des Chaines" 1 and '•des Perches]" — 
two long, difficult carrying places on the Desplaines, which had to 
be encountered in dry seasons, on the route by the way of Chicago 
Creek. 

The following description of the Kankakee portage, and its adjacent 
surroundings, is as that locality appeared to Father Hennepin, when he 
was there with La Salle's party of voyagers two hundred years ago the 
coming December : " The next morning (December 5, 1679) we joined 
our men at the portage, where Father Gabriel had made the day before 
several crosses upon the trees, that we might not miss it another time." 
The voyagers had passed above the portage without being aware of it, 
as the country was all strange to them. We found here a great quan- 
tity of horns and bones of wild oxen, buffalo, and also some canoes 
the savages had made with the skins of beasts, to cross the river with 
their provisions. This portage lies at the farther end of a champaign ; 
and at the other end to the west lies a village of savages, — Miamis, 
Mascoutines and Oiatinons (Weas), who live together. " The river of 
the Illinois has its source near that village, and springs out of some 
marshy lands that are so quaking that one can scarcely walk over them. 
The head of the river is only a league and a half from that of the Mi- 
amis (the St. Joseph), and so our portage was not long. We marked 
the way from place to place, with some trees, for the convenience of 
those we expected after us ; and left at the portage as well as at Fort 

* Prof. G. M. Levette's Report on the Geology of St. Joseph County: Geological 
Survey of Indiana for the year 1873, p. 459. 



THE KANKAKEE. 25 

Miamis (which they had previously erected at the mouth of the St. 
Joseph), letters hanging down from the trees, containing M. La Salle's 
instructions to our pilot, and the other five-and-twenty men who were 
to come with him." The pilot had been sent back from Mackinaw 
with La Salle's ship, the Griffin, loaded with furs ; was to discharge 
the cargo at the fort below the mouth of Niagara River, and then 
bring the ship with all dispatch to the St. Joseph. 

" The Illinois River (continues Hennepin's account) is navigable 
within a hundred paces from its source, — I mean for canoes of barks of 
trees, and not for others, — but increases so much a little way from 
thence, that it is as deep and broad as the Meuse and the Sambre joined 
together. It runs through vast marshes, and although it be rapid 
enough, it makes so many turnings and windings, that after a whole 
day's journey we found that we were hardly two leagues from the place 
we left in the morning. That country is nothing but marshes, full of 
alder trees and bushes ; and we could have hardly found, for forty 
leagues together, any place to plant our cabins, had it not been for the 
frost, which made the earth more firm and consistent." 



CHAPTER IV. 



RAINFALL. 



An interesting topic connected with our rivers is the question of 
rainfall. The streams of the west, unlike those of mountainous dis- 
tricts, which are fed largely by springs and brooks issuing from the 
rocks, are supplied mostly from the clouds. It is within the observa- 
tion of persons who lived long in the valleys of the Wabash and Illinois, 
or along their tributaries, that these streams apparently carry a less 
volume of water than formerly. Indeed, the water-courses seem to be 
gradually drying up, and the whole surface of the country drained by 
them has undergone the same change. In early days almost eveiy 
land-owner on the prairies had upon his farm a pond that furnished 
an unfailing supply of water for his live stock the year around. These 
never went dry, even in the driest seasons. 

Formerly the Wabash afforded reliable steamboat navigation as 
high up as La Fayette. In 1831, between the 5th of March and the 
16th of April, fifty-four steamboats arrived and departed from Vin- 
cennes. In the months of February, March and April of the same year, 
there were sixty arrivals and departures from La Fayette, then a village 
of only three or four hundred houses ; many of these boats were large 
side-wheel steamers, built for navigating the Ohio and Mississippi, and 
known as New Orleans or lower river boats.* The writer has the 
concurrent evidence of scores of early settlers with whom he has con- 
versed that formerly the Vermilion, at Danville, had to be ferried on 
an average six months during the year, and the river was considered 
low when it could be forded at this place without water running into 
the wagon bed. Now it is fordable at all times, except when swollen 
with freshets, which now subside in a very few days, and often within 
as many hours. Doubtless, the same facts can be affirmed of the many 
other tributaries of the Illinois and Wabash whose names have been 
already given. 

The early statutes of Illinois and Indiana are replete with special 
laws, passed between the years 1825 and 1840, when the people of 
these two states were crazed over the question of internal navigation, 
providing enactments and charters for the slack-water improvement of 

* Tanner's View of the Mississippi, published in 1832, p. 154. 

26 



RAINFALL. 27 

hundreds of streams whose insignificance have now only a dry bed, 
most of the year, to indicate that they were ever dignified with such 
legislation and invested with the promise of bearing upon their bosoms 
a portion of the future internal commerce of the country. 

It will not do to assume that the seeming decrease of water in the 
streams is caused by a diminution of rain. The probabilities are that 
the annual rainfall is greater in Indiana and Illinois than before their 
settlement with a permanent population. The "settling up" of a 
country, tilling its soil, planting trees, constructing railroads, and erect- 
ing telegraph lines, all tend to induce moisture and produce changes 
in the electric and atmospheric currents that invite the clouds to pre- 
cipitate their showers. Such has been the effect produced by the hand 
of man upon the hitherto arid plains of Kansas and Nebraska. Indeed, 
at an early day some portions of Illinois were considered as uninhab- 
itable as western Kansas and Nebraska were supposed, a few years ago, 
to be on account of the prevailing drouths. That part of the state 
lying between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, south of a line run- 
ning from the Mississippi, between Rock Island and Mercer counties, 
east to the Illinois, set off for the benefit of the soldiers of the War 
of 1812, and for that reason called the " Military Tract," except that 
part of it lying more immediately near the rivers named, was laid under 
the bane of a drouth-stricken region. Mr. Lewis A. Beck, a shrewd 
and impartial observer, and a gentleman of great scientific attainments,* 
was through the " military tract " shortly after it had been run out into 
sections and townships by the government, and says concerning it, 
" The northern part of the tract is not so favorable for settlement. 
The prairies become very extensive and are badly watered. In fact, 
this last is an objection to the whole tract. In dry seasons it is not 
unusual to walk through beds of the largest streams without finding a 
drop of water. It is not surprising that a country so far distant from 
the sea and drained by such large rivers, which have a course of several 
thousand miles before they reach the great reservoir, should not be well 
watered. This, we observe, is the case with all fine-flowing streams of 
the highlands, whereas those of the Champaign and prairies settle in 
the form of ponds, which stagnate and putrify. Besides, on the same 
account there are very few heavy rains in the summer; and hence 
during that season water is exceedingly scarce. The Indians, in their 
journeys, pass by places where they know there are ponds, but gener- 
ally they are under the necessity of carrying water in bladders. This 
drouth is not confined to the ' military tract,' but in some seasons is 
very general. During the summer of 1820 it was truly alarming; 

* Beck's Illinois and Missouri Gazetteer, published in 1823, pp. 79, 80. 



28 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

travelers, in many instances, were obliged to pass whole days, in the 
warmest weather, without being able to procure a cupful of water for 
themselves or their horses, and that which they occasionally did find 
was almost putrid. It may be remarked, however, that such seasons 
rarely occur; but on account of its being washed by rivers of such 
immense length this section of the country is peculiarly liable to suffer 
from excessive drouth." The millions of bushels of grain annually 
raised in, and the vast herds of cattle and other live stock that are fat- 
tened on, the rich pastures of Bureau, Henry, Stark, Peoria, Knox, 
Warren, and other counties lying wholly or partially within the "mili- 
tary tract," illustrate an increase and uniformity of rainfall since the 
time Professor Beck recorded his observations. In no part of Illinois 
are the crops more abundant' and certain, and less liable to suffer from 
excessive drouth, than in the " military tract." The apparent decrease in 
the volume of water carried by the Wabash and its tributaries is easily 
reconciled with the theory of an increased rainfall since the settlement 
of the country. These streams for the most part have their sources in 
ponds, marshes and low grounds. These basins, covering a great extent 
of the surface of the country, served <Js reservoirs ; the earth was cov- 
ered with a thick turf that prevented the water penetrating the ground ; 
tall grasses in the valleys and about the margin of the ponds impeded 
the flow of water, and fed it out gradually to the rivers. In the tim- 
ber the marshes were likewise protected from a rapid discharge of their 
contents by the trunks of fallen trees, limbs and leaves. 

Since the lands have been reduced to cultivation, millions of acres 
of sod have been broken by the plow, a spongy surface has been turned 
to the heavens and much of the rainfall is at once soaked into the 
ground. The ponds and low grounds have been drained. The tall 
grasses with their mat of penetrating roots have disappeared from the 
swales. The brooks and drains, from causes partially natural, or artifi- 
cially aided by man, have cut through the ancient turf and made well 
defined ditches. The rivers themselves have worn a deeper passage in 
their beds. By these means the water is now soon collected from the 
earth's surface and carried off with increased velocity. Formerly the 
streams would sustain their volume continuously for weeks. Hence 
much of the rainfall is directly taken into the ground, and only a por- 
tion of it now finds its way to the rivers, and that which does has a 
speedier exit. Besides this, settlement of and particularly the growing 
of trees on the prairies and the clearing out of the excess of forests in the 
timbered districts, tends to distribute the rainfall more evenly through- 
out the year, and in a large degree prevents the recurrence of those ex- 
tremes of drouth and flood with which this country was formerly visited. 



CHAPTER V. 

ORIGIN OF THE PRAIRIES. 

The prairies have ever been a wonder, and their origin the theme of 
much curious speculation. The vast extent of these natural meadows 
would naturally excite curiosity, and invite the many theories which, 
from time to time, have been advanced by writers holding conflicting 
opinions as to the manner in which they were formed. Major Stod- 
dard, H. M. Brackenridge and Governor Reynolds, whose personal 
acquaintance with the prairies, eastward of the Mississippi, extended 
back prior to the year 1800, and whose observations were supported 
by the experience of other contemporaneous residents of the west, held 
that the prairies were caused by fire. The prairies are covered with 
grass, and were probably occasioned by the ravages of fire ; because 
wherever copses of trees were found on them, the grounds about them 
are low and too moist to admit the fire to pass over it ; and because it is 
a common practice among the Indians and other hunters to set the 
woods and prairies on fire, by means of which they are able to kill an 
abundance of game. They take secure stations to the leeward, and 
the fire drives the game to them.* 

The plains of Indiana and Illinois have been mostly produced by 
the same cause. They are very different from the Savannahs on the 
seaboard and the immense plains of the upper Missouri. In the 
prairies of Indiana I have been assured that the woods in places have 
been known to recede, and in others to increase, within the recollection 
of the old inhabitants. In moist places, the woods are still standing, 
the fire meeting here with obstruction. Trees, if planted in these 
prairies, would doubtless grow. In the islands, preserved by accidental 
causes, the progress of the fire can be traced ; the first burning would 
only scorch the outer bark of the tree; this would render it more 
susceptible to the next, the third would completely kill. I have seen 
in places, at present completely prairie, pieces of burnt trees, proving 
that the prairie had been caused by fire. The grass is generally very 
luxuriant, which is not the case in the plains of the Missouri. There 
may, doubtless, be spots where the proportion of salts or other bodies 
may be such as to favor the growth of grass only.f 

* Sketches of Louisiana, by Major Amos Stoddard, p. 213. 
t Brackenridge's Views of Louisiana, p. 108. 
29 



30 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Governor Reynolds, who came to Illinois at the age of thirteen, in 
the year 1800, and lived here for over sixty years, the greater portion 
of his time employed in a public capacity, roving over the prairies 
in the Indian border wars or overseeing the affairs of a public and busy 
life, in his interesting autobiography, published in 1S55, says: "Many 
learned essays are written on the origin of the prairies, but any atten- 
tive observer will come to the conclusion that it is fire burning the 
strong, high grass that caused the prairies. I have witnessed the 
growth of the forest in these southern counties of Illinois, and know 
there is more timber in them now than there was forty or fifty years 
before. The obvious reason is, the fire is kept out. This is likewise 
the reason the prairies are generally the most fertile soil. The vegeta- 
tion in them was the strongest and the fires there burnt with the most 
power. The timber was destroyed more rapidly in the fertile soil than 
in the barren lands. It will be seen that the timber in the north of 
the state, is found only on the margins of streams and other places 
where the prairie fires could not reach it." 

The later and more satisfactory theory is, that the prairies were 
formed by the action of water instead of fire. This position was taken 
and very ably discussed by that able and learned writer, Judge James 
Hall, as early as 1836. More recently, Prof. Lesquereux prepared an 
article on the origin and formation of the prairies, published at length 
in vol. 1, Geological Survey of Illinois, pp. 238 to 254, inclusive ; and Dr. 
Worthen, the head of the Illinois Geological Department, referring to 
this article and its author, gives to both a most flattering indorsement. 
Declining to discuss the comparative merits of the various theories as 
to the formation of the prairies, the doctor "refers the reader to the 
very able chapter on the subject by Prof. Lesquereux, whose thorough 
acquaintance, both with fossil and recent botany, and the general laws 
which govern the distribution of the ancient as well as the recent flora, 
entitles his opinion to our most profound consideration." * 

Prof. Lesquereux' article is exhaustive, and his conclusions are 
summed up in the declaration " that all the prairies of the Mississippi 
Valley have been formed by the slow recessions of waters of various 
extent ; first transformed into swamps, and in the process of time 
drained and dried ; and that the high rolling prairies, and those of 
these bottoms along the rivers as well, are all the result of the same 
cause, and form one whole, indivisible system." 

Still later, another eminent writer, Hon. John D. Caton, late Judge 
of the Supreme Court of Illinois, has given the result of his observa- 

*Chap. 1, p. 10, Geology of Illinois, by Dr. Worthen; vol. 1. Illinois Geological 
Survey. 



THE PRAIRIES. 31 

tions. While assenting to the received conclusion that the prairies — 
the land itself — have been formed under water, except the decomposed 
animal and vegetable matter that has been added to the surface of the 
lands since their emergence, the judge dissents from Prof. Lesquereux, 
in so far as the latter holds that the presence of ulmic acid and other 
unfavorable chemicals in the soil of the prairies, rendered them unfit 
for the growth of trees; and in extending his theory to the prairies on 
the uplands, as well as in their more level and marshy portions. The 
learned judge holds to the popular theory that the most potent cause 
in keeping the prairies as such, and retarding and often destroying 
forest growth on them, is the agency of fire. Whatever may have 
been the condition of the ground when the prairie lands first emerged 
from the waters, or the chemical changes they may have since under- 
gone, how many years the process of vegetable growth and decay may 
have gone on, adding their deposits of rich loam to the original sur- 
face, making the soil the most fertile in the world, is a matter of mere 
speculation ; certain it is, however, that ever within the knowledge of 
man the prairies have possessed every element of soil necessary to in- 
sure a rapid and vigorous growth of forest trees, wherever the germ 
could find a lodgment and their tender years be protected against the 
one formidable enemy, fire. Judge Caton gives the experience of old 
settlers in the northern part of the state, similar to that of Bracken- 
ridge and Reynolds, already quoted, where, on the Vermillion River 
of the Illinois, and also in the neighborhood of Ottawa many years 
ago, fires occurred under the observation of the narrators, which 
utterly destroyed, root and branch, an entire hardwood forest, the 
prairie taking immediate possession of the burnt district, clothing it 
with grasses of its own ; and in a few years this forest land, reclaimed 
to prairie, could not be distinguished from the prairie itself, except 
from its greater luxuriance. 

Judge Caton's illustration of how the forests obtain a foot-hold in 
the prairies is so aptly expressed, and in such harmony with the ex- 
perience of every old settler on the prairies of eastern Illinois and 
western Indiana, that we quote it. 

u The cause of the absence of trees on the upland prairies is the 
problem most important to the agricultural interests of our state, and 
it is the inquiry which alone I propose to consider, but cannot resist 
the remark that wherever we do find timber throughout this broad 
field of prairie, it is always in or near the humid portions of it, — as 
along the margins of streams, or upon or near the springy uplands. 
Many most luxuriant groves are found on the highest portions of the 
uplands, but always in the neighborhood of water. For a remarkable 



32 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

example I may refer to that great chain of groves extending from and 
including the Au Sable Grove on the east and Ilolderman's Grove on 
the west, in Kendall county, occupying the high divide between the 
waters of the Illinois and the Fox Rivers. In and around all the 
groves flowing springs abound, and some of them are separated by 
marshes, to the vei'y borders of which the great trees approach, as if 
the forest were ready to seize upon each yard of ground as soon as it is 
elevated above the swamps. Indeed, all our groves seem to be located 
where water is so disposed as to protect them, to a great or less extent, 
from the prairie fire, although not so situated as to irrigate them. If 
the head-waters of the streams on the prairies are most frequently with- 
out timber, so soon as they have attained sufficient volume to impede 
the progress of the fires, with very few exceptions we find forests on 
their borders, becoming broader and more vigorous as the magnitude 
of the streams increase. It is manifest that land located on the borders 
of streams which the fire cannot pass are only exposed to one-half the 
fires to which they would be exposed but for such protection. This 
tends to show, at least, that if but one-half the fires that have occurred 
had been kindled, the arboraceous growth could have withstood their 
destructive influences, and the whole surface of what is now prairie 
would be forest. Another confirmatory fact, patent to all observers, is, 
that the prevailing winds upon the prairies, especially in the autumn, 
are from the west, and these give direction to the prairie fires. Conse- 
quently, the lands on the westerly sides of the streams are the most 
exposed to the fires, and, as might be expected, we find much the most 
timber on the easterly sides of the streams." 

"Another fact, always a subject of remark among the dwellers on 
the prairies, I regard as conclusive proof that the prairie soils are pecu- 
liarly adapted to the growth of trees is, that wherever the fires have 
been kept from the groves by the settlers, they have rapidly encroached 
upon the prairies, unless closely depastured by the farmers' stock, or 
prevented by cultivation. This fact I regard as established by careful 
observation of more than thirty-five years, during which I have been 
an interested witness of the settlement of this country, — from the time 
when a few log cabins, many miles apart, built in the borders of the 
groves, alone were met with, till now nearly the whole of the great 
prairies in our state, at least, are brought under cultivation by the in- 
dustry of the husbandman. Indeed, this is a fact as well recognized 
by the settlers as that corn will grow upon the prairies when properly 
cultivated. Ten years ago I heard the observation made by intelligent 
men, that within the preceding twenty-five years the area of the timber 
in the prairie portions of the state had actually doubled by the sponta- 



FOREST ENCROACHMENT. 33 

neons extension of the natural groves. However this may be, certain 
it is that the encroachments of the timber upon the prairies have been 
universal and rapid, wherever not impeded by fire or other physical 
causes." 

"When 'Europeans first landed in America, as they left the dense 
forests east of the Alleghanies and went west over the mountains into 
the valleys beyond, anywhere between Lake Erie and the fortieth 
degree of latitude, approaching the Scioto River, they would have seen 
small patches of country destitute of timber. These were called open- 
ings. As they proceeded farther toward the Wabash the number and 
area of these openings or barrens would increase. These last were called 
by the English savannahs or meadows, and by the French, prairies. 
Westward of the Wabash, except occasional tracts of timbered lands 
in northern Indiana, and fringes of forest growth along the inter- 
vening water-courses, the prairies stretch westward continuously across 
a part of Indiana and the whole of Illinois to the Mississippi. Taking 
the line of the Wabash railway, which crosses Illinois in its greatest 
breadth, and beginning in Indiana, where the railway leaves the tim- 
ber, west of the Wabash nearMarshfield, the prairie extends to Qnincy, 
a distance of more than two hundred and fifty miles, and its contin- 
uity the entire way is only broken by four strips of timber along four 
streams running at right angles with the route of the railway, namely 
the timber on the Vermillion River, between Danville and the Indiana 
state-line, the Sangamon, seventy miles west of Danville near Decatur, 
the Sangamon again a few miles east of Springfield, and the Illinois 
River at Meredosia ; and all of the timber at the crossing of these 
several streams, if put together, would not aggregate fifteen miles 
against the two hundred and fifty miles of prairie. Taking a north 
and south direction and parallel with the drainage of the rivers, one 
could start near Ashley, on the Illinois Central railway, in Washing- 
ton county, and going northward, nearly on an air-line, keeping on the 
divide between the Kaskaskia and Little Wabash, the Sangamon and 
the Vermillion, the Iroquois and the Vermillion of the Illinois, cross- 
ing the latter stream between the months of the Fox and Dn Page and 
travel through to the state of Wisconsin, a distance of nearly three 
hundred miles, without encountering five miles of timber during the 
whole journey. Mere figures of distances across the " Grand Prairie," 
as this vast meadow was called by the old settlers, fail to give an ade- 
quate idea of its magnitude. 

Let the reader, in fancy, go back fifty or sixty years, when there 
were no farms between the settlement on the North Arm Prairie, in 
Edgar county, and Ft. Clark, now Peoria, on the Illinois River, or 
3 



34 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

between the Salt Works, west of Danville, and Ft. Dearborn, where 
Chicago now is, or when there was not a house between the Wabash 
and Illinois Rivers in the direction of La Fayette and Ottawa ; when 
there was not a solitary road to mark the way ; when Indian trails alone 
led to unknown places, where no animals except the wild deer and 
slinking wolf would stare, the one with timid wonder, the other with 
treacherous leer, upon the ventursome traveler; when the gentle winds 
moved the supple grasses like waves of a green sea under the sum- 
mer's sky ; — the beauty, the grandeur and solitude of the prairies may 
be imagined as they were a reality to the pioneer when he first beheld 
them. 

There is an essential difference between the prairies eastward of the 
Mississippi and the great plains westward necessary to be borne in 
mind. The western plains, while they present a seeming level appear- 
ance to the eye, rise rapidly to the westward. From Kansas City to 
Pueblo the ascent is continuous; beyond Ft. Dodge, the plains, owing 
to their elevation and consequent dryness of the atmosphere and 
absence of rainfall, produce a thin and stunted vegetation. The prai- 
ries of Illinois and Indiana, on the contrary, are much nearer the sea- 
level, where the moisture is greater. There were many ponds and 
sloughs which aided in producing a humid atmosphere, all which 
induced a rank growth of grasses. All early writers, referring to the 
vegetation of our prairies, including Fathers Hennepin, St. Cosme, 
Charlevoix and others, who recorded their personal observations nearly 
two hundred years ago, as well as later English and American travel- 
ers, bear uniform testimony to the fact of an unusually luxuriant 
growth of grasses. 

Early settlers, in the neighborhood of the author, all bear witness 
to the rank growth of vegetation on the prairies before it was grazed 
by live stock, and supplanted with shorter grasses, that set in as the 
country improved. Since the organization of Edgar county in 1S23, — 
of which, all the territory north to the Wisconsin line was then a 
part, — on the level prairie between the present sites of Danville and 
Georgetown, the grass grew so high that it was a source of amusement 
to tie the tops over the withers of a horse, and in places the height of 
the grass would nearly obscure both horse and rider from view. This 
was not a slough, but on arable land, where some of the first farms in 
Vermillion county were broken out. On the high rolling prairies the 
vegetation was very much shorter, though thick and compact ; its aver- 
age height being about two feet. 

The prairie fires have been represented in exaggerated pictures of 
men and wild animals retreating at full speed, with every mark of ter- 






PRAIRIE FIRES. 35 

ror, before the devouring element. Such pictures are overdrawn. In- 
stances of loss of human life, or animals, may have sometimes occurred. 
The advance of the fire is rapid or slow, as the wind may be strong or 
light ; the flames leaping high in the air in their progress over level 
ground, or burning lower over the uplands. When a fire starts under 
favorable causes, the horizon gleams brighter and brighter until a fiery 
redness rises above its dark outline, while heavy, slow-moving masses 
of dark clouds curve upward above it. In another moment the blaze 
itself shoots up, first at one spot then at another, advancing until the 
whole horizon extending across a wide prairie is clothed with flames, 
that roll and curve and dash onward and upward like waves of a burn- 
ing ocean, lighting up the landscape with the brilliancy of noon-day. 
A roaring, crackling sound is heard like the rushing of a hurricane. 
The flame, which in general rises to the height of twenty feet, is seen 
rolling its waves against each other as the liquid, fiery mass moves for- 
ward, leaving behind it a blackened surface on the ground, and long 
trails of murky smoke floating above. A more terrific sight than the 
burning prairies in early days can scarcely be conceived. Woe to the 
farmer whose fields extended into the prairie, and who had suffered 
the tall grass to grow near his fences ; the labor of the year would be 
swept away in a few hours. Such accidents occasionally occurred, 
although the preventive was simple. The usual remedy was to set 
fire against fire, or to burn off a strip of grass in the vicinity of the 
improved ground, a beaten road, the treading of domestic animals 
about the inclosure of the farmer, would generally afford protection. 
In other cases a few furrows would be plowed around the field, or the 
grass closely mowed between the outside of the fence and the open 
prairie.* 

No wonder that the Indians, noted for their naming a place or 
thing from some of its distinctive peculiarities, should have called 
the prairies Mas-ko-tia, or the place of fire. In the ancient Algon- 
quin tongue, as well as in its more modern form of the Ojibbeway (or 
Chippeway, as this people are improperly designated), the word scoutay 
means fire ; and in the Illinois and Pottowatarnie, kindred dialects, it 
is scotte and scutay, respectively, f It is also eminently characteristic 
that the Indians, who lived and hunted exclusively upon the prairies, 
were known among their red brethren as " Maskoutes," rendered by 
the French writers, Maskoutines, or People of the Fire or Prairie 
Country. 

North of a line drawn west from Yincennes, Illinois is wholly 

* Judge James Hall: Tales of the Border, p. 244; Statistics of the West, p. 82. 
t Gallatin's Synopsis of the Indian Tribes, etc. 



36 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

prairie, — always excepting the thin curtain of timber draping the 
water-courses ; and all that part of Indiana lying north and west of 
the Wabash, embracing fully one-third of the area of the state, is 
essentially so. 

Of the twenty-seven counties in Indiana, lying wholly or partially 
west and north of the Wabash, twelve of them are prairie ; seven are 
mixed prairies, barrens and timber, the barrens and prairie predomi- 
nating. In five, the barrens, with the prairies, are nearly equal to the 
timber, while only three of the counties can be characterized as heavily 
timbered. And wherever timber does occur in these twenty-seven 
counties, it is found in localities favorable to its protection against the 
ravages of fire, by the proximity of intervening lakes, marshes or 
water-courses. We cannot know how long it took the forest to ad- 
vance from the Scioto ; how often capes and points of trees, like skir- 
mishers of an army, secured a foothold to the eastward of the lakes and 
rivers of Ohio and Indiana, only to be driven back again by the prairie 
fires advancing from the opposite direction ; or conceive how many 
generations of forest growth were consumed by the prairie fires before 
the timber-line was pushed westward across the state of Ohio, and 
through Indiana to the banks of the Wabash. 

The prairies of Illinois and Indiana were born of water and pre- 
served by fire for the children of civilized men, who have come and 
taken possession of them. The manner of their coming, and the diffi- 
culties that befell them on the way, will hereafter be considered. The 
white man, like the forests, advanced from the east. The red man, 
like the prairie fires, as we shall hereafter see, came from the west. 



CHAPTER VI. 



EARLY DISCOVERIES. 



Having given a description of the lakes and rivers, and noticed 
some of the more prominent features that characterize the physical 
geography of the territory within the scope of our inquiry, and the 
parts necessarily connected with it, forming, as it were, the outlines or 
ground plan of its history, we will now proceed to fill in the frame- 
work, with a narration of its discovery. Jacques Cartier, as already 
intimated in a note on a preceding page, ascended the St. Lawrence 
River in 1535. He sailed up the stream as far as the great Indian vil- 
lage of Hoc Lelaga, situated on an island at the foot of the mountain, 
styled by him Mont Royal, now called Montreal, a name since extend- 
ed to the whole island. The country thus discovered was called New 
France. Later, and in the year 1598, France, after fifty years of 
domestic troubles, recovered her tranquillity, and, finding herself once 
more equal to great enterprises, acquired a taste for colonization. Her 
attention was directed to her possessions, by right of discovery, in the 
new world, where she now wished to establish colonies and extend the 
faith of the Catholic religion. Commissions or grants were accordingly 
issued to companies of merchants, and others organized for this pur- 
pose, who undertook to make settlements in Acadia, as Nova Scotia 
was then called, and elsewhere along the lower waters of the St. Law- 
rence ; and, at a later day, like efforts were made higher up the river. 
In 1607 Mr. De Monts, having failed in a former enterprise, was 
deprived of his commission, which was restored to him on the condition 
that he would make a settlement on the St. Lawrence. The company 
he represented seems to have had the fur trade only in view, and this 
object caused it to change its plans and avoid Acadia altogether. De 
Monts' company increased in numbers and capital in proportion as the 
fur trade developed expectations of profit, and many persons at St. 
Malo, particularly, gave it their support. Feeling that his name 
injured his associates, M. De Monts retired ; and when he ceased to be 
its governing head, the company of merchants recovered the monopoly 
with which the charter was endowed, for no other object than making 
money out of the fur trade. They cared nothing whatever for the col- 
ony in Acadia, which was dying out, and made no settlements else- 

37 



38 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

where. However, Mr. Samuel Champlain, who cared little for the fur 
trade, and whose thoughts were those of a patriot, after maturely ex- 
amining where the settlements directed by the court might be best 
established, at last fixed on Quebec. He arrived there on the 3d of 
July, 1608, put up some temporary buildings for himself and company, 
and began to clear off the ground, which proved fertile.* 

The colony at Quebec grew apace with emigrants from France ; 
and later, the establishment of a settlement at the island of Montreal 
was undertaken. Two religious enthusiasts, the one named Jerome le 
Royer de la Dauversiere, of Anjou, and the other John James Olier, 
assumed the undertaking in 1636. The next who joined in the move- 
ment was Peter Chevirer, Baron Fancamp, who in 1640 sent tools and 
provisions for the use of the coming settlers. The projectors were 
now aided by the celebrated Baron de Renty, and two others. Father 
Charles Lalemant induced John de Lauson, the proprietor of the island 
of Montreal, to cede it to these gentlemen, which he did in August, 
1640 ; and to remove all doubts as to the title, the associates obtained 
a grant from the New France Company, in December of the same year, 
which was subsequently ratified by the king himself. The associates 
agreed to send out forty settlers, to clear and cultivate the ground ; to 
increase the number annually ; to supply them with two sloops, cattle 
and farm hands, and, after five years, to erect a seminary, maintain 
ecclesiastics as missionaries and teachers, and also nuns as teachers and 
hospitalers. On its part the New France Company agreed to trans- 
port thirty settlers. The associates then contributed twenty-five thou- 
sand crowns to begin the settlement, and Mr. de Maisonneuve embarked 
with his colony on three vessels, which sailed from Rochelle and 
Dieppe, in the summer of 1641. The colony wintered in Quebec, 
spending their time in building boats and preparing timber for their 
houses ; and on the 8th of May, 1642, embarked, and arrived nine 
days after at the island of Montreal, and after saying mass began an 
intrenchment around their tents, f 

Notwithstanding the severity of the climate, the loss of life by dis- 
eases incident to settling of new countries, and more especially the 

* History of New France. 

t From Dr. Shea's valuable note on Montreal, on pages 129 and 130, vol. 2, of 
his translation of Father Charlevoix' History of New France. Mr. Albach, publisher 
of ''Annals of the West," Pittsburgh edition, 1857, p. 49, is in error in saying that 
Montreal was founded in 1613, by Samuel Champlain. Champlain, in company with 
a young Huron Indian, whom he had taken to and brought back from France on a 
previous voyage, visited the island of Montreal in 1611, and chose it as a place for a 
settlement he designed to establish, but which he did not begin, as he was obliged to 
return to France; vide Charlevoix' " History of New France," vol. 2, p. 23. The Ameri- 
can Clyclopedia, as well as other authorities, concur with Dr. Shea, that Montreal was 
founded in 1642, seven years after Champlain's death. 



QUEBEC FOUNDED. 39 

•destruction of its people from raids of the dreaded Iroquois Indians, 
the French colonies grew until, according to a report of Governor 
Mons. Denonville to the Minister at Paris, the population of Canada, 
in 1686, had increased to 12,373 souls. Quebec and Montreal became 
the base of operations of the French in America ; the places from 
which missionaries, traders and explorers went out among the savages 
into countries hitherto unknown, going northward and westward, 
even beyond the extremity of Lake Superior to the upper waters of 
the Mississippi, and southward to the Gulf of Mexico ; and it was 
from these cities that the religious, military and commercial affairs of 
this widely extended region were administered, and from which the 
French settlements subsequently established in the northwest and at 
New Orleans were principally recruited. The influence of Quebec and 
Montreal did not end with the fall of French power in America. It 
was from these cities that the English retained control of the fur trade 
in, and exerted a power over the Indian tribes of, the northwest that 
harassed and retarded the spread of the American settlements through 
all the revolutionary war, and during the later contest between Great 
Britain and the United States in the war of 1812. Indeed, it was 
only until after the fur trade was exhausted and the Indians placed 
beyond the Mississippi, subsequent to 1820, that Quebec and Montreal 
ceased to exert an influence in that part of New France now known as 
Illinois and Indiana. 

Father Claude Allouez, coasting westward from Sault Ste. Marie, 
reached Chegoimegon, as the Indians called the bay south of the Apos- 
tle Islands and near La Pointe on the southwestern shore of Lake Supe- 
rior, in October, 1665. Here he found ten or twelve fragments of 
Algonquin tribes assembled and about to hang the war kettle over the 
fire preparatory for an incursion westward into the territory of the 
Sioux. The good father persuaded them to give up their intended 
hostile expedition. He set up in their midst a chapel, to which he gave 
the name of the " Mission of the Holy Ghost," at the spot afterward 
known as " Lapointe du Saint Esprit," and at once began his mission 
work. His chapel was an object of wonder, and its establishment soon 
spread among the wild children of the forest, and thither from great 
distances came numbers all alive with curiosity, — the roving Potta- 
watomies, Sacs and Foxes, the Kickapoos, the Illinois and Miamis, — 
to whom the truths of Christianity were announced.* 

Three years later Father James Marquette took the place of Allouez, 
and while here he seems to have been the first that learned of the Missis- 
sippi. In a letter written from this mission by Father Marquette to 
* Shea's History of Catholic Missions, 358. 



40 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

his Reverend Father Superior, preserved in the Relations for 1669 and 
1670, he says : " When the Illinois come to the point they pass a 
great river, which is almost a league in width. It flows from north 
to south, and to so great a distance that the Illinois, who know nothing 
of the use of the canoe, have never as yet heard tell of the mouth ; they 
only know that there are great nations below them, some of whom, 
dwelling to the east-southeast of their country, gather their Indian-corn 
twice a year. A nation that they call Chaouanon (Shawnees) came to 
visit them during the past summer; the young man that has been 
given to me to teach me the language has seen them ; they were loaded 
with glass beads, which shows that they have communication with the 
Europeans. They had to journey across the land for more than thirty 
days before arriving at their country. It is hardly probable that this 
great river discharges itself in Virginia. We are more inclined to 
believe that it has its mouth in California. If the savages, who have 
promised to make me a canoe, do not fail in their word, we will navi- 
gate this river as far as is possible in company with a Frenchman and 
this young man that they have given me, who understands several of 
these languages and possesses great facility for acquiring others. We 
shall visit the nations who dwell along its shores, in order to open the 
w T ay to many of our fathers who for a long time have awaited this 
happiness. This discovery will give us a perfect knowledge of the sea 
either to the south or to the west." 

These reports concerning the great river came to the knowledge 
of the authorities at Quebec and Paris, and naturally enough stimu- 
lated further inquiry. There were three theories as to where the river 
emptied ; one, that it discharged into the Atlantic south of the British 
colony of Virginia ; second, that it flowed into the Gulf of Mexico; 
and third, which was the more popular belief, that it emptied into the 
Red Sea, as the Gulf of California was called ; and if the latter, that it 
would afford a passage to China. To solve this important commercial 
problem in geography, it was determined, as appears from a letter from 
the Governor, Count Frontenac, at Quebec, to M. Colbert, Minister of 
the navy at Paris, expedient " for the service to send Sieur Joliet to 
the country of the Mascoutines, to discover the South Sea and the great 
river — they call the Mississippi — which is supposed to discharge itself 
into the Sea of California. Sieur Joliet is a man of great experience 
in these sorts of discoveries, and has already been almost to that great 
river, the mouth of which he promises to see. We shall have intelli- 
gence of him, certainly, this summer.* Father Marquette was chosen 
to accompany Joliet on account of the information he had already ob- 

* Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 92. 



SPANISH EXPLORATIONS. 41 

tained from the Indians relating to the countries to be explored, and 
also because, as he wrote Father Dablon, his superior, when informed 
by the latter that he was to be Joliet's companion, " I am ready to go 
on your order to seek new nations toward the South Sea, and teach 
them of our great God whom they hitherto have not known." 

The voyage of Joliet and Marquette is so interesting that we intro- 
duce extracts from Father Marquette's journal. The version we adopt 
is Father Marquette's original journal, prepared for publication by his 
superior, Father Dablon, and which lay in manuscript at Quebec, among 
the archives of the Jesuits, until 1852, when it, together with Father 
Marquette's original map, were brought to light, translated into Eng- 
lish, and published by Dr. John G. Shea, in his " Discovery and Explo- 
ration of the Mississippi." The version commonly sanctioned was 
Marquette's narrative sent to the French government, where it lay 
unpublished until it came into the hands of M. Thevenot, who printed 
it at Paris, in a book issued by him in 1681, called " Receuil de Voy- 
ages." This account differs somewhat, though not essentially, from 
the narrative as published by Dr. Shea. 

Before proceeding farther, however, we will turn aside a moment 
to note the fact that Spain had a prior right over France to the Missis- 
sippi Valley by virtue of previous discovery. As early as the year 
1525, Cortez had conquered Mexico, portioned out its rich mines 
among his favorites and reduced the inoffensive inhabitants to the worst 
of slavery, making them till the ground and toil in the mines for their 
unfeeling masters. A few years following the conquest of Mexico, the 
Spaniards, under Pamphilus de Narvaez, in 1528, undertook to conquer 
and colonize Florida and the entire northern coast-line of the Gulf. 
After long and fruitless wanderings in the interior, his party returned 
to the sea-coast and endeavored to reach Tampico, in wretched boats. 
Nearly all perished by storm, disease or famine. The survivors, with 
one Cabeza de Vaca at their head, drifted to an island near the present 
state of Mississippi; from which, after four years of slavery, De Vaca, 
with four companions, escaped to the mainland and started westward, 
going clear across the continent to the Gulf of California. The 
natives took them for supernatural beings. They assumed the guise 
of jugglers, and the Indian tribes, through which they passed, invested 
them with the title of medicine-men, and their lives were thus guarded 
with superstitious awe. They are, perhaps, the first Europeans who 
ever went overland from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They must have 
crossed the Great River somewhere on their route, and, says Dr. 
Shea, " remain in history, in a distant twilight, as the first Europeans 
known to have stood on the banks of the Mississippi." In 1539, 



42 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Hernando de Soto, with a party of cavaliers, most of them sons of 
titled nobility, landed with their horses upon the coast of Florida. 
During that and the following four years, these daring adventurers 
wandered through the wilderness, traveling in portions of Florida, 
Carolina, the northern parts of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, 
crossing the Mississippi, as is supposed, as high up as White River, 
and going still westward to the base of the Rocky Mountains, vainly 
searching for the rich gold mines of which De Vaca had given marvel- 
ous accounts. De Soto's party endured hardships that would depress 
the stoutest heart, while, with fire and sword, they perpetrated atrocities 
upon the Indian tribes through which they passed, burning their 
villages and inflicting cruelties which make us blush for the wicked- 
ness of men claiming to be christians. De Soto died, in May or June, 
1542, on the banks of the Mississippi, below the mouth of the 
Washita, and his immediate attendants concealed his death from the 
others and secretly, in the night, buried his body in the middle of the 
stream. The remnant of his survivors went westward and then 
returned back again to the river, passing the winter upon its banks. 
The following spring they went down the river, in seven boats which 
they had rudely constructed out of such scanty material and with the 
few T tools they could command. In these, after a three months' voyage, 
they arrived at the Spanish town of Panuco, on the river of that name 
in Mexico. 

Later, in 1565, Spain, failing in previous attempts, effected a lodg- 
ment in Florida, and for the protection of her colony built the fort at 
St. Augustine, whose ancient ruin, still standing, is an object of curi- 
osity to the health-seeker and a monument to the hundreds of native 
Indians who, reduced to bondage by their Spanish conquerors, perished, 
after years of unrequited labor, in erecting its frowning walls and 
gloomy dungeons. 

While Spain retained her hold upon Mexico and enlarged her posses- 
sions, and continued, with feebler efforts, to keep possession of the 
Floridas, she took no measures to establish settlements along the Mis- 
sissippi or to avail herself of the advantage that might have resulted 
from its discovery. The Great River excited no further notice after 
De Soto's time. For the next hundred years it remained as it were 
a sealed mystery until the French, approaching from the north by 
way of the lakes, explored it in its entire length, and brought to 
public light the vast extent and wonderful fertility of its valleys. 
Resuming the thread of our history at the place where we turned aside 
to notice the movements of the Spanish toward the Gulf, we now pro- 
ceed with the extracts from Father Marquette's journal of the voyage 
of discovery down the Mississippi. 



CHAPTER VII. 

JOLIET AND MARQUETTE'S VOYAGE. 

The day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, 
whom I had always invoked, since I have been in this Ottawa country, 
to obtain of God the grace to be able to visit the nations on the River 
Mississippi, was identically that on which M. Jollyet arrived with 
orders of the Comte de Frontenac, our governor, and M. Talon, our 
intendant, to make this discovery with me. I was the more enraptured 
at this good news, as I saw my designs on the point of being accom- 
plished, and myself in the happy necessity of exposing my life for the 
salvation of all these nations, and particularly for the Illinois, who had, 
when I was at Lapointe du Esprit, very earnestly entreated me to carry 
the word of God to their country." 

"We were not long in preparing our outfit, although we were 
embarking on a voyage the duration of which we could' not foresee. 
Indian corn, with some dried meats, was our whole stock of provisions. 
With this we set out in two bark canoes, M. Jollyet, myself and live 
men, firmly resolved to do all and suffer all for so glorious an enterprise." 

" It was on the 17th of May, 1673, that we started from the mission 
of St. Ignatius, at Michilimakinac, where I then was."* 

" Our joy at being chosen for this expedition roused our courage 
and sweetened the labor of rowing from morning to night. As we 
were going to seek unknown countries, we took all possible precau- 
tions that, if our enterprise was hazardous, it should not be foolhardy ; 
for this reason we gathered all possible information from the Indians 
who had frequented those parts, and even from their accounts, traced 
a map of all the new country, marking down the rivers on which we 
were to sail, the names of the nations and places through which we 
were to pass, the course of the Great River, and what direction we 
should take when we got to it." 

"Above all, I put our voyage under the protection of the Blessed 
Virgin Immaculate, promising her that, if she did us the grace to dis- 
cover the Great River, I would give it the name of the conception ; 

* St. Ignatius was not on the Island of Mackinaw, but westward of it, on a point 
of land extending into the strait, from the north shore, laid down on modern maps as 
" Point St. Ignace." On this bleak, exposed and barren spot this mission was estab- 
lished by Marquette himself in 1671. Shea's Catholic Missions, p. 364. 



44 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

and that I would also give that name to the first mission I should 
establish among these new nations, as I have actually done among the 
Illinois." 

After some days they reached an Indian village, and the journal 
proceeds : " Here we are, then, at the Maskoutens. This word, in 
Algonquin, may mean Fire Nation, and that is the name given to them. 
This is the limit of discoveries made by the French, for they have not 
yet passed beyond it. This town is made up of three nations gathered 
here, Miamis, Maskoutens and Ivikabous.* As bark for cabins, in this 
country, is rare, they use rushes, which serve them for walls and roofs, 
but which afford them no protection against the wind, and still less 
against the rain when it falls in torrents. The advantage of this kind 
of cabins is that they can roll them up and carry them easily where 
they like in hunting time." 

" I felt no little pleasure in beholding the position of this town. The 
view is beautiful and very picturesque, for, from the eminence on which 
it is perched, the eye discovers on every side prairies spreading away 
beyond its reach interspersed with thickets or groves of trees. The 
soil is very good, producing much corn. The Indians gather also 
quantities of plums and grapes, from which good wine could be made 
if they choose." 

" No sooner had we arrived than M. Jollyet and I assembled the 
Sachems. He told them that he was sent by our governor to discover 
new countries, and I by the Almighty to illumine them with the light 
of the gospel; that the Sovereign Master of our lives wished to be 
known to all nations, and that to obey his will I did not fear death, to 
which I exposed myself in such dangerous voyages ; that we needed 
two guides to put us on our way ; these, making them a present, we 
begged them to grant us. This they did very civilly, and even pro- 
ceeded to speak to us by a present, which was a mat to serve ns on our 
voyage." 

"The next day, which was the 10th of June, two Miamis whom 
they had given us as guides embarked with us in the sight of a great 
crowd, who could not wonder enough to see seven Frenchmen, alone 
in two canoes, dare to undertake so strange and so hazardous an expe- 
dition." 

" We knew that there was, three leagues from Maskoutens, a river 
emptying into the Mississippi. We knew, too, that the point of the 
compass we were to hold to reach it was the west-southwest, but the 

*The village was near the mouth of Wolf River, which empties into Winnebago 
Lake, Wisconsin. The stream was formerly called the Maskouten, and a tribe of this 
name dwelt along its banks. 



Marquette's voyage. 45 

way is so cut up with marshes and little lakes that it is easy to go 
astray, especially as the river leading to it is so covered with wild oats 
that you can hardly discover the channel ; hence we had need of our 
two guides, who led us safely to a portage of twenty-seven hundred 
paces and helped us transport our canoes to enter this river, after 
which they returned, leaving us alone in an unknown country in the 
hands of Providence."* 

" "We now leave the waters which flow to Quebec, a distance of four 
or five hundred leagues, to follow those which will henceforth lead us 
into strange lands. 

" Our route was southwest, and after sailing about thirty leagues we 
perceived a place which had all the appearances of an iron mine, and 
in fact one of our party who had seen some before averred that the one 
we had found was very rich and very good. After forty leagues on 
this same route we reached the mouth of our river, and finding our- 
selves at 42-|° N. we safely entered the Mississippi on the 17th of June 
with a joy that I cannot express."f 

*This portage has given the name to Portage City, Wisconsin, where the upper 
waters of Fox River, emptying into Green Bay, approach the Wisconsin River, which, 
coming from the northwest, here changes its course to the southwest. The distance 
from the Wisconsin to the Fox River at this point is, according to Henry R. School- 
craft, a mile and a half across a level prairie, and the level of the two streams is so nearly 
the same that in high water loaded canoes formerly passed from the one to the other 
across this low prairie. For many miles below the portage the channel of Fox River 
was choked with a growth of tangled wild rice. The stream frequently expanding 
into little lakes, and its winding, crooked course through the prairie, well justifies the 
tradition of the Winnebago Indians concerning its origin. A vast serpent that lived 
in the waters of the Mississippi took a freak to visit the great lakes ; he left his trail 
where he crossed over the prairie, which, collecting the waters as they fell from the rains 
of heaven, at length became Fox River. The little lakes along its course were, prob- 
ably, the places where he flourished about in his uneasy slumbers at night. Mrs. John 
H. Kinzie's AVaubun, p. 80. 

f Father Marquette, agreeably to his vow, named the river the Immaculate Concep- 
tion. Nine years later, when Robert La Salle, having discovered the river in its entire 
length, took possession at its mouth of the whole Mississippi Valley, he named the 
river Colbert, in honor of the Minister of the Navy, a man renowned alike for his 
ability, at the head of the Department of the Marine, and for the encouragement he 
gave to literature, science and art. Still later, in 1712, when the vast country drained by 
its waters was farmed out to private enterprise, as appears from letters patent from the 
King of France, conveying the whole to M. Crozat, the name of the river was changed 
to St. Lewis. Fortunately the Mississippi retains its aboriginal name, which is a com- 
pound from the two Algonquin words missi, signifying great, and sepe, a river. The 
former is variously pronounced missil or michil, as in Michilimakinac ; michi, as in Mich- 
igan ; missu, as in Missouri, and missi, as in the Mississeneway of the Wabash. The 
variation in pronunciation is not greater than we might expect in an unwritten lan- 
guage. "The Western Indians," says Mr. Schoolcraft, " have no other word than missi 
to express the highest degree of magnitude, either in a moral or in a physical sense, and 
it may be considered as not only synonymous to our word great, but also magnificent, 
supreme, stupendous, etc." Father Hennepin, who next to Marquette wrote concern- 
ing the derivation of the name, says : " Mississippi, in the language of the Illinois, 
means the great river." Some authors, perhaps with more regard for a pleasing fic- 
tion than plain matter-of-fact, have rendered Mississippi "The Father of Waters;" 
whereas, >ws, nousscy and nosha mean father, and neebi, nipt or nepee mean water, as 
universally in the dialect of Algonquin tribes, as does the word missi mean great and 
sepi a river. 



46 HISTORIC NOTES OK THE NORTHWEST. 

" Having descended as far as 41° 28', following the same direction, 
we find that turkeys have taken the place of game, and pisikious (buf- 
falo) or wild cattle that of other beasts. 

" At last, on the 25th of June, we perceived foot-prints of men by 
the water-side and a beaten path entering a beautiful prairie. We 
stopped to examine it, and concluding that it was a path leading to 
some Indian village we resolved to go and reconnoitre ; we accordingly 
left our two canoes in charge of our people, cautioning them to beware 
of a surprise ; then M. Jollyet and I undertook this rather hazardous 
discovery for two single men, who thus put themselves at the mercy of 
an unknown and barbarous people. We followed the little path in 
silence, and having advanced about two leagues we discovered a village 
on the banks of the river, and two others on a hill half a league from 
the former. Then, indeed, we recommended ourselves to God with all 
our hearts, and having implored his help we passed on undiscovered, 
and came so near that we even heard the Indians talking. We then 
deemed it time to announce ourselves, as we did, by a cry which we 
raised with all our strength, and then halted, without advancing any 
farther. At this cry the Indians rushed out of their cabins, and hav- 
ing probably recognized us as French, especially seeing a black gown, 
or at least having no reason to distrust us, seeing we were but two and 
had made known our coming, they deputed four old men to come and 
speak to us. Two carried tobacco-pipes well adorned and trimmed 
with many kinds of feathers. They marched slowly, lifting their pipes 
toward the sun as if offering them to it to smoke, but yet without 
uttering a single word. They were a long time coming the little way 
from the village to us. Having reached us at last, they stopped to con- 
sider us attentively. 

" I now took courage, seeing these ceremonies, which are used by 
them only with friends, and still more on seeing them covered with stuffs 
which made me judge them to be allies. I, therefore, spoke to them 
first, and asked them who they were. They answered that they were 
Illinois, and in token of peace they presented their pipes to smoke. 
They then invited us to their village, where all the tribe awaited us 
with impatience. These pipes for smoking are all called in this country 
calumets, a word that is so much in use that I shall be obliged to employ 
it in order to be understood, as I shall have to speak of it frecpnently. 

; ' At the door of the cabin in which we were to be received was an 
old man awaiting us in a very remarkable posture, which is their usual 
ceremony in receiving strangers. This man was standing perfectly 
naked, with his hands stretched out and raised toward the sun, as if he 
wished to screen himself from its rays, which, nevertheless, passed 



PRESENTATION OF THE CALUMET. 47 

through his ringers to his face. When we came near him he paid us 
this compliment : ' How beautiful is the sun, O Frenchman, when 
thou comest to visit us ! All our town awaits thee, and thou shalt 
enter all our cabins in peace.' He then took us into his, where there 
was a crowd of people, who devoured us with their eyes but kept a 
profound silence. We heard, however, these words occasionally ad- 
dressed to us : ' Well done, brothers, to visit us ! ' As soon as we had 
taken our places they showed us the usual civility of the country, 
which is to present the calumet. You must not refuse it unless you 
would pass for an enemy, or at least for being very impolite. It is, 
however, enough to pretend to smoke. While all the old men smoked 
after us to honor us, some came to invite us, on behalf of the great 
sachem of all the Illinois, to proceed to his town, where he wished to 
hold a council with us. We went with a good retinue, for all the 
people who had never seen a Frenchman among them could not tire 
looking at us ; they threw themselves on the grass by the wayside, 
they ran ahead, then turned and walked back to see us again. All this 
was done without noise, and with marks of a great respect entertained 
for us. 

" Having arrived at the great sachem's town, we espied him at his 
cabin door between two old men ; all three standing naked, with their 
calumet turned to the sun. He harangued us in a few words, to con- 
gratulate us on our arrival, and then presented us his calumet and made 
us smoke ; at the same time we entered his cabin, where we received 
all their usual greetings. Seeing all assembled and in silence, I spoke 
to them by four presents which I made. By the first, I said that we 
marched in peace to visit the nations on the river to the sea ; by the 
second, I declared to them that God, their creator, had pity on them, 
since, after their having been so long ignorant of him, he wished to 
become known to all nations ; that I was sent on his behalf with this 
design ; that it was for them to acknowledge and obey him ; by the 
third, that the great chief of the French informed them that he spread 
peace everywhere, and had overcome the Iroquois ; lastly, by the fourth, 
we begged them to give us all the information they had of the sea, and 
of nations through which we should have to pass to reach it. 

" When I had finished my speech, the sachem rose, and laying his 
hand on the head of a little slave whom he was about to give us, spoke 
thus : ' I thank thee, Black-gown, and thee, Frenchman,' addressing 
M. Jollyet, 'for taking so much pains to come and visit us. Never has 
the earth been so beautiful, nor the sun so bright, as to-day ; never has 
our river been so calm, nor so free from rocks, which your canoes have 
removed as they passed ; never has our tobacco had so fine a flavor, 



48 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

nor our corn appeared so beautiful as we behold it to-day. Here is my 
son that I give thee that thou may est know my heart. I pray thee 
take pity on me and all my nation. Thou knowest the Great Spirit 
who has made us all ; thou speakest to him and hearest his word ; ask 
him to give me life and health, and come and dwell with us that we 
may know him.' Saying this, he placed the little slave near us and 
made us a second present, an all mysterious calumet, which they value 
more than a slave. By this present he showed us his esteem for our 
governor, after the account we had given of him. By the third he 
begged us, on behalf of his whole nation, not to proceed farther on 
account of the great dangers to which we exposed ourselves. 

" I replied that I did not fear death, and that I esteemed no happi- 
ness greater than that of losing my life for the glory of him who made 
us all. But this these poor people could not understand. The coun- 
cil was followed by a great feast which consisted of four courses, which 
we had to take with all their ways. The first course was a great wooden 
dish full of sagamity, — that is to say, of Indian meal boiled in water 
and seasoned with grease. The master of ceremonies, with a spoonful 
of sagamity, presented it three or four times to my mouth, as we would 
do with a little child ; he did the same to M. Jollyet. For the second 
course, he brought in a second dish containing three fish ; he took 
some pains to remove the bones, and having blown upon it to cool it, 
put it in my mouth as we would food to a bird. For the third course 
they produced a large dog which they had just killed, but, learning 
that we did not eat it, withdrew it. Finally, the fourth course was a 
piece of wild ox, the fattest portions of which were put into our 
mouths. 

" We took leave of our Illinois about the end of June, and em- 
barked in sight of all the tribe, who admire our little canoes, having 
never seen the like. 

"As Ave were discoursing, while sailing gently down a beautiful, 
still, clear water, we heard the noise of a rapid into which we were 
about to fall. I have seen nothing more frightful ; a mass of large 
trees, entire, with branches, — real floating islands, — came rushing from 
the mouth of the river Pekitanolii, so impetuously that we could not, 
without great danger, expose ourselves to pass across. The agitation 
was so great that the water was all muddy and could not get clear.* 

* Pekitanolii, with the aboriginals, signified " muddy water," on the authority of 
Father Marest, in his letter referred to in a previous note. The present name, Mis- 
souri, according to Le Page du Pratz, vol. 2, p. 157, was derived from the tribe, Mis- 
souris, whose village was some forty leagues above its mouth, and who massacred a 
French garrison situated in that part of the country. The late statesman and orator, 
Thomas A. Benton, referring to the muddiness prevailing at all seasons of the year in 
the Missouri River, said that its waters were "too thick to swim in and too thin to 
walk on." 



BLOT AGAINST MARQUETTE'S LIFE. 49 

"After having made about twenty leagues due south, and a little 
less to the southeast, we came to a river called Ouabouskigou, the mouth 
of which is at 36° north.* This river comes from the country on the 
east inhabited by the Chaouanons, in such numbers that they reckon 
as many as twenty-three villages in one district, and fifteen in another, 
lying quite near each other. They are by no means warlike, and are 
the people the Iroquois go far to seek in order to wage an unprovoked 
war upon them ; and as these poor people cannot defend themselves 
they allow themselves to be taken and carried off like sheep, and, inno- 
cent as they are, do not fail to experience the barbarity of the Iroquois, 
who burn them cruelly.' 

Having arrived about half a league from Akansea (Arkansas 
River), we saw two canoes coining toward us. The commander was 
standing up holding in his hand a calumet, with which he made signs 
according to the custom of the country. He approached us, singing quite 
agreeably, and invited us to smoke, after which he presented us some 
sagamity and bread made of Indian corn, of which we ate a little. 
We fortunately .found among them a man who understood Illinois much 
better than the man we brought from Mitchigameh. By means of 
him, I first spoke to the assembly by ordinary presents. They admired 
what I told them of God and the mysteries of our holy faith, and 
showed a great desire to keep me with them to instruct them. 

" We then asked them what they knew of the sea ; they replied 
that we were only ten days' journey from it (we could have made the 
distance in five days) ; that they did not know the nations who inhab- 
ited it, because their enemies prevented their commerce with those 
Europeans ; that the Indians with fire-arms whom we had met were 
their enemies, who cut off the passage to the sea, and prevented their 
making the acquaintance of the Europeans, or having any commerce 
with them ; that besides we should expose ourselves greatly by passing 
on, in consequence of the continual war parties that their enemies sent 
out on the river; since, being armed and used to Avar, we could not, 
without evident danger, advance on that river which they constantly 
occupy. 

" In the evening the sachems held a secret council on the design of 
some to kill us for plunder, but the chief broke up all these schemes, 
and sending for us, danced the calumet in our presence, and then, to 
remove all fears, presented it to me. 

" M. Jollyet and I held another council to deliberate on what we 
should do, whether we should push on, or rest satisfied with the dis- 

*The Wabash here appears, for the first time, by name. A more extended notice 
of the various names by which this stream has been known will be given farther on. 
4 



50 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

covery that we had made. After having attentively considered that 
we were not far from the Gulf of Mexico, the basin of which is 31° 
40' north, and we at 33° 40'; so that we could not be more than two 
or three days' journey off"; that the Mississippi undoubtedly had its 
mouth in Florida or the Gulf of Mexico, and not on the east in Vir- 
ginia, whose sea-coast is at 34° north, which we had passed, without 
having as yet reached the sea, nor on the western side in California, 
because that would require a west, or west-southwest course, and we 
had always been going south. We considered, moreover, that we 
risked losing the fruit of this voyage, of which we could give no 
information, if we should throw ourselves into the hands of the Span- 
iards, who would undoubtedly at least hold us as prisoners. Besides 
it was clear that we were not in a condition to resist Indians allied to 
Europeans, numerous and expert in the use of fire-arms, who contin- 
ually infested the lower part of the river. Lastly, we had gathered all 
the information that could be desired from the expedition. All these 
reasons induced us to return. This we announced to the Indians, and 
after a day's rest prepared for it. 

"After a month's navigation down the Mississippi, from the 42d to 
below the 34th degree, and after having published the gospel as well 
as I could to the nations I had met, we left the village of Akansea on 
the 17th of July, to retrace our steps. We accordingly ascended the 
Mississippi, which gave us great trouble to stem its currents. We left 
it, indeed, about the 38th degree, to enter another river (the Illinois), 
which greatly shortened our way, and brought us, with little trouble, 
to the lake of the Illinois. 

" We had seen nothing like this river for the fertility of the land, its 
prairies, woods, wild cattle, stag, deer, wild-cats, bustards, swans, ducks, 
parrots, and even beaver ; its many little lakes and rivers. That on 
which we sailed is broad deep and gentle for sixty-five leagues. 
During the spring and part of the summer, the only portage is half a 
league. 

" We found there an Illinois town called Kaskaskia, composed of 
seventy-four cabins ; they received us well, and compelled me to promise 
them to return and instruct them. One of the chiefs of this tribe, with 
his young men, escorted us to the Illinois Lake, whence at last we 
returned in the close of September to the Bay of the Fetid (Green Bay), 
whence we had set out in the beginning of June. Had all this voyage 
caused but the salvation of a single soul, I should deem all my fatigue 
well repaid, and this I have reason to think, for, when I was returning, 
I passed by the Indians of Peoria. I was three days announcing the 
faith in their cabins, after which, as we were embarking, they brought 



BIOGRAPHY OF JOLIET. 51 

me, on the water's edge, a dying child, which I baptized a little before 
it expired, by an admirable providence for the salvation of that inno- 
cent soul." 

Count Frontenac, writing from Quebec to M. Colbert, Minister of 
the Marine, at Paris, under date of November 14, 1674, announces that 
" Sieur Joliet, whom Monsieur Talon advised me, on my arrival from 
France, to dispatch for the discovery of the South Sea, has returned three 
months ago. He has discovered some very fine countries, and a navi- 
gation so easy through beautiful rivers he has found, that a person can 
go from Lake Ontario in ;i bark to the Gulf of Mexico, there being 
only one carrying place (around Niagara Falls), where Lake Ontario 
communicates with Lake Erie. I send you, by my secretary, the map 
which Sieur Joliet has made of the great river he has discovered, and 
the observations he has been able to recollect, as he lost all his minutes 
and journals in the shipwreck he suffered within sight of Montreal, 
where, after having completed a voyage of twelve hundred leagues, 
he was near being drowned, and lost all his papers and a little Indian 
whom he brought from those countries. These accidents have caused 
me great regret."* 

Louis Joliet, or Jolliet, or Jollyet, as the name is variously spelled, 
was the son of Jean Joliet, a wheelwright, and Mary d'Abancour; he 
was born at Quebec in the year 1645. Having finished his studies at 
the Jesuit college he determined to become a member of that order, and 
with that purpose in view took some of the minor orders of the society 
in August, 1662. He completed his studies in 1666, but during this 
time his attention had become interested in Indian affairs, and he laid 
aside all thoughts of assuming the " black gown." That he acquired 
great ability and tact in managing the savages, is apparent from the 
fact of his having been selected to discover the south sea by the way of 
the Mississippi. The map which he drew from memory, and which 
was forwarded by Count Frontenac to France, was afterward attached 
to Marquette's Journal, and was published by Therenot, at Paris, in 
1681. Sparks, in his " Life of Marquette," copies this map, and ascribes 
it to his hero. This must be a mistake, since it differs quite essentially 
from Marquette's map, which has recently been brought to public notice 
by Dr. Shea. 

Joliet's account of the voyage, mentioned by Frontenac, is published 
in Hennepin's " Discovery of a Vast Country in America." It is very 
meagre, and does not present any facts not covered by Marquette's nar- 
rative. 

In 1680 Joliet was appointed hydrographer to the king, and many 
* Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 121. 



52 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

well-drawn maps at Quebec show that his office was no sinecure. After- 
ward, he made a voyage to Hudson's Bay in the interest of the king; 
and as a reward for the faithful performance of his duty, he was granted 
the island of Anticosti, which, on account of the fisheries and Indian 
trade, was at that time very valuable. After this, he signed himself 
Joliet d'Anticosty. In the year 1697, he obtained the seignory of 
Joliet on the river Etchemins, south of Quebec. M. Joliet died in 
1701, leaving a wife and four children, the descendants of whom are 
living in Canada still possessed of the seignory of Joliet, among whom 
are Archbishop Taschereau of Quebec and Archbishop Tache of Red 
River. 

Mount Joliet, on the Desplaines River, above its confluence with the 
Kankakee, and the city of Joliet, in the county of Will, perpetuate 
the name of Joliet in the state of Illinois. 

Jacques Marquette was born in Laon, France, in 1637. His was- 
the oldest and one of the most respectable citizen families of the place. 
At the age of seventeen he entered the Society of Jesus; received or- 
ders in 1666 to embark for Canada, arriving at Quebec in September 
of the same year. For two years he remained at Three Rivers, study- 
ing the different Indian dialects under Father Gabriel Druillentes. 
At the end of that period he received orders to repair to the upper 
lakes, which he did, and established the Mission of Sault Ste. Marie. 
The following year Dablon arrived, having been appointed Superior of 
the Ottawa missions ; Marquette then went to the " Mission of the Holy 
Ghost" at the western extremity of Lake Superior; here he remained 
for two years, and it was his accounts, forwarded from this place, that 
caused Frontenac and Talon to send Joliet on his voyage to the Mis- 
sissippi. The Sioux having dispersed the Algonquin tribes at Lapointe, 
the latter retreated eastward to Mackinaw ; Marquette followed and 
founded there the Mission of St. Ignatius. Here he remained until 
Joliet came, in 1673, with orders to accompany him on his voyage of 
discovery down the Mississippi. Upon his return, Marquette remained 
at Mackinaw until October, 1674, when he received orders to carry out 
his pet project of founding the " Mission of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion of the Blessed Virgin " among the Illinois. He immediately set 
out, but owing to a severe dysentery, contracted the year previous, he 
made but slow progress. However, he reached Chicago Creek, De- 
cember 4, wdiere, growing rapidly worse, he was compelled to winter. 
On the 29th of the following March he set out for the Illinois town, 
on the river of that name. He succeeded in getting there on the 8th 
of April. Being cordially received by the Indians, he was enabled to 
realize his long deferred and much cherished project of establishing 



DEATH OF MARQUETTE. 53 

the " Mission of the Immaculate Conception." Believing that his life 
was drawing to a close, he endeavored to reach Mackinaw before his 
death should take place. But in this hope he was doomed to disap- 
pointment ; by the time he reached Lake Michigan " he was so weak 
that he had to be carried like a child." One Saturday, Marquette and 
his two companions entered a small stream — which still bears his 
name — on the eastern side of Lake Michigan, and in this desolate 
spot, virtually alone, destitute of all the comforts of life, died James 
Marquette. His life-long wish to die a martyr in the holy cause of 
Jesus and the Blessed Virgin, was granted. Thus passed away one of 
the purest and most sacrificing servants of God, — one of the bravest 
and most heroic of men. 

The biographical sketch of Joliet has been collated from a number 
of reliable authorities, and is believed truthful. Our notice of Father 
Marquette is condensed from his life as written by Dr. Shea, than 
whom there is no one better qualified to perform the task. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



EXPLORATIONS BY LA SALLE. 



The success of the French, in their plan of colonization, was so 
great, and the trade with the savages, exchanging fineries, guns, knives, 
and, more than all, spirituous liquors for valuable furs, yielded such 
enormous profits, that impetus was given to still greater enterprises. 
They involved no less than the hemming in of the British colonies 
along the Atlantic coast and a conquest of the rich mines in Mexico, 
from the Spanish. These purposes are boldly avowed in a letter of 
M. Talon, the king's enterprising intendant at Quebec, in 1671 ; and 
also in the declarations of the great Colbert, at Paris, " I am," says M. 
Talon, in his letter to the king referred to, " no courtier, and assert, 
not through a mere desire to please the king, nor without just reason, 
that this portion of the French monarchy will become something 
grand. What I discover around me makes me foresee this ; and those 
colonies of foreign nations so long settled on the seaboard already 
tremble with fright, in view of what his majesty has accomplished 
here in the interior. The measures adopted to confine them within 
narrow limits, by taking possession, which I have caused to be effected, 
do not allow them to spread, without subjecting themselves, at the 
same time, to be treated as usurpers, and have war waged against them. 
This in truth is what by all their acts they seem to greatly fear. They 
already know that your name is spread abroad among the savages 
throughout all those countries, and that they regard your majesty alone 
as the arbitrator of peace and war ; they detach themselves insensibly 
from other Europeans, and excepting the Iroquois, of whom I am not 
as yet assured, we can safely promise that the others will take up arms 
whenever we please." " The principal result," says La Salle, in his 
memoir at a later day, u expected from the great perils and labors which 
I underwent in the discovery of the Mississippi was to satisfy the wish 
expressed to me by the late Monsieur Colbert, of finding a port where 
the French might establish themselves and harass the Spaniards in 
those regions from whence they derive all their wealth. The place I 
propose to fortify lies sixty leagues above the mouth of the river Col- 
bert (i. e. Mississippi) in the Gulf of Mexico, and possesses all the 
advantages for such a purpose which can be wished for, both on account 

54 



EARLY LIFE OF LA SALLE. 55 

of its excellent position and the favorable disposition of the savages who 
live in that part of the country."* It is not our province to indulge 
in conjectures as to how far these daring purposes of Talon and Col- 
bert would have succeeded had not the latter died, and their active 
assistant, Robert La Salle, have lost his life, at the hands of an assassin, 
when in the act of executing the preliminary part of the enterprise. 
We turn, rather, to matters of historical record, and proceed with a 
condensed sketch of the life and voyages of La Salle, as it. was his dis- 
coveries that led to the colonization of the Mississippi Valley by the 
French. 

La Salle was born, of a distinguished family, at Rouen, France. 
He was consecrated to the service of God in early life, and entered the 
Society of Jesus, in which he remained ten years, laying the foundation 
of moral principles, regular habits and elements of science that served 
him so well in his future arduous undertakings. Like many other 
young men having plans of useful life, he thought Canada would offer 
better facilities to develop them than the cramped and fixed society 
of France. He accordingly left his home, and reached Montreal in 
1666. Being of a resolute and venturesome disposition, he found 
employment in making explorations of the country about the lakes. 
He soon became a favorite of Talon, the intendant, and of Frontenac, 
the governor, at Quebec. He was selected by the latter to take com- 
mand of Fort Frontenac, near the present city of Kingston, on the St. 
Lawrence River, and at that time a dilapidated, wooden structure on 
the frontier of Canada. He remained in Canada about nine years, 
acquiring a knowledge of the country and particularly of the Indian 
tribes, their manners, habits and customs, and winning the confidence 
of the French authorities. He returned to France and presented a 
memoir to the king, in which he urged the necessity of maintaining 
Fort Frontenac, which he offered to restore with a structure of 
stone ; to keep there a garrison equal to the one at Montreal ; to em- 
ploy as many as fifteen laborers during the first year ; to clear and till 
the land, and to supply the surrounding Indian villages with Recollect 
missionaries in furtherance of the cause of religion, all at his own ex- 
pense, on condition that the king would grant him the right of seigniory 
and a monopoly of the trade incident to it. He further petitioned for 
title of nobility in consideration of voyages he had already made in 
Canada at his own expense, and which had resulted in the great bene- 
fit to the king's colony. The king heard the petition graciously, and 

* Talon's letter to the king: Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 73. La Salle's Memoir to 
the king, on the necessity of fitting out an expedition to take possession of Louisiana: 
Historical Collections of Louisiana, part 1, p. 5. 



56 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

on the 13th May, 1675, granted La Salle and his heirs Fort Frontenac, 
with four leagues of the adjacent country along the lakes and rivers 
above and below the fort and a half a league inward, and the adjacent 
islands, with the right of hunting and fishing on Lake Ontario and 
the circumjacent rivers. On the same day, the king issued to La Salle 
letters patent of nobility, having, as the king declares, been informed 
of the worthy deeds performed by the people, either in reducing or 
civilizing the savages or in defending themselves against their frequent 
insults, especially those of the Iroquois ; in despising the greatest dan- 
gers in order to extend the king's name and empire to the extremity 
of that new world ; and desiring to reward those who have thus ren- 
dered themselves most eminent; and wishing to treat most favorably 
Robert Cavalier Sieur de La Salle on account of the good and laudable 
report that has been rendered concerning his actions in Canada, the 
king does ennoble and decorate with the title of nobility the said cav- 
alier, together with his wife and children. He left France with these 
precious documents, and repaired to Fort Frontenac, where he per- 
formed the conditions imposed by the terms of his titles. 

He sailed for France again in 1677, and in the following year after 
he and Colbert had fully matured their plans, he again petitioned the 
king for a license to prosecute further discoveries. The king granted 
his request, giving him a permit, under date of May 12, 1678, to en- 
deavor to discover the western part of New France ; the king avowing 
in the letters patent that " he had nothing more at heart than the dis- 
covery of that country where there is a prospect of finding a way to 
penetrate as far as Mexico," and authorizing La Salle to prosecute dis- 
coveries, and construct forts in such places as he might think necessary, 
and enjoy there the same monopoly as at Fort Frontenac, — all on con- 
dition that the enterprise should be prosecuted at La Salle's expense, 
and completed within five years ; that he should not trade with the 
savages, who carried their peltries and beavers to Montreal ; and that 
the governor, intendant, justices, and other officers of the king in New 
France, should aid La Salle in his enterprise.* Before leaving France, 
La Salle, through the Prince de Conti, was introduced to one Henri 
de Tonti, an Italian by birth, who for eight years had been in the 
French service. Having had one of his hands shot off while in Sicily, 
he repaired to France to seek other employment. It was a most for- 
tunate meeting. Tonti — a name that should be prominently associ- 
ated with discoveries in this part of America — became La Salle's 
companion. Ever faithful and courageous, he ably and zealously fur- 

* Vide the petitions of La Salle to, and the grants from, the king, which are found 
at length in the Paris Documents, vol. 9, pp. 122 to 127. 



LOUIS HENNEPIN. 57 

thered all of La Salle's plans, followed and defended him under the 
most discouraging trials, with an unselfish fidelity that has few paral- 
lels in any age. 

Supplied with this new grant of enlarged powers, La Salle, in com- 
pany with Tonti,- — or Tonty, as Dr. Sparks says he has seen the name 
written in an autograph letter, — and thirty men, comprising pilots, 
sailors, carpenters and other mechanics, with a supply of material 
necessary for the intended exploration, left France for Quebec. Here 
the party were joined by some Canadians, and the whole force was 
sent forward to Fort Frontenac, at the outlet of Lake Ontario, since 
this fort had been granted to La Salle. He had, in conformity to the 
terms of his letters patent, greatly enlarged and strengthened its de- 
fenses. Here he met Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan Friar, whom it 
seems had been sent thither along with Father Gabriel de la Ribourde 
and Zenobius Membre, all of the same religious order, to accompany 
La Salle's expedition. In the meantime, Hennepin was occupied in 
pastoral labors among the soldiers of the garrison, and the inhabitants 
of a little hamlet of peasants near by, and proselyting the Indians of 
the neighboring country. Hennepin, from his own account, had not 
only traveled over several parts of Europe before coming to Canada, 
but since his arrival in America, had spent much time in roaming 
about among the savages, to gratify his love of adventure and acquire 
knowledge. 

Hennepin's name and writings are so prominently connected with 
the early history of the Mississippi Valley, and, withal, his contradic- 
tory statements, made at a later day of his life, as to the extent of his 
own travels, have so clouded his reputation with grave doubt as to his 
regard for truth, that we will turn aside and give the reader a sketch 
of this most singular man and his claims as a discoverer. He was 
bold, courageous, patient and hopeful under the most trying fatigues ; 
and had a taste for the privations and dangers of a life among the 
savages, whose ways and caprices he well understood, and knew how 
to turn them to insure his own safety. He was a shrewd observer and 
possessed a faculty for that detail and little minutiae, which make a 
narrative racy and valuable. He was vain and much^given to self- 
glorification. He accompanied La Salle, in the first voyage, as far as 
Peoria Lake, and he and Father Zenobe Membre are the historians of 
that expedition. From Peoria Lake he went down the Illinois, under 
orders from La Salle, and up the Mississippi beyond St. Anthony's 
Falls, giving this name to the falls. This interesting voyage was not 
prosecuted voluntarily ; for Hennepin and his two companions were 
captured by the Sioux and taken up the river as prisoners, often in 



58 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

great peril of their lives. He saw La Salle no more, after parting with 
him at Peoria Lake. He was released from captivity through the 
intervention of Mons. Duluth, a French Coureur de Bois, who had 
previously established a trade with the Sioux, on the upper Mississippi, 
by way of Lake Superior. After his escape, Hennepin descended the 
Mississippi to the mouth of the Wisconsin, which he ascended, made 
the portage at the head of Fox River, thence to Green Bay and Mack- 
inaw, by the route pursued by Joliet and Marquette on their way to 
the Mississippi, seven years before. From Mackinaw he proceeded to 
France, where, in 1683, he published, under royal authority, an account 
of his travels. For refusing to obey an order of his superiors, to return 
to America, he was banished from France. He went to Holland and 
obtained the favor and patronage of William III, king of England, to 
whose service, as he himself says, "he entirely devoted himself.''' In 
Holland, he received money and sustenance from Mr. Blathwait, King 
William's secretary of war, while engaged in preparing a new volume 
of his voyages, which was published at Utrecht, in 1697, and dedicated 
"To His Most Excellent Majesty William the Third." The revised 
edition contains substantially all of the first, and a great deal besides; 
for in this last work Hennepin lays claim, for the first time, to having 
gone down the Mississippi to its mouth, thus seeking to deprive La 
Salle of the glory attaching to his name, on account of this very dis- 
covery. La Salle had now been dead about fourteen years, and from 
the time he went down the Mississippi, in 1682, to the hour of his 
death, although his discovery was well known, especially to Hennepin, 
the latter never laid any claim to having anticipated him in the discov- 
ery. Besides, Hennepin's own account, after so long a silence, of his 
pretended voyage down the river is so utterly inconsistent with itself, 
especially with respect to dates and the impossibility of his traveling 
the distances within the time he alleges, that the story carries its own 
refutation. For this mendacious act, Father Hennepin has merited the 
severest censures of Charlevoix, Jared Sparks. Francis Parkman, Dr. 
Shea and other historical critics. 

His first work is generally regarded as authority. That he did go 
up the Mississippi river there seems to be no controversy, while grave 
doubts prevail as to many statements in his last publication, which 
would otherwise pass without suspicion were they not found in com- 
pany with statements known to be untrue. 

In the preface to his last work, issued in 1697, Father Hennepin 
assigns as a reason why he did not publish his descent of the Missis- 
sippi in his volume issued in 1683, " that I was obliged to say nothing 
of the course of the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Illinois down 



HENNEPIN AND LA SALLE. 59 

to the sea, for fear of disobliging M. La Salle, with whom I began my 
discovery. This gentleman, alone, would have the glory of having dis- 
covered the course of that river. But when he heard that I had done 
it two years before him he could never forgive me, though, as I have 
said, I was so modest as to publish nothing of it. This was the true 
cause of his malice against me, and of the barbarous usage I met with 
in France." 

Still, his description of places he did visit ; the aboriginal names 
and geographical features of localities ; his observations, especially upon 
the manners and customs of the Indians, and other facts which he had 
no motive to misrepresent, are generally regarded as true in his last as 
well as in his first publication. His works, indeed, are the only repos- 
itories of many interesting particulars relating to the northwest, and 
authors quote from him, some indiscriminately and others with more 
caution, while all criticise him without measure. 

Hennepin was born in Belgium in 1640, as is supposed, and died 
at Utrecht, Holland, within a few years after issuing his last book. This 
was republished in London in 1698, the translation into English being 
wretchedly executed. The book, aside from its historical value and the 
notoriety attaching to it because of the new claims Hennepin makes, 
is quite a curiosity. It is made up of Hennepin's own travels, blended 
with his fictitious discoveries, scraps and odd ends taken from the 
writings of other travelers without giving credit ; the whole embellished 
with plates and a map inserted by the bookseller, and the text empha- 
sized with italics and displayed type ; all designed to render it a speci- 
men, as it probably was in its day, of the highest skill attained in the 
art of book-making. 

La Salle brought up the St. Lawrence to Fort Frontenac the 
anchors, cordage and other material to be used in the vessel which he 
designed to construct above the Falls of Niagara for navigating the 
western lakes. He already had three small vessels on Lake Ontario, 
which he had made use of in a coasting trade with the Indians. One 
of these, a brigantine of ten tons, was loaded with his effects; his men, 
including Fathers Gabriel, Zenobius Membre and Hennepin, who were, 
as Father Zenobia declares, commissioned with care of the spiritual 
direction of the expedition, were placed aboard, and on the 18th of 
November the vessel sailed westward for the Niagara River. They 
kept the northern shore, and run into land and bartered for corn with 
the Iroquois at one of their villages, situated where Toronto, Canada, 
is located, and for fear of being frozen up in the river, which here 
empties into the lake, had to cut the ice from about their ship. Detained 
by adverse winds, they remained here until the wind was favorable, 



60 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

when they sailed across the end of the lake and found an anchorage in 
the mouth of Niagara River on the 6th of December. The season was 
far advanced, and the ground covered with snow a foot deep. Large 
masses of ice were floating down the river endangering the vessel, and 
it was necessary to take measures to give it security. Accordingly the 
vessel was hauled with cables up against the strong current. One of 
the cables broke, and the vessel itself came very near being broken to 
pieces or carried away by the ice, which was grinding its way to the 
open lake. Finally, by sheer force of human strength, the vessel was 
dragged to the shore, and moored with a strong hawser under a protect- 
ing cliff out of danger from the floating ice. A cabin, protected with 
palisades, for shelter and to serve as a magazine to store the supplies, 
was also constructed. The ground was frozen so hard that it had to be 
thawed out with boiling water before the men could drive stakes into it. 

The movements of La Salle excited, first the curiosity of the Iro- 
quois Indians, in whose country he was an intruder, and then their jeal- 
ousy became aroused as they began to fear he intended the erection of a 
fort. The Sieur de La Salle, says the frank and modest-minded Father 
Zenobe Membre, "with his usual address met the principal Iroquois 
chiefs in conference, and gained them so completely that they not only 
agreed, but offered, to contribute with all their means to the execu- 
tion of his designs. The conference lasted for some time. La Salle 
also sent many canoes to trade north and south of the lake among 
these tribes. ,, Meanwhile La Salle's enemies were busy in thwarting 
his plans. They insinuated themselves among the Indians in the 
vicinity of Niagara, and filled their ears with all sorts of stories to La 
Salle's discredit, and aroused feelings of such distrust that work on the 
fort, or depot for supplies, had to be suspended, and La Salle content 
himself with a house surrounded by palisades. 

A place was selected above the falls,* on the eastern side of the 
river, for the construction of the new vessel. 

The ground was cleared away, trees were felled, and the carpen- 
ters set to work. The keel of the vessel was laid on the 26th of Jan- 
uary, and some of the plank being ready to fasten on, La Salle drove 
the first spike. As the work progressed, La Salle made several trips, over 
ice and snow, and later in the spring with vessels, to Fort Frontenac, to 
hurry forward provisions and material. One of his vessels was lost on 
Lake Ontario, heavily laden with a cargo of valuable supplies, through 
the fault or willful perversity of her pilots. The disappointment over this 
calamity, says Hennepin, would have dissuaded any other person than 

♦Francis Parkman, in his valuable work, "The Discovery of the Great West," 
p. 133, locates the spot at the mouth of Cayuga Creek on the American shore. 



THE FIRST SAIL ON LAKE ERIE. 61 

La Salle from the further prosecution of the enterprise. The men 
worked industriously on the ship. The most of the Iroquois having 
gone to war with a nation on the northern side of Lake Erie, the few 
remaining behind were become less insolent than before. Still they 
lingered about where the work was going on, and continued expres- 
sions of discontent at what the French were doing. One of them let 
on to be drunk and attempted to kill the blacksmith, but the latter 
repulsed the Indian with a piece of iron red-hot from the forge. The 
Indians threatened to burn the vessel on the stocks, and might have 
done so were it not constantly guarded. Much of the time the only 
food of the men was Indian corn and fish ; the distance to Fort Fron- 
tenac and the inclemency of the winter rendering it out of power to 
procure a supply of other or better provisions. 

The frequent alarms from the Indians, a want of wholesome food, 
the loss of the vessel with its promised supplies, and a refusal of the 
neighboring tribes to sell any more of their corn, reduced the party to 
such extremities that the ship-carpenters tried to run away. They 
were, however, persuaded to remain and prosecute their work. Two 
Mohegan Indians, successful hunters in La Salle's service, were fortu- 
nate enough to bring in some wild goats and other game they had 
killed, which greatly encouraged the workmen to go on with their task 
more briskly than before. The vessel was completed within six months 
from the time its keel was laid. The ship was gotten afloat before en- 
tirely finished, to prevent the designs of the natives to burn it. She 
was sixty tons burthen, and called the " Griffin," a name given it by 
La Salle by way of a compliment to Count Frontenac, whose armorial 
bearings were supported by two griffins. Three guns were fired, and 
11 Te Deums" chanted at the christening, and prayers offered up for a 
prosperous voyage. The air in the wild forest rung with shouts of 
joy; even the Iroquois, looking suspiciously on, were seduced with 
alluring draughts of brandy to lend their deep-mouthed voices to the 
happy occasion. The men left their cabins of bark and swung their 
hammocks under the deck of the ship, where they could rest with 
greater security from the savages than on the shore. 

The Griffin, under press of a favorable breeze, and with the help 
of twelve men on the shore pulling at tow-ropes, was forced up against 
the strong current of the Niagara River to calmer waters at the en- 
trance of the lake. On the 7th of August, 1679, her canvas was spread, 
and the pilot steering by the compass, the vessel, with La Salle and his 
thirty odd companions and their effects aboard, sailed out westward 
upon the unknown, silent waters of Lake Erie. In three days they 
reached the mouth of Detroit River. Father Hennepin was fairly 



62 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

delighted with the country along this river — it was " so well situated 
and the soil so fertile. Vast meadows extending back from the strait 
and terminating at the uplands, which were clad with vineyards, and 
plum and pear and other fruit-bearing trees of nature's own planting, all 
so well arranged that one would think they could not have been so dis- 
posed without the help of art. The country was also well stocked 
with deer, bear, wild goats, turkeys, and other animals and birds, that 
supplied a most relishing food. The forest comprised walnut and 
other timber in abundance suitable for building purposes. So charmed 
was he with the prospect that he " endeavored to persuade La Salle to 
settle at the ' De Troit,' " it being in the midst of so many savage na- 
tions among whom a good trade could be established. La Salle would 
not listen to this proposal. He said he would make no settlement 
within one hundred leagues of Frontenac, lest other Europeans would 
be before them in the new country they were going to discover. This, 
says Hennepin, was the pretense of La Salle and the adventurers who 
were with him ; for I soon discovered that their intention was to buy all 
the furs and skins of the remotest savages who, as they thought, did 
not know their value, and thus enrich themselves in one single voyage. 
On Lake Huron the Griffin encountered a storm. The main-yards 
and*topmast were blown away, giving the ship over to the mercy of 
the winds. There was no harbor to run. into for shelter. La Salle, 
although a courageous man, gave way to his fears, and said they all 
were undone. Everyone thereupon fell upon their knees to say pray- 
ers and prepare for death, except the pilot, who cursed and swore all 
the while at La Salle for bringing him there to perish in a nasty lake, 
after he had acquired so much renown in a long and successful naviga- 
tion on the ocean. The storm abated, and on the 27th of August, the 
Griffin resumed her course northwest, and was carried on the evening 
of the same day beyond the island of Mackinaw to point St. Ignace, 
and safely anchored in a bay that is sheltered, except from the south, 
by the projecting mainland. 



CHAPTER IX. 

LA SALLE'S VOYAGE CONTINUED. 

St. Ignace, or Mackinaw, as previously stated, had become a princi- 
pal center of the Jesuit missions, and it had also grown into a head- 
quarters for an extensive Indian trade. Duly licensed traders, as well 
as the Coureurs de Bois, — men who had run wild, as it were, and by 
their intercourse with the nations had thrown off all restraints of 
civilized life, — resorted to this vicinity in considerable numbers. These, 
lost to all sense of national pride, instead of sustaining took every 
measure to thwart La Salle's plans. They, with some of the dissatis- 
fied crew, represented to the Indians that La Salle and his associates 
were a set of dangerous and ambitious adventurers, who meant to 
engross all the trade in furs and skins and invade their liberties. These 
jealous and meddlesome busybodies had already, before the arrival of 
the Griffin, succeeded in seducing fifteen men from La Salle's service, 
whom with others, he had sent forward the previous spring, under 
command of Tonty, with a stock of merchandise ; and, instead of 
going to the tribes beyond and preparing the way for a friendly recep- 
tion of La Salle, as they were ordered to do, they loitered about 
Mackinaw the whole summer and squandered the goods, in spite of 
Tonty's persistent efforts to urge them forward in the performance of 
their duty. La Salle sent out other parties to trade with the natives, 
and these went so far, and were so busy in bartering for and collect- 
ing furs, that they did not return to Mackinaw until November. It 
was now getting late and La Salle was warned of the dangerous storms 
that sweep the lakes at the beginning of winter; he resolved, therefore, 
to continue his voyage without waiting the return of his men. He 
weighed anchor and sailed westward into Lake Michigan as far as the 
islands at the entrance of Green Bay, then called the Pottawatomie 
Islands, for the reason that they were then occupied by bands of that 
tribe. On one of these islands La Salle found some of the men 
belonging to his advance party of traders, and who, having secured a 
large quantity of valuable furs, had long and impatientlj r waited his 
coming. 

La Salle, as is already apparent, determined to engage in a fur trade 
that already and legitimately belonged to merchants operating at 

63 



64 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Montreal, and with which the terms of his own license prohibited his 
interfering. Without asking any one's advice he resolved to load his 
ship with furs and send it back to Niagara, and the furs to Quebec, and 
out of the proceeds of the sale to discharge some very pressing debts. 
The pilot with five men to man the vessel were ordered to proceed with 
the Griffin to Niagara, and return with all imaginable speed and join La 
Salle at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, near the southern shore of 
Lake Michigan. The Griffin did not go to Green Bay City, as many 
writers have assumed in hasty perusals of the original authorities, or 
even penetrate the body of water known as Green Bay beyond the 
chain of islands at its mouth. 

The resolution of La Salle, taken, it seems, on the spur of the 
moment, to send his ship back down the lakes, and prosecute his 
voyage the rest of the way to the head of Lake Michigan in frail 
birchen canoes, was a most unfortunate measure. It delayed his 
discoveries two years, brought severe hardships upon himself and 
greatly embarrassed all his future plans. The Griffin itself was lost, 
with all her cargo, valued at sixty thousand livres. She, nor her crew, 
was ever heard of after leaving the Pottawatomie Islands. What 
became of the ship and men in charge remains to this day a mystery, 
or veiled in a cloud of conjecture. La Salle himself, says Francis 
Parkman, "grew into a settled conviction that the Griffin had been 
treacherously sunk by the pilot and sailors to whom he had intrusted 
her; and he thought he had, in after-years, found evidence that the 
authors of the crime, laden with the merchandise they had taken from 
her, had reached the Mississippi and ascended it, hoping to join Du 
Shut, the famous chief of the Coureurs de Bois, and enrich them- 
selves by traffic with the northern tribes.* 

The following is, substantially, Hennepin's account of La Salle's 
canoe voyage from the mouth of Green Bay south, along the shore of 
Lake Michigan, past Milwaukee and Chicago, and around the southern 
end of the lake ; thence north along the eastern shore to the mouth of 
the St. Joseph River ; thence up the St. Joseph to South Bend, mak- 
ing the portage here to the head-waters of the Kankakee ; thence down 
the Kankakee and Illinois through Peoria Lake, with an account of 
the building of Fort Crevecoeur. Hennepin's narrative is full of in- 
teresting detail, and contains many interesting observations upon the 
condition of the country, the native inhabitants as they appeared nearly 
two hundred years ago. The privation and suffering to which La Salle 
and his party were exposed in navigating Lake Michigan at that early 
day, and late in the fall of the year, when the waters were vexed with 
* Discovery of the Great West, p. 169. 



FIRST VOYAGE ON LAKE MICHIGAN. 65 

tempestuous storms, illustrate the courage and daring of the under- 
taking. 

Their suffering did not terminate with their voyage upon the lake. 
Difficulties of another kind were experienced on the St. Joseph, Kan- 
kakee and Illinois Rivers. Hennepin's is, perhaps, the first detailed 
account we have of this part of the "Great West," and is therefore of 
great interest and value on this account. 

"We left the Pottawatomies to continue our voyage, being fourteen 
men in all, in four canoes. I had charge of the smallest, which carried 
five hundredweight and two men. My companions being recently 
from Europe, and for that reason being unskilled in the management 
of these kind of boats, its whole charge fell upon me in stormy 
weather. 

" The canoes were laden with a smith's forge, utensils, tools for car- 
penters, joiners and sawyers, besides our goods and arms. We steered 
to the south toward the mainland, from which the Pottawatomie 
Islands are distant some forty leagues ; but about midway, and in the 
night time, we were greatly endangered by a sudden storm. The 
waves dashed into our canoes, and the night was so dark we had great 
difficulty in keeping our canoes together. The daylight coming on, 
we reached the shore, where we remained for four days, waiting for the 
lake to grow calm. In the meantime our Indian hunter went in quest 
of game, but killed nothing other than a porcupine ; this, however, 
made our Indian corn more relishing. The weather becoming fair, we 
resumed our voyage, rowing all day and well into the night, along the 
western coast of the Lake of the Illinois. The wind again grew to fresh, 
and we landed upon a rocky beach where we had nothing to protect 
ourselves against a storm of snow and rain except the clothing on our 
persons. We remained here two days for the sea to go down, hav- 
ing made a little fire from wood cast ashore by the waves. We pro- 
ceeded on our voyage, and toward evening the winds again forced us 
to a beach covered with rushes, where we remained three days ; and in 
the meantime our provisions, consisting only of pumpkins and Indian 
corn purchased from the Pottawatomies, entirely gave out. Our 
canoes were so heavily laden that we could not carry provisions with 
us, and we were compelled to rely on bartering for such supplies on 
uur way. We left this dismal place, and after twelve leagues rowing 
came to another Pottawatomie village, whose inhabitants stood upon 
the beach to receive us. But M. La Salle refused to let anyone land, 
notwithstanding the severity of the weather, fearing some of his men 
might run away. We were in such great peril that La Salle flung 
himself into the water, after we had gone some three leagues farther, 
5 



66 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

and with the aid of his three men carried the canoe of which he had 
charge to the shore, upon their shoulders, otherwise it would have been 
broken to pieces by the waves. We were obliged to do the same with 
the other canoes. I, myself, carried good Father Gabriel upon my 
back, his age being so well advanced as not to admit of his ventur- 
ing in the water. We took ourselves to a piece of rising ground to 
avoid surprise, as we had no manner of acquaintance with the great 
number of savages whose village was near at hand. We sent three 
men into the village to buy provisions, under protection of the calu- 
met or pipe of peace, which the Indians at Pottawatomie Islands had 
presented us as a means of introduction to, and a measure of safety 
against, other tribes that we might meet on our way. 1 ' 

The calumet has always been a symbol of amit} 7 among all the In- 
dian tribes of North America, and so uniformly used by them in all 
their negotiations with their own race, and Europeans as well ; and 
Father Hennepin's description of it, and the respect that is accorded to 
its presence, are so truthful that we here insert his account of it at 
length : 

" This calumet," says Father Hennepin, " is the most mysterious 
thing among the savages, for it is used in all important transactions. 
It is nothing else, however, than a large tobacco pipe, made of red, 
black, or white stone. The head is highly polished, and the quill or 
stem is usually about two feet in length, made of a pretty strong reed 
or cane, decorated with highly colored feathers interlaced with locks of 
women's hair. Wings of gaudily plumaged birds are tied to it, mak- 
ing the calumet look like the wand of Mercury, or staff which ambas- 
sadors of state formerly carried when they went to conduct treaties of 
peace. The stem is sheathed in the skin of the neck of birds called 
'Hilars' (probably the loon), which are as large as our geese, and 
spotted with white and black; or else with those of a duck (the little 
wood duck whose neck presents a beautiful contrast of colors) that 
make their nests upon trees, although the water is their ordinary ele- 
ment, and whose feathers are of many different colors. However, 
every tribe ornament their calumets according to their own fancy, with 
the feathers of such birds as they may have in their own country. 

"A pipe, such as I have described, is a pass of safe conduct among all 
the allies of the tribe which has given it ; and in all embassies it is car- 
ried as a symbol of peace, and is always respected as such, for the sav- 
ages believe some great misfortune would speedily befall them if they 
violated the public faith of the calumet. All their enterprises, declara- 
tions of war, treaties of peace, as well as all of the rest of their cere- 
monies, are sealed with the calumet The pipe is filled with the best 



CANOE VOYAGE ON LAKE MICHIGAN. 1'w 

tobacco they have, and then it is presented to those with whom they 
are about to conduct an important affair ; and after they have smoked 
out of it, the one offering it does the same. I would have perished," 
concludes Hennepin, " had it not been for the calumet. Our three 
men, carrying the calumet and being well armed, went to the little 
village about three leagues from the place where we landed ; they 
found no one at home, for the inhabitants, having heard that we refused 
to land at the other village, supposed we were enemies, and had aban- 
doned their habitations. In their absence our men took some of their 
corn, and left instead, some goods, to let them know we were neither 
their enemies nor robbers. Twenty of the inhabitants of this village 
came to our encampment on the beach, armed with axes, small guns, 
bows, and a sort of club, which, in their language, means a head- 
breaker. La Salle, with four well-armed men, advanced toward them 
for the purpose of opening a conversation. He requested them to come 
near to us, saying he had a party of hunters out who might come 
across them and take their lives. They came forward and took seats 
at the foot of an eminence, where we were encamped ; and La Salle 
amused them with the relation of his voyage, which he informed them 
he had undertaken for their advantage ; and thus occupied their time 
until the arrival of the three men who had been sent out with the 
calumet ; on seeing which the savages gave a great shout, arose to their 
feet and danced about. We excused our men from having taken some 
of their corn, and informed them that we had left its true value in 
goods ; they were so well pleased with this that they immediately sent 
for more corn, and on the next day they made us a gift of as much as 
we could conveniently find room for in our canoes. 

' ; The next day morning the old men of the tribe came to us with 
their calumet of peace, and entertained us with a free offering of wild 
goats, which their own hunters had taken. In return, we presented 
them our thanks, accompanied with some axes, knives, and several little 
toys for their wives, with all which they were very much pleased. 

" We left this place and continued our voyage along the coast of 
the lake, which, in places, is so steep that we often found it difficult to 
obtain a landing; and the wind was so violent as to oblige us to carry 
our canoes sometimes upon top of the bluff, to prevent their being 
dashed in pieces. The stormy weather lasted four days, causing us 
much suffering ; for every time we made the shore we had to wade 
in the water, carrying our effects and canoes upon our shoulders. The 
water being very cold, most of us were taken sick. Our provisions 
again failed us, which, with the fatigues of rowing, made old Father 
Gabriel faint away in such a manner that we despaired of his life. 



HISTORIC XOTES ON" THE NORTHWEST. 

With a use of a decoction of hyacinth I had with me, and which I 
found of great service on our voyage, he was restored to his senses. 
We had no other subsistence but a handful of corn per man every 
twenty-four hours, which we parched or boiled : and. although reduced 
to such scanty diet, we rowed our canoes almost daily, from morning 
to night. Our men found some hawthorns and other wild berries, 
of which they ate so freely that most of them were taken sick, and we 
imagined that they were poisoned. 

•• Yet the more we suffered, the more, by God's grace, did I become 
stronger, so that I could outrow the other canoes. Being in great dis- 
tress. He. who takes care of his meanest creatures, provided us with 
an unexpected relief. We saw over the land a great many ravens 
and eagles circling in mid-air: from whence we conjectured there was 
prev near by. We landed, and. upon search, found the half of a wild 
goat which the wolves had strangled. This provision was very ac- 
ceptable, and the rudest of our men could not but praise a kind Provi- 
dence, who took such particular care of us. 

" Having thus refreshed ourselves, we continued our voyage directly 
to the southern part of the lake, every day the country becoming finer 
and the climate more temperate. On the 16th of October we fell in 
with abundance of game. Our Indian hunter killed several deer and 
wild goats, and our men a great many big fat turkey-cocks, with 
which we regaled ourselves for several days. On the ISth we came to 
the farther end of the lake.* Here we landed, and our men were sent 
out to prospect the locality, and found great quantities of ripe grapes. 
the fruit of which were as large as damask plums. We cut down the 
trees to gather the grapes, out of which we made pretty good wine, 
which we put into gourds, used as rlasks, and buried them in the sand 
to keep the contents from turning sour. Many of the trees here are 
loaded with vines, which, if cultivated, would make as good wine as 
any in Europe. The fruit was all the more relishing to us. because we 
wanted bread." 

Other travelers besides Hennepin, passing this locality at an early 
day. also mention the same fact. It would seem, therefore, that Lake 
Michigan had the same modifying influence upon, and equalized the 
temperature of, its eastern shore, rendering it as famous for its wild 
fruits and grapes, two hundred years ago, as it has since become noted 
for the abundance and perfection of its cultivated varieties. 

" Our men discovered prints of men's feet. The men were ordered 

* From the description given of the country, the time occupied, and forest growth, 
the voyagers must now be eastward of Michigan City, and where the lake shore trends 
more rapidly to the north. 



SAVAGES PLUNDER LA SALLE. 69 

to be upon guard and make no noise. In spite of this precaution, one 
of our men. rinding a bear upon a tree, shot him dead and dragged 
him into camp. La Salle was verv angry at this indiscretion, and, to 
avoid surprise, placed sentinels at the canoes, under which our effects 
had been put for protection against the rain. There was a hunting 
party of Fox Indians from the vicinity of Green Bay. about one hun- 
dred and twenty in number, encamped near to us. who, having heard 
the noise of the gun of the man who shot the bear, became alarmed, 
and sent out some of their men to discover who we were. These 
spies, creeping upon their bellies, and observing great silence, came 
in the night-time and stole the coat of La Salle's footman and some 
goods secreted under the canoes. The sentinel, hearing a noise, gave the 
alarm, and we all ran to our arms. On being discovered, and thinking 
our numbers were greater than we really were, they cried out, in 
the dark, that they were friends. "We answered, friends did not visit 
at such unseasonable hours, and that their actions were more like 
those of robbers, who designed to plunder and kill us. Their headsman 
replied that they heard the noise of our gun. and, as they knew that 
none of the neighboring tribes possessed firearms, they supposed we 
were a war party of Iroquois, come with the design of murdering 
them : but now that they learned we were Frenchmen from Canada. 
whom they loved as their own brethren, they would anxiously wait 
until daylight, so that they could smoke out of our calumet. This is a 
compliment among the savages, and the highest mark they can give of 
their affection. 

" \Ve appeared satisfied with their reasons, and gave leave to four of 
their old men. only, to come into our camp, telling them we would not 
permit a greater number, as their young men were much given to 
stealing, and that we would not suffer such indignities. Accordingly. 
four of their old men came among us : we entertained them until 
morning, when they departed. After they were gone, we found out 
about the robbery of the canoes, and La Salle, well knowing the genius 
of the savages, saw. if he allowed this affront to pass without resenting 
it. that we would be constantly exposed to a renewal of like indigni- 
ties. Therefore, it was resolved to exact prompt satisfaction. La 
Salle, with four of his men. went out and captured two of the Indian 
hunters. One of the prisoners confessed the robbery, with the cir- 
cumstances connected with it. The thief was detained, and his comrade 
was released and sent to his band to tell their headsman that the cap- 
tive in custody would be put to death unless the stolen property were 
returned. 

•• The savages were greatly perplexed at La Salle's peremptory mes- 



70 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

sage. They could not comply, for they had cut up the goods and coat 
and divided among themselves the pieces and the buttons; they there- 
fore resolved to rescue their man by force. The next day, October 
30, they advanced to attack us. The peninsula we were encamped 
on was separated from the forest where the savages lay by a little sandy 
plain, on which and near the wood were two or three eminences. La 
Salle determined to take possession of the most prominent of these 
elevations, and detached five of his men to occupy it, following him- 
self, at a short distance, with all of his force, every one having rolled 
their coats about the left arm, which was held up as a protection 
against the arrows of the savages. Only eight of the enemy had tire- 
arms. The savages were frightened at our advance, and their young 
men took behind the trees, but their captains stood their ground, while 
we moved forward and seized the knoll. I left the two other Francis- 
cans reading the usual prayers, and went about among the men ex- 
horting them to their duty ; I had been in some battles and sieges in 
Europe, and was not afraid of these savages, and La Salle was highly 
pleased with my exhortations, and their influence upon his men. When 
I considered what might be the result of the quarrel, and how much 
more Christian-like it would be to prevent the effusion of blood, and 
end the difficulty in a friendly manner, I went toward the oldest 
savage, who, seeing me unarmed, supposed I came with designs of a 
mediator, and received me with civility. In the meantime one of our 
men observed that one of the savages had a piece of the stolen cloth 
wrapped about his head, and he went up to the savage and snatched 
the cloth away. This vigorous action so much terrified the savages that, 
although they were near six score against eleven, they presented me 
with the pipe of peace, which I received. M. La Salle gave his word 
that they might come to him in security. Two of their old men came 
forward, and in a speech disapproved the conduct of their young men ; 
that they could not restore the goods taken, but that, having been cut 
to pieces, they could only return the articles which were not spoiled, 
and pay for the rest. The orators presented, with their speeches, some 
garments made of beaver skins, to appease the wrath of M. La Salle, 
who, frowning a little, informed them that while he designed to wrong 
no one, he did not intend others should affront or injure him ; but, inas- 
much as they did not approve what their young men had done, and were 
willing to make restitution for the same, he would accept their gifts and 
become their friend. The conditions were fully complied with, and 
peace happily concluded without farther hostility. 

" The day was spent in dancing, feasting and speech-making. The 
chief of the band had taken particular notice of the behavior of the 



INDIAN SPEECH TO THE GRAY-COATS. 71 

Franciscans. ' These gray-coats,'* said the chief of the Foxes, ' we 
value very much. They go barefooted as well as we. They scorn our 
beaver gowns, and decline all other presents. They do not carry arms 
to kill us. They natter and make much of our children, and give them 
knives and other toys without expecting any reward. Those of our 
tribe who have been to Canada tell us that Onnotio (so they call the 
Governor) loves them very much, and that the Fathers of the Gown 
have given up all to come and see us. Therefore, you who are captain 
over all these men, be pleased to leave with us one of these gray-coats, 
whom we will conduct to our village when we shall have killed what 
we design of the buffaloes. Thou art also master of these warriors ; 
remain with us, instead of going among the Illinois, who, already 
advised of your coming, are resolved to kill you and all of your 
soldiers. And how can you resist so powerful nation ? ' 

" The day November 1st we again embarked on the lake, and came 
to the mouth of the river of the Miamis, which comes from the south- 
east and falls into the lake." 

* While the Jesuit Fathers wore black gowns as a distinctive mark of their sect, the 
Recollects, or Franciscan missionaries, wore coats of gray. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE SEVERAL MTAMIS — LA SALLE'S VOYAGE DOWN THE ILLINOIS. 

Much confusion has arisen because, at different periods, the name 
of " Miami " has been applied to no less than five different rivers, viz. : 
The St. Joseph, of Lake Michigan ; the Maumee, often designated as 
the Miami of the Lakes, to distinguish it from the Miami which falls 
into the Ohio River below Cincinnati ; then there is the Little Miami 
of the Ohio emptying in above its greater namesake ; and finally 
the Wabash, which with more propriety bore the name of the 
" River of the Miamis." The French, it is assumed, gave the name 
" Miami " to the river emptying into Lake Michigan, for the reason that 
there was a village of that tribe on its banks before and at the time of La 
Salle's first visit, as already noted on page 24. The name was not of 
long duration, for it was soon exchanged for that of St. Joseph, by which 
it has ever since been known. La Hontan is the last authority who 
refers to it by the name of Miami. Shortly after the year named, the 
date being now unknown, a Catholic mission was established up the 
river, and, Charlevoix says, about six leagues below the portage, at 
South Bend, and called the Mission of St. Joseph ; and from this cir- 
cumstance, we may safely infer, the river acquired the same name. It 
is not known, either, by whom the Mission of St. Joseph was organ- 
ized ; very probably, however, by Father Claude Allouez. This good 
man, and to whose writings the people of the west are so largely 
indebted for many valuable historical reminiscences, seems to have been 
forgotten in the respect that is showered upon other more conspicuous 
though . less meritorious characters. The Mission of the Immaculate 
Conception, after Marquette's death, remained unoccupied for the space 
of two years, then Claude Jean Allouez received orders to proceed 
thither from the Mission of St. James, at the town of Maskoutens, on 
Fox River, Wisconsin. Leaving in October, 1676, on account of an 
exceptionally early winter, he was compelled to delay his journey until 
the following February, when he again started ; reaching Lake Mich- 
igan on the eve of St. Joseph, he called the lake after this saint, 
Embarking on the lake on the 23d of March, and coasting along the 
western shore, after numerous delays occasioned by ice and storm, he 
arrived at Chicago River. lie then made the portage and entered the 

72 



LA SALLE KEACHES THE ST. JOSEPH. 73 

Kaskaskia village, which was probably near Peoria Lake, on the 8th of 
April, 1677. The Indians gave him a very cordial reception, and 
nocked from all directions to the town to hear the "Black Gown" 
relate the truths of Christianity. For the glorification of God and the 
Blessed Virgin Immaculate, Allonez " erected, in the midst of the 
village, a cross twenty-five feet high, chanting the Vexilla Regis in the 
presence of an admiring and respectful throng of Indians ; he covered 
it with garlands of beautiful flowers."* Father Allonez did not remain 
but a short time at the mission ; leaving it that spring he returned in 
1678, and continued there until La Salle's arrival in the winter of 
1679-80. The next succeeding decade Allonez passed either at this 
mission or at the one on St. Joseph's River, on the eastern side of Lake 
Michigan, where he died in 1690. Bancroft says: v Allouez has 
imperishably connected his name with the progress of discovery in the 
West ; unhonored among us now, he was not inferior in zeal and ability 
to any of the great missionaries of his time." 

We resume Hennepin's narrative : 

"We had appointed this place (the mouth of the St. Joseph) for our 
rendezvous before leaving the outlet of Green Bay, and expected to 
meet the twenty men we had left at Mackinaw, who, being ordered to 
come by the eastern coast of the lake, had a much shorter cut than we, 
who came by the western side ; besides this, their canoes were not so 
heavily laden as ours. Still, we found no one here, nor any signs that 
they had been here before us.f 

"It was resolved to advise M. La Salle that it was imprudent to 
remain here any longer for the absent men, and expose ourselves to 
the hardships of winter, when it would be doubtful if we could find 
the Illinois in their villages, as then they would be divided into fami- 
lies, and scattered over the country to subsist more conveniently. We 
further represented that the game might fail us, in which event we 
must certainly perish with hunger ; whereas, if we went forward, we 
would find enough corn among the Illinois, who would rather supply 

* "Allouez' Journal," published in Shea's " Discovery on Exploration of the Missis- 
sippi Valley." 

f In some works, the Geological Surveys of Indiana for 1873, p. 458, among others, 
it is erroneously assumed that La Salle was the discoverer of the St. Joseph River. 
While Fathers Hennepin and Zenobe Membre, who were with La Salle, may be the only 
accessible authors who have described it, the stream and its location was well known 
to La Salle and to them, as appears from their own account of it before they had ever 
seen it. Before leaving Mackinaw, Tonti was ordered to hunt up the deserters from, 
and to bring in the tardy traders belonging to, La Salle's party, and conduct them to 
the mouth of the St. Joseph. The pilot of the Griffin was under instruction to bring 
her there. Indeed, the conduct of the whole expedition leaves no room to doubt that 
the whole route to the Illinois River, by way of the St. Joseph and the Kankakee port- 
age, was well known at Mackinaw, and definitely fixed upon by La Salle, at least be- 
fore leaving the latter place. 



74 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

fourteen men than thirty-two with provisions. We said further that 
it would be quite impossible, if we delayed longer, to continue the 
voyage until the winter was over, because the rivers would be frozen 
over and we could not make use of our canoes. Notwithstanding 
these reasons, M. La Salle thought it necessary to remain for the rest 
of the men, as we would be in no condition to appear before the Illi- 
nois and treat with them with our present small force, whom they 
would meet with scorn. That it would be better to delay our entry 
into their country, and in the meantime try to meet with some of their 
nation, learn their language, and gain their good will by presents. 
La Salle concluded his discourse with the declaration that, although all 
of his men might run away, as for himself, he would remain alone with 
his Indian hunter, and find means to maintain the three missionaries — 
meaning me and my two clerical brethren. Having come to this con- 
clusion, La Salle called his men together, and advised them that he 
expected each one to do his duty ; that he proposed to build a fort 
here for the security of the ship and the safety of our goods, and our- 
selves, too, in case of any disaster. None of us, at this time, knew 
that our ship had been lost. The men were quite dissatisfied at La- 
Salle's course, but his reasons therefor were so many that they yielded, 
and agreed to entirely follow his directions. 

" Just at the mouth of the river was an eminence with a kind of 
plateau, naturally fortified. It was quite steep, of a triangular shape, 
defended on two sides by the river, and on the other by a deep ravine 
which the water had washed out. We felled the trees that grew on 
this hill, and cleared from it the bushes for the distance of two musket 
shot. We began to build a redoubt about forty feet long by eighty 
broad, with great square pieces of timber laid one upon the other, and 
then cut a great number of stakes, some twenty feet long, to drive into 
the ground on the river side, to make the fort inaccessible in that direc- 
tion. We were employed the wdiole of the month of November in 
this work, which was very fatiguing, — having no other food than the 
bears our savage killed. These animals are here very abundant, be- 
cause of the great quantity of grapes they find in this vicinity. Their 
flesh was so fat and luscious that our men grew w T eary of it, and desired 
to go themselves and hunt for wild goats. La Salle denied them that 
liberty, which made some murmurs among the men, and they went 
unwillingly to their work. These annoyances, with the near approach 
of winter, together with the apprehension that his ship was lost, gave 
La Salle a melancholy which he resolutely tried to but could not con- 
ceal. 

"We made a hut wherein we performed divine service every Sun- 



FORT MIAMIS. 75 

day ; and Father Gabriel and myself, who preached alternately, care- 
fully selected such texts as were suitable to our situation, and fit to 
inspire us with courage, concord, and brotherly love. Our exhorta- 
tions produced good results, and deterred our men from their meditated 
desertion. We sounded the mouth of the river and found a sand-bar, 
on which we feared our expected ship might strike ; we marked out a 
channel through which the vessel might safely enter by attaching 
buoys, made of inflated bear-skins, fastened to long poles driven into 
the bed of the lake. Two men were also sent back to Mackinac to 
await there the return of the ship, and serve as pilots.* 

" M. Tonti arrived on the 20th of November with two canoes, laden 
with stags and deer, which were a welcome refreshment to our men. 
He did not bring more than about one-half of his men, having left 
the rest on the opposite side of the lake, within three days' journey of 
the fort. La Salle was angry with him on this account, because he 
was afraid the men would run away. Tonti's party informed us that 
the Griffin had not put into Mackinaw, according to orders, and that 
they had heard nothing of her since our departure, although they had 
made inquiries of the savages living on the coast of the lake. This 
confirmed the suspicion, or rather the belief, that the vessel had been 
cast away. However, M. La Salle continued work on the building of 
the fort, which was at last completed and called Fort Miamis. 

" The winter was drawing nigh, and La Salle, fearful that the ice 
would interrupt his voyage, sent M. Tonti back to hurry forward the 
men he had left, and to command them to come to him immediately ; 
but, meeting with a violent storm, their canoes were driven against 
the beach and broken to pieces, and Tonti's men lost their guns and 
equipage, and were obliged to return to us overland. A few days, 
after this all our men arrived except two, who had deserted. We pre- 
pared at once to resume our voyage ; rains having fallen that melted 
the ice and made the rivers navigable. 

" On the 3d of December, 1679, we embarked, being in all thirty- 
three men, in eight canoes. We left the lake of the Illinois and 
went up the river of the Miamis, in which we had previously made 
soundings. We made about five-and-twenty leagues southward, but 
failed to discover the place where we were to land, and carry our canoes 
and effects into the river of the Illinois, which falls into that of the 
Meschasipi, that is, in the language of the Illinois, the great river. 
We had already gone beyond the place of the portage, and, not know- 
ing where we were, we thought proper to remain there, as we were 
expecting M. La Salle, who had taken to the land to view the country. 

*This is the beginning, at what is now known as Benton Harbor, Michigan. 



76 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

We staid here quite a while, and, La Salle failing to appear, I went a 
distance into the woods with two men, who fired off their guns to 
notify him of the place where we were. In the meantime two other 
men went higher up the river, in canoes, in search of him. We all 
returned toward evening, having vainly endeavored to find him. The 
next day I went up the river myself, but, hearing nothing of him, I 
came back, and found our men very much perplexed, fearing he was 
lost. However, about four o'clock in the afternoon M. La Salle returned 
to us, having his face and hands as black as pitch. He carried two 
beasts, as big as muskrats, whose skin was very fine, and like ermine. 
He had killed them with a stick, as they hung by their tails to the 
branches of the trees. 

" He told us that the marshes he had met on his way had compelled 
him to bring a large compass ; and that, being much delayed by the 
snow, which fell very fast, it was past midnight before he arrived upon 
the banks of the river, where he fired his gun twice, and, hearing no 
answer, he concluded that we had gone higher up the river, and had, 
therefore, marched that way. He added that, after three hours' march, 
he saw a fire upon a little hill, whither he went directly and hailed us 
several times; but, hearing no reply, he approached and found no per- 
son near the fire, but only some dry grass, upon which a man had laid 
a little while before, as he conjectured, because the bed was still warm. 
He supposed that a savage had been occupying it, who fled upon his 
approach, and was now hid in ambuscade near by. La Salle called out 
loudly to him in two or three languages, saying that he need not be afraid 
of him, and that he was agoing to lie in his bed. La Salle received 
no answer. To guard against surprise, La Salle cut bushes and placed 
them to obstruct the way, and sat. down by the fire, the smoke of 
which blackened his hands and face, as I have already observed. Hav- 
ing warmed and rested himself, he laid down under the tree upon the 
dry grass the savage had gathered and slept well, notwithstanding the 
frost and snow. Father Gabriel and I desired him to keep with his 
men, and not to expose himself in the future, as the success of our 
enterprise depended solely on him, and he promised to follow our 
advice. Our savage, who remained behind to hunt, finding none of 
us at the portage, came higher up the river, to where we were, and 
told us we had missed the place. We sent all the canoes back under 
his charge except one, which I retained for M. La Salle, who was so 
weary that he was obliged to remain there that night. I made a little 
hut with mats, constructed with marsh rushes, in which we laid down 
together for the night. By an unhappy accident our cabin took fire, 
and we were very near being burned alive after we had gone to 
sleep." 



ABORIGINAL NAME OF "KANKAKEE." 77 

Here follows Hennepin's description of the Kankakee portage, and 
of the marshy grounds about the headwaters of this stream, as already 
quoted on page 24. 

" Having passed through the marshes, we came to a vast prairie, in 
which nothing grows but grasses, which were at this time dry and 
burnt, because the Miamis set the grasses on fire every year, in hunt- 
ing for wild oxen (buffalo), as I shall mention farther on. We found 
no game, which was a disappointment to us, as our provisions had 
begun to fail. Our men traveled about sixty miles without killing 
anything other than a lean stag, a small wild goat, a few swan and 
two bustards, which were but a scanty subsistence for two and thirty 
men. Most of the men were become so weary of this laborious life 
that, were it practicable, they would have run away and joined the 
savages, who, as we inferred by the great fires which we saw on the 
prairies, were not very far from us. There must be an innumerable 
quantity of wild cattle in this country, since the ground here is every- 
where covered with their horns. The Miamis hunt them toward the 
latter end of autumn."* 

That part of the Illinois River above the Desplaines is called the 
Kankakee, which is a corruption of its original Indian name. St. 
Cosme, the narrative of whose voyage down the Illinois River, by 
way of Chicago, in 1699, and found in Dr. Shea's work of " Early 
Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi," refers to it as the The-a-li-ke, 
" which is the real river of the Illinois, and (says) that which we de- 
scended (the Desplaines) was only a branch." Father Marest, in his 
letter of November 9, 1712, narrating a journey he had previously 
made from Kaskaskia up to the Mission of St. Joseph, says of the Illi- 
nois River: "We transported all there was in the canoe toward the 
source of the Illinois (Indian), which they call Hau-ki-ki." Father 
Charlevoix, who descended the Kankakee from the portage, in his let- 
ter, dated at the source of the river Theakiki, September 17, 1721, 
says : " This morning I walked a league farther in the meadow, having 
my feet almost always in the water ; afterward I met with a kind of a 
pool or marsh, which had a communication with several others of dif- 
ferent sizes, but the largest was about a hundred paces in circuit; these 
are the sources of the river The-a-ki-ki, which, by a corrupted pronun- 
ciation, our Indians call Ki-a-ki-ki. Theak signifies a wolf, in what 
language I do not remember, but the river bears that name because the 
Mahingans (Mohicans), who were likewise called wolves, had formerly 

* Hennepin and his party were not aware of the migratory habits of the buffalo ; 
and that their scarcity on the Kankakee in the winter months was because the herds 
had gone southward to warmer latitude and better pasturage. 



78 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

taken refuge on its banks." * The Mohicans were of the Algonquin 
stock, anciently living east of the Hudson River, where they had been 
so persecuted and nearly destroyed by the implacable Iroquois that 
their tribal integrity was lost, and they were dispersed in small fami- 
lies over the west, seeking protection in isolated places, or living at 
sufferance among their Algonquin kindred. They were brave, faithful 
to the extreme, famous scouts, and successful hunters. La Salle, ap- 
preciating these valuable traits, usually kept a few of them in his em- 
ploy. The "savage," or "hunter," so often referred to by Hennepin, 
in the extracts we have taken from his journal, was a Mohican. 

In a report made to the late Governor Xinian Edwards, in 1812, 
by John Hays, interpreter and Coureur de Bois of the routes, rivers 
and Indian villages in the then Illinois Territory, Mr. Hays calls the 
Kankakee the Quin-que-que, which was probably its French-Indian 
name.f Col. Guerdon S. Hubbard, who for many years, dating back 
as early as 1819, was a trader, and commanded great influence with 
the bands of Pottawatomies, claiming the Kankakee as their country, 
informs the writer that the Pottawatomie name of the Kankakee is 
Ky-an-ke-a-kee, meaning " the river of the wonderful or beautiful 
land, — as it really is, westward of the marshes. "A-kee," "Ah-ke " and 
"Aid," in the Algonquin dialect, signifies earth or land. 

The name Desplaines, like that of the Kankakee, has undergone 
changes in the progress of time. On a French map of Louisiana, in 
1717, the Desplaines is laid down as the Chicago River. Just after 
Great Britain had secured the possessions of the French east of the 
Mississippi, by conquest and treaty, and when the British authorities 
were keenly alive to everything pertaining to their newly acquired 
possessions, an elaborate map, collated from the most authentic sources 
by Eman Bowen, geographer to His Majesty King George the Third, 
was issued, and on this map the Desplaines is laid down as the Illinois, 
or Chicago River. Many early French writers speak of it, as they 
do of the Kankakee above the confluence, as the " River of the Illi- 
nois." Its French Canadian name is An Plein, now changed to Des- 
plaines, or Riviere Au Plein, or Despleines, from a variety of hard 
maple, — that is to say, sugar tree. The Pottawatomies called it She- 
shik-mao-shi-ke Se-pe, signifying the river of the tree from which a 
great quantity of sap flows in the spring.:}; It has also been sanctified 
by Father Zenobe Membre with the name Divine River, and by authors 

* Charlevoix' " Journal of a Voyage to America," vol. 2, p. 184. London edition, 
1761. 

t " History of Illinois and Life of Governor Edwards," by his son Ninian W. 
Edwards, p. 98. 

X Long's Second Expedition, vol. 1, p. 173. 



NAMES OF THE ILLINOIS. 79 

of early western gazetteers, vulgarized by the appellation of Kickapoo 
Creek. 

Below the confluence of the Desplaines, the Illinois River was, by 
La Salle, named the Seignelay, as a mark of his esteem for the brilliant 
young Colbert, who succeeded his father as Minister of the Marine. 
On the great map, prepared by the engineer Franquelin in 16S4, it 
is called River Des Illinois, or Macoupins. The name Illinois, which, 
fortunately, it will always bear, was derived from the name of the con- 
federated tribes who anciently dwelt upon its banks. 

"We continued our course," says Hennepin, " upon this river (the 
Kankakee and Illinois) very near the whole month of December, at 
the latter end of which we arrived at a village of the Illinois, which 
lies near a hundred and thirty leagues from Fort Miamis, on the Lake 
of the Illinois. We suffered greatly on the passage, for the savages 
having set fire to the grass on the prairie, the wild cattle had fled, and 
we did not kill one. Some wild turkeys were the only game we 
secured. God's providence supported us all the while, and as we 
meditated upon the extremities to which we were reduced, regarding 
ourselves without hope of relief, we found a very large wild ox stick- 
ing fast in the mud of the river. We killed him, and with much diffi- 
culty dragged him out of the mud. This was a great refreshment to 
our men ; it revived their courage, — being so timely and unexpectedly 
relieved, they concluded that God approved our undertaking. 

The great village of the Illinois, where La Salle's party had now 
arrived, has been located with such certainty by Francis Parkman, the 
learned historical writer, as to leave no doubt of its identity. It 
was on the north side of the Illinois River, above the mouth of the 
Vermillion and below Starved Rock, near the little village of Utica, 
in La Salle county, Illinois.* 

" We found," continues Father Hennepin, " no one in the village, 
as we had foreseen, for the Illinois, according to their custom, had di- 
vided themselves into small hunting parties. Their absence caused 
great perplexity amongst us, for we wanted provisions, and yet did 
not dare to meddle with the Indian corn the savages had laid under 
ground for their subsistence and for seed. However, our necessity be- 
ing very great, and it being impossible to continue our voyage without 
any provisions, M. La Salle resolved to take about forty bushels of 
corn, and hoped to appease the savages with presents. We embarked 
again, with these fresh provisions, and continued to fall down the river, 

* Mr. Parkman gives an interesting account of his recent visit to, and the identifi- 
cation of, the locality, in an elaborate note in his " Discovery of the Great West," pp. 
221, 222. 



80 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

which runs directly toward the south. On the 1st of January we went 
through a lake (Peoria Lake) formed by the river, about seven leagues 
long and one broad. The savages call that place Pimeteoui, that is, in 
their tongue, ' a place where there is an abundance of fat animals. ' * 
Resuming Hennepin's narrative : "The current brought us, in the 
meantime, to the Indian camp, and M. La Salle was the first one 
to land, followed closely by his men, which increased the consterna- 
tion of the savages, whom we easily might have defeated. As it was 
not our design, we made a halt to give them time to recover them- 
selves and to see that we were not enemies. Most of the savages who 
had run away upon our landing, understanding that we were friends, 
returned ; but some others did not come back for three or four days, 
and after they had learned that we had smoked the calumet. 

" I must observe here, that the hardest winter does not last longer 
than two months in this charming country, so that on the 15th of Jan- 
uary there came a sudden thaw, which made the rivers navigable, and 
the weather as mild as it is in France in the middle of the spring. 
M. La Salle, improving this fair season, desired me to go down the 
river with him to choose a place proper to build a fort. AVe selected 
an eminence on the bank of the river, defended on that side by the 
river, and on two others by deep ravines, so that it was accessible only 
on one side. We cast a trench to join the two ravines, and made the 
eminence steep on that side, supporting the earth with great pieces of 
timber. We made a rough palisade to defend ourselves in case the 
Indians should attack us while we were engaged in building the fort ; 
but no one offering to disturb us, we went on diligently with our work. 

* Louis Beck, in his " Gazetteer of Illinois and Missouri," p. 119, says: "The Indi- 
ans call the lake Pin-a-tah-wee, on account of its being frequently covered with a 
scum which has a greasy appearance." Owing to the rank growth of aquatic plants 
in the Illinois River before they were disturbed by the frequent passage of boats, and to 
the grasses on the borders of the stream and the adjacent marshes, and the decay 
taking place in both under the scorching rays of the summer's sun, the surface of the 
river and lake were frequently coated with this vegetable decomposition. Prof. School- 
craft ascended the Illinois River, and was at Fort Clark on the 19th of August, 1821. 
Under this date is the following extract from his "Narrative Journal": "About 9 
o'clock in the morning we came to a part of the river which was covered for several 
hundred yards with a scum or froth of the most intense green color, and emitting a 
nauseous exhalation that was almost insupportable. We were compelled to pass 
through it. The fine green color of this somewhat compact scum, resembling that of 
verdegris, led us at the moment to conjecture that it might derive this character from 
some mineral spring or vein in the bed of the river, but we had reasons afterward 
to regret this opinion. I directed one of the canoe men to collect a bottle of this 
mother of miasmata for preservation, but its fermenting nature baffled repeated at- 
tempts to keep it corked. We had daily seen instances of the powerful tendency of 
these waters to facilitate the decomposition of floating vegetation, but had not before 
observed any in so mature and complete a state of putrefaction. It might certainly 
justify an observer less given to fiction than the ancient poets, to people this stream 
'with the Hydra, as were the pestilential-breeding marshes of Italy."— Schoolcraft's 
"Central Mississippi Valley," p. 305. 



FORT CKEVECOEUR AND ITS LOCATION. 81 

When the fort was half finished, M. La Salle lodged himself, with M. 
Tonti, in the middle of the fortification, and every one took his post. 
We placed the forge on the curtain on the side of the wood, and laid 
in a great quantity of coal for that purpose. But our greatest diffi- 
culty was to build a boat, — our carpenters having deserted us, we did 
not know what to do. However, as timber was abundant and near at 
hand, we told our men that if any of them would undertake to saw 
boards for building the bark, we might surmount all other difficulties. 
Two of the men undertook the task, and succeeded so well that we 
began to build a bark, the keel whereof was forty -two feet long. Our 
men went on so briskly with the work, that on the 1st of March our 
boat was half built, and all the timber ready prepared for furnishing it. 
Our fort was also very near finished, and we named it ' Fort Creve- 
coeur, ' because the desertion of our men, and other difficulties we 
had labored under, had almost ' broken our hearts. ' * 

" M. La Salle,' 1 says Hennepin, " no longer doubted that the Griffin 
was lost; but neither this nor other difficulties dejected him. His 
great courage buoyed him up, and he resolved to return to Fort Fron- 
tenac by land, notwithstanding the snow, and the great dangers attend- 
ing so long a journey. We had many private conferences, wherein it 
was decided that he should return to Fort Frontenac with three men, 
to bring with him the necessary articles to proceed with the discov- 
ery, while I, with two men, should go in a canoe to the River Me- 
schasipi, and endeavor to obtain the friendship of the nations who 
inhabited its banks. 

" M. La Salle left M. Tonti to command in Fort Crevecceur, and 
ordered our carpenter to prepare some thick boards to plank the deck 
of our ship, in the nature of a parapet, to cover it against the arrows 
of the savages in case they should shoot at us from the shore. Then, 
calling his men together, La Salle requested them to obey M. Tonti's 
orders in his absence, to live in Christian union and charity ; to be 
courageous and firm in their designs; and above all not to give credit 
to false reports the savages might make, either of him or of their com- 
rades who accompanied Father Hennepin." 

Hennepin and his two companions, with a supply of trinkets suitable 

* " Fort Crevecceur," or the Broken Heart, was built on the east side of the Illi- 
nois River, a short distance below the outlet of Peoria Lake. It is so located on the 
great map of Franquelin, made at Quebec in 1684. There are many indications on 
this map, going 1 to show that it was constructed largely under the supervision of La- 
Salle. The fact mentioned by Hennepin, that they went down the river, and that coal 
was gathered for the supply of the fort, would confirm this theory as to its location; 
for the outcrop of coal is abundant in the bluffs on the east side of the river below 
Peoria. There is also a spot in this immediate vicinity that answers well to the site 
of the fort as described by Fathers Hennepin and Membre. 
6 



82 HISTORIC NOTES OX THE NORTHWEST. 

for the Indian trade, left Fort Crevecauir for the Mississippi, on the 
29th of February, 1G80, and were captured by the Sioux, as already 
stated. From this time to the ultimate discovery and taking possession 
of the Mississippi and the valleys by La Salle, Father Zenobe Membre 
was the historian of the expedition. 

La Salle started across the country, going up the Illinois and Kan- 
kakee, and through the southern part of the present State of Michigan. 
lie reached the Detroit River, ferrying the stream with a raft ; he at 
length stood on Canadian soil. Striking a direct line across the wilder- 
ness, he arrived at Lake Erie, near Point Pelee. By this time only 
one man remained in health, and with his assistance La Salle made a 
canoe. Embarking in it the party came to Niagara on Easter Monday. 
Leaving his comrades, who were completely exhausted, La Salle on the 
6th of May reached Fort Frontenac, making a journey of over a thou- 
sand miles in sixty -five days, " the greatest feat ever performed by a 
Frenchman in America.' 1 * 

La Salle found his affairs in great confusion. His creditors had 
seized upon his estate, including Fort Frontenac. Undaunted by this 
new misfortune, he confronted his creditors and enemies, pacifying the 
former and awing the latter into silence. He gathered the fragments 
of his scattered property and in a short time started west with a com- 
pany of twenty-five men, whom he had recruited to assist in the prose- 
cution of his discoveries. He reached Lake Huron by the way of Lake 
Simcoe, and shortly afterward arrived at Mackinaw. Here he found 
that his enemies had been very busy, and had poisoned the minds of 
the Indians against his designs. 

We leave La Salle at Mackinaw to notice some of the occurrences 
that took place on the Illinois and St. Joseph after he had departed for 
Fort Frontenac. On this journey, as La Salle passed up the Illinois, 
he was favorably impressed with Starved Rock as a place presenting 
strong defenses naturally. He sent word back to Tonti, below Peoria 
Lake, to take possession of " The Rock " and erect a fortification on its 
summit. Tonti accordingly came up the river with a part of his avail- 
able force and began to work upon the new fort. While engaged in 
this enterprise the principal part of the men remaining at Fort Creve- 
cceur mutinied. They destroyed the vessel on the stocks, plundered 
the storehouse, escaped up the Illinois River and appeared before Fort 
Miami. These deserters demolished Fort Miami and robbed it of goods 
and furs of La Salle, on deposit there, and then fled out of the country. 
These misfortunes were soon followed by an incursion of the Iroquois, 

* Parkman's " Discovery of the Great West." 



DEATH OF FATHER GABRIEL. 83 

who attacked the Illinois in their village near the Starved Rock. Tonti, 
acting as mediator, came near losing his life at the hand of an infuriated 
Iroquois warrior, who drove a knife into his ribs. Constantly an object 
of distrust to the Illinois, who feared he was a spy and friend of the 
Iroquois, in turn exposed to the jealousy of the Iroquois, who imag- 
ined he and his French friends were allies of the Illinois, Tonti 
remained faithful to his trust until he saw that he could not avert the 
blow meditated by the Iroquois. Then, with Fathers Zenobe Membre 
and Gabriel Rebourde, and a few Frenchmen who had remained faith- 
ful, he escaped from the enraged Indians and made his way, in a leaky 
canoe, up the Illinois River. Father Gabriel one fine day left his com- 
panions on the river to enjoy a walk in the beautiful groves near by, 
and while thus engaged, and as he was meditating upon his holy call- 
ing, fell into an ambuscade of Kickapoo Indians. The good old man, 
unconscious of his danger, was instantly knocked down, the scalp torn 
from his venerable head, and his gray hairs afterward exhibited in tri- 
umph by his young murderers as a trophy taken from the crown of an 
Iroquois warrior. Tonti, with those in his company, pursued his course, 
passing by Chicago, and thence up the west shore of Lake Michigan. 
Subsisting on berries, and often on acorns and roots which they dug 
from the ground, they finally arrived at the Pottawatomie towns. Pre- 
vious to this they abandoned their canoe and started on foot for the 
Mission of Green Bay, where they wintered. 

La Salle, when he arrived at St. Joseph, found Fort Miamis plun- 
dered and demolished. He also learned that the Iroquois had attacked 
the Illinois. Fearing for the safety of Tonti, he pushed on rapidly, 
only to find, at Starved Rock, the unmistakable signs of an Indian 
slaughter. The report was true. The Iroquois had defeated the Illi- 
nois and driven them west of the Mississippi. La Salle viewed the 
wreck of his cherished project, the demolition of the fort, the loss of 
his peltries, and especially the destruction of his vessel, in that usual 
calm way peculiar to him ; and, although he must have suffered the 
most intense anguish, no trace of sorrow or indecision appeared on his 
inflexible countenance. Shortly afterward he returned to Fort Miamis. 
La Salle occupied his time, until spring, in rebuilding Fort Miamis, 
holding conferences with the surrounding Indian tribes, and confeder- 
ating them against future attacks of the Iroquois. He now abandoned 
the purpose of descending the Mississippi in a sailing vessel, and de- 
termined to prosecute his voyage in the ordinary wooden pirogues or 
canoes. 

Tonti was sent forward to Chicago Creek, where he constructed a 
number of sledges. After other preparations had been made, La Salle 



84 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

and his part} 7 left St. Joseph and came around the southern extremity 
of the lake. The goods and effects were placed on the sledges pre- 
pared by Tonti. La Salle's party consisted of twenty-three French- 
men and eighteen Indians. The savages took with them ten squaws 
and three children, so that the party numbered in all fifty-four persons. 
They had to make the portage of the Chicago River. After dragging 
their canoes, sledges, baggage and provisions about eighty leagues 
over the ice, on the Desplaines and Illinois Rivers, they came to the 
great Indian town. It was deserted, the savages having gone down 
the river to Lake Peoria. From Peoria Lake the navigation was open, 
and embarking, on the 6th of February, they soon arrived at the Mis- 
sissippi. Here, owing to floating ice, they were delayed till the 13th 
of the same month. Membre describes the Missouri as follows: "It is 
full as large as the Mississippi, into which it empties, troubling it so 
that, from the mouth of the Ozage (Missouri), the water is hardly 
drinkable. The Indians assured us that this river is formed b} r many 
others, and that they ascend it for ten or twelve days to a mountain 
where it rises ; that be3'ond this mountain is the sea, where they see 
great ships; that on the river are a great number of large villages. 
Although this river is very large, the Mississippi does not seem aug- 
mented by it, but it pours in so much mud that, from its mouth, the 
water of the great river, whose bed is also slimy, is more like clear 
mud than river water, without changing at all till it reaches the sea, a 
distance of more than three hundred leagues, although it receives seven 
large rivers, the water of which is very beautiful, and which are almost 
as large as the Mississippi." From this time, until they neared the 
mouths of the Mississippi, nothing especially worthy of note occurred. 
On the 6th of April they came to the place where the river divides 
itself into three channels. M. La Salle took the western, the Sieur 
Dautray the southern, and Tonti, accompanied by Membre, followed 
the middle channel. The three channels were beautiful and deep. 
The water became brackish, and two leagues farther it became perfectly 
salt, and advancing on they at last beheld the Gulf of Mexico. La 
Salle, in a canoe, coasted the borders of the sea, and then the parties 
assembled on a dry spot of ground not far from the mouth of the river. 
On the 9th of April, with all the pomp and ceremony of the Holy 
Catholic Church, La Salle, in the name of the French King, took pos- 
session of the Mississippi and all its tributaries. First they chanted 
the " Vexilla Regis'" and " Te Deum," and then, while the assembled 
voyageurs and their savage attendants fired their muskets and shouted 
" Vive le Roi," La Salle planted the column, at the same time pro- 
claiming, in a loud voice, " In the name of the Most High, Mighty, 



TAKING POSSESSION OF LOUISIANA. 85 

Invincible, and Victorious Prince, Louis the Great, by the Grace of 
God King of France and of Navarre, Fourteenth of that name, I, this 
9th day of April, one thousand six hundred and eighty-two, in virtue 
of the commission of His Majesty, which I hold in my hand, and 
which may be seen b} r all whom it may concern, have taken, and do now 
take, in the name of His Majesty and his successors to the crown, posses- 
sion of this country of Louisiana, the seas, harbors, ports, bays, adjacent 
straits, and all the people, nations, provinces, cities, towns, villages, 
mines, minerals, fisheries, streams and rivers within the extent of the 
said Louisiana, from the mouth of the great river St. Louis, otherwise 
called Ohio, as also along the river Colbert, or Mississippi, and the 
rivers which discharge themselves therein, from its source beyond the 
country of the Nadonessious (Sioux), as far as its mouth at the sea, 
and also to the mouth of the river of Palms, upon the assurance we 
have had from the natives of these countries that we were the first 
Europeans who have descended or ascended the river Colbert (Missis- 
sippi) ; hereby protesting against all who may hereafter undertake to 
invade any or all of these aforesaid countries, peoples or lands, to the 
prejudice of His Majesty, acquired by the consent of the nations 
dwelling herein. Of which, and of all else that is needful, I herebv 
take to witness those who hear me. and demand an act of the notary 
here present." 

At the foot of the tree to which the cross was attached La Salle 
caused to be buried a leaden plate, on one side of which were engraven 
the arms of France, and on the opposite, the following Latin inscription: 

LVDOVICUS MAGNUS REGNAT. 

NONO APRILIS CIO IOC LXXXII. 
ROBERTVS CAVALIER, CVM DOMINO DETONTI LEGATO, R, P. ZENOBIO 
MEMBRE, RECCOLLECTO, ET VIGINTI GALL1S PRIMVS HOC FLVMEN, 
INDE AB ILTNEORVM PAGO ENAVAGAVIT, EZVQUE OSTIVM FECIT 
PERVIVM, NONO APRILIS ANNI. 

CIO IOC LXXXI. 

Note. — The following is a translation of the inscription on the leaden plate: 

" Louis the Great reigns. 
"Robert Cavalier, with Lord Tonti as Lieutenant, R. P. Zenobe Membre, Recollect, 
and twenty Frenchmen, first navigated this stream from the country of the Illinois, 
and also passed through its mouth, on the 9th of April, 1G82." 

After which, La Salle remarked that His Majesty, who was the 
eldest son of the Holy Catholic Church, would not annex any country 
to his dominion without giving especial attention to establish the 



86 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Christian religion therein. He then proceeded at once to erect a cross, 
before which the "Vexilla" and " Domine Salvum fac Regem" were 
sung. The ceremony was concluded by shouting "Vive le Roi ! " 

Thus was completed the discovery and taking possession of the 
Mississippi valley. By that indisputable title, the right of discovery, 
attested by all those formalities recognized as essential by the laws of 
nations, the manuscript evidence of which was duly certified by a no- 
tary public brought along for that purpose, and witnessed by the sig- 
natures of La Salle and a number of other persons present on the occa- 
sion, France became the owner of all that vast country drained by the 
Mississippi and its tributaries. Bounded by the Alleghanies on the 
east, and the Rocky Mountains on the west, and extending from an 
undefined limit on the north to the burning sands of the Gulf on the 
south. Embracing within its area every variety of climate, watered 
with a thousand beautiful streams, containing vast prairies and exten- 
sive forests, Math a rich and fertile soil that only awaited the husband- 
man's skill to yield bountiful harvests, rich in vast beds of bituminous 
coal and deposits of iron, copper and other ores, this magnificent 
domain was not to become the seat of a religious dogma, enforced by 
the power of state, but was designed under the hand of God to become 
the center of civilization, — the heart of the American republic, — where 
the right of conscience was to be free, without interference of law, and 
where universal liberty should only be restrained in so far as its unre- 
strained exercise might conflict with its equal enjoyment by all. 

Had France, with the same energy she displayed in discovering 
Louisiana, retained her grasp upon this territory, the dominant race in 
the valley of the Mississippi would have been Gallic instead of Anglo- 
Saxon. 

The manner in which France lost this possession in America will 
be referred to in a subsequent chapter. 



CHAPTER XI. 

LA SALLE'S RETURN, AND HIS DEATH IN ATTEMPTING A 
SETTLEMENT ON THE GULF. 

La Salle and his party returned up the Mississippi. Before they 
reached Chickasaw Bluffs, La Salle was taken dangerously ill. 

Dispatching - Tonti ahead to Mackinaw, he remained there under 
the care of Father Membre. About the end of July he was enabled to 
proceed, and joined Tonti at Mackinaw, in September. Owing to the 
threatened invasion of the Iroquois, La Salle postponed his projected 
trip to France, and passed the winter at Fort St. Louis. From Fort 
St. Louis, it would seem, La Salle directed a letter to Count Frontenac, 
giving an account of his voyage to the Mississippi. It is short and his- 
torically interesting, and was first published in that rare little volume, 
Thevenot's ''Collection of Voyages," published at Paris in ItiST. This 
letter contains, perhaps, the first description of Chicago Creek and the 
harbor, and as everything pertaining to Chicago of a historical charac- 
ter is a matter of public interest, we insert La Salle's account. It 
seems that, even at that early day, almost two centuries ago, the idea 
of a canal connecting Lake Michigan and the Illinois was a subject of 
consideration : 

'• The creek (Chicago Creek) through which we went, from the lake 
of the Illinois into the Divine River (the An Plein, or Des Plaines) is 
so shallow and so greatly exposed to storms that no ship can venture 
in except in a great calm. Neither is the country between the creek 
and the Divine River suitable for a canal ; for the prairies between 
them are submerged after heavy rains, and a canal would be immedi- 
ately filled up with sand. Besides this, it is not possible to dig into 
the ground on account of the water, that country being nothing but a 
marsh. Supposing it were possible, however, to cut a canal, it would 
be useless, as the Divine River is not navigable for forty leagues 
together; that is to say, from that place (the portage) to the village of 
the Illinois, except for canoes, and these have scarcely water enough in 
summer time." 

The identity of the " River Chicago," of early explorers, with the 
modern stream of the same name, is clearly established by the map of 
Franquelin of 1684, as well, also, as by the Memoir of Sieur de Tonti. 

87 



88 HISTORIC NOTES OX THE NORTHWEST. 

The latter had occasion to pass through the Chicago River more fre- 
quently than any other person of his time, and his intimate acquaint- 
ance with the Indians in the vicinity would necessarily place his decla- 
rations beyond the suspicion of a mistake. Referring to his being sent 
in the fall of 1687, by La Salle, from Fort Miamis, at the mouth of the 
St. Joseph, to Chicago, already alluded to, he says: "We went in 
canoes to the ' River Chicago, 1 where there is a portage which joins that 
of the Illinois." * 

The name of this river is variously spelled by early writers, " Chi- 
cagon,"f " Che-ka-kou," ^ " Chikgoua. ,, § In the prevailing Algonquin 
language the word signifies a polecat or skunk. The Aborigines, also, 
called garlic by nearly the same word, from which many authors have 
inferred that Chicago means "wild onion. " fl 

While La Salle was in the west, Count Frontenac was removed, 
and M. La Barre appointed Governor of Canada. The latter was the 
avowed enemy of La Salle. He injured La Salle in every possible 

* Tonti's Memoir, published in the Historical Collections of Louisiana, vol. 1, p. 59. 

t Joutel's Journal. 

X LaHontan. 

§ Father Gravier's Narrative Journal, published in Dr. Shea's "Voyages Up and 
Down the Mississippi." 

I A writer of a historical sketch, published in a late number of "Potter's Monthly," 
on the isolated statement of an old resident of western Michigan, says that the Indi- 
ans living thereabouts subsequent to the advent of the early settlers called Chicago 
"Tuck-Chicago," the meaning of which was, "a place without wood," and thus in- 
vesting a mere fancy with the dignity of truth. The great city of the west has taken 
its name from the stream along whose margin it was first laid out, and it becomes im- 
portant to preserve the origin of its name with whatever certainty a research of all 
accessible authorities may furnish. In the first place, Chicago was not a place "with- 
out wood," or trees; on the contrary, it is the only locality where timber was anything 
like abundant for the distance of miles around. The north and south branches west- 
ward, and the lake on the east, afforded ample protection against prairie fires; and Dr. 
John M. Peck, in his early Gazetteer of the state, besides other authorities, especially 
mention the fact that there was a good quality of timber in the vicinity of Chicago, 
particularly on the north branch. There is nowhere to be found in the several Indian 
vocabularies of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Dr. Edwin James, and the late Albert Gal- 
latin, in their extensive collections of Algonquin words, any expressions like those used 
by the writer in Potter's Monthly, bearing the signification which he attaches to them. 
In Mackenzie's Vocabulary, the Algonquin word for polecat is "Shi-kak." In Dr. 
James' Vocabulary, the word for skunk is "She-gahg (shegag); and Shig-gau-ga-win- 
zheeg is the plural for onion or garlic, literally, in the Indian dialect, "skunk-weeds." 
Dr. James, in a foot-note, says that from this word in the singular number, some have 
derived the name Chi-ka-qo, which is commonly pronounced among the Indians, Shig- 
gau-go, and Shi-gau-go-ong (meaning) at Chicago. 

An association of English traders, styling themselves the "Illinois Land Compa- 
ny," on the 5th of July, 1773, obtained from ten chiefs of the Kaskaskia. Cahokia and 
Peoria tribes, a deed for two large tracts of land. The second tract, in the description 
of its boundaries, contains the following expression: "and thence up the Illinois River, 
by the several courses thereof, to Chicago, or Garlic Creek:" and it may safely be as- 
sumed that the parties to the deed knew the names given to identify the grant. Were 
an additional reference necessary. " Wau Bun," the valuable work of Mrs. John H. 
Kinzie, might also be cited, p. 190. The Iroquois, who made frequent predatory 
excursions from their homes in New York to the Illinois country, called Chicago Kan- 
era- ghik ; vide Cadwalder Colden's " History of the Five Nations." 



MISFORTUNES OF LA SALLE'S COLONY. 89 

way, and finally seized upon Fort Frontenac. To obtain redress, La- 
Salle went to France, reaching Rochelle on the 13th of December 
1083. Seignelay (young Colbert), Secretary of State and Minister of 
the Marine, was appealed to by La Salle, and became interested and 
furnished him timely aid in his enterprise. 

Before leaving America La Salle ordered Tonti to proceed and finish 
" Fort St. Louis," as the fortification at Starved Rock, on the Illinois 
River, was named. "He charged me," says Tonti, " with the duty to 
go and finish Fort St. Louis, of which he gave me the government, 
with full power to dispose of the lands in the neighborhood, and left 
all his people under my command, with the exception of six French- 
men, whom he took to accompany him to Quebec. We departed from 
Mackinaw on the same day, he for Canada and I for the Illinois.* On 
his mission to France La Salle was received with honor by the kino- 
and his officers, and the accounts which he gave relative to Louisiana 
caused them to further his plans for its colonization. A squadron of 
four vessels was fitted out, the largest carrying thirty-six guns. About 
two hundred persons were embarked aboard of them for the purpose 
long projected, as we have foreseen, of establishing a settlement at the 
mouth of the Mississippi. The fleet was under the command of M. 
de Beaujeu, a naval officer of some distinction. He was punctilious in 
the exercise of authority, and had a wiry, nervous organization, as the 
portrait preserved of him clearly shows.f La Salle was austere, and 
lacked that faculty of getting along with men, for the want of which 
many of his best-laid plans foiled. A constant bickering and collision 
of cross purposes was the natural result of such repellant natures as 
he and Beaujeu possessed. 

After a stormy passage of the Atlantic, the fleet entered the Gulf 
of Mexico. Coasting along the northern shore of the gulf, they failed 
to discover the mouths of the Mississippi. Passing them, they finally 
landed in what is now known as Matagorda Bay, or the Bay of St. 
Barnard, near the River Colorado, in Texas, more than a hundred 
leagues westward of the Mississippi. The whole number of persons 
left on the beach is not definitely known. M. Joutel, one of the sur- 
vivors, and the chronicler of this unfortunate undertaking, mentions 
one hundred and eighty, besides the crew of the " Belle," which was 
lost on the beach, consisting of soldiers, volunteers, workmen, women 
and children.;}: The colony being in a destitute condition, La Salle, 

*Tonti's Memoir. 

f A fine steel engraving 1 copy of Mons. Beaujeu is contained in Dr. Shea's transla- 
tion of Charlevoix's " History of New France." 
{Spark's "Life of La Salle." 



90 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

accompanied by Father Anastius Douay and twenty others, set out to 
reach the Mississippi, intending to ascend to Fort St. Louis, and there 
obtain aid from Tonti. They set out on the 7th of January, and after 
several days' journey, reached the village of the Cenis Indians. Here 
some of La Salle's men became dissatisfied with their hardships, and 
determined to slay him and then join the Indians. The tragic tale is 
thus related by Father Douay : " The wisdom of Monsieur de La Salle 
was unable to foresee the plot which some of his people would make 
to slay his nephew, as they suddenly resolved to do, and actually 
did, on the 17th of March, by a blow of an ax, dealt by one Liotot. 
They also killed the valet of the Sieur La Salle and his Indian ser- 
vant, Nika, who, at the risk of his life, had supported them for three 
years. The wretches resolved not to stop here, and not satistied 
with this murder, formed a design of attempting their commander's 
life, as they had reason- to fear his resentment and chastisement. As 
M. La Salle and myself were walking toward the fatal spot where his 
nephew had been slain, two of those murderers, who were hidden in 
the grass, arose, one on each side, with guns cocked. One missed Mon- 
sieur. La Salle ; the other, firing at the same time, shot him in the head. 
He died an hour after, on the 19th of March, 1687. 

" Thus," says Father Douay, " died our commander, constant in ad- 
versity, intrepid, generous, engaging, dexterous, skillful, capable of 
everything. He who for twenty years had softened the fierce temper 
of countless savage tribes was massacred by the hands of his own domes- 
tics, whom he had loaded with caresses. He died in the prime of life, 
in the midst of his course and labors, without having seen their success."* 

The colony which La Salle had left in Texas was surprised and 
destroyed by the Indians. Not a soul was left to give an account of 
the massacre. Of the twenty who accompanied him in his attempt to 
reach the Mississippi, Jouteh M. Cavalier, La Salle's brother, and four 
others determined to make a last attempt to find the Mississippi ; the 
others, including La Salle's murderers, became the associates of the less 
brutal Indians, and of them we have no farther account. After a long 
and toilsome journey Joutel and his party reached the Mississippi near 
the mouth of the Arkansas. Here they found two men who had been 
sent by Tonti to relieve La Salle. Embarking in canoes, they went up 
the Mississippi, arrived at Fort St. Louis in safety, and finally returned 
to France by w r ay of Quebec. 

From this period until 1693 the French made no further attempts 
to colonize the Lower Mississippi. They had no settlements below the 

* Fa.her Douay's Journal, contained in Dr. Shea's " Discovery and Exploration of the 
Mississippi." 



BILOXI ASD MOBILE FOUNDED. Hi 

Ohio, and above that river, on the Illinois and the upper lakes, were 
scattered only a few missions and trading posts. 

Realizing the great importance of retaining possession of the Mis- 
sissippi valley, the French court fitted out an expedition which con- 
sisted of four vessels, for the purpose of thoroughly exploring the mouth 
of the Mississippi and adjacent territory. Le Moyne Iberville was put 
in command of the expedition. He was the third of the eleven sons 
of Baron Longueil. They all held commissions from the king, and con- 
stituted one of the most illustrious of the French Canadian families. 
The fleet sailed from Brest, France, on the 24th of October, 1698. 
They came in sight of Florida on the 27th of January, 1G99. They 
ran near the coast, and discovered that they were in the vicinity of 
Pensacola Bay. Here they found a colony of three hundred Spaniards. 
Sailing westward, they entered the mouth of the Mississippi on Quin- 
quagesima Monday, which was the 2d of March. Iberville ascended 
the river far enough to assure himself of its being the Mississippi, then, 
descending the river, he founded a colony at Biloxi Bay. Leaving his 
brother, M. de Sauvole, in command of the newly erected fort, he sailed 
for France. Iberville returned to Biloxi on the 8th of January, .and, 
hearing that the English were exploring the Mississippi, he took formal 
possession of the Mississippi valley in the name of the French king. 
He, also, erected a small four-gun fort on Poverty Point, 38 miles below 
New Orleans. The fort was constructed very rudely, and was occupied 
for only one year. In the year 1701 Iberville made a settlement at 
Mobile, and this soon became the principal French town on the gulf. 
The unavailing efforts of the king in the scheme of colonization induced 
a belief that a greater prosperity would follow under the stimulus of 
individual enterprise, and he determined to grant Louisiana to Monsieur 
Crozat, with a monopoly of its mines, supposed to be valuable in gold 
and silver, together with the exclusive right of all its commerce for the 
period of fifteen years. The patent or grant of Louis to M. Crozat is 
an interesting document, not only because it passed the title of the 
Mississippi valley into the hands of one man, but for the reason that it 
embraces a part of the history of the country ceded. We, therefore, 
quote the most valuable part of it. The instrument bears date Sep- 
tember 12th, 1712 : 

" Louis (the fourteenth), King of France and Navarre ; To all who 
shall see these presents, greeting : The care we have always had to 
procure the welfare and advantage of our subjects, having induced us,, 
notwithstanding the almost continual wars which we have been en- 
gaged to support from the beginning of our reign, to seek all possible 
opportunities of enlarging and extending the trade of our American 



92 HISTORIC NOTES OX THE NORTHWEST. 

colonies, we did, in the year 16S3, give our orders to undertake a dis- 
covery of the countries and lands which are situated in the northern 
parts of America, between New France (Canada) and New Mexico. 
And "the Sienr de La Salle, to whom we committed that enterprise, 
having had success enough to confirm the belief that a communication 
might be settled from New France to the Gulf of Mex»ico by means of 
large rivers; this obliged us, immediately after the peace of liyewick 
(in 1697), to give orders for the establishment of a colony there (under 
Iberville in 1099), and maintaining a garrison, which has kept and 
preserved the possession we had taken in the year 1683, of the lands, 
coasts and islands which are situated in the Gulf of Mexico, between 
Carolina on the east, and old and New Mexico on the west. But a 
new war breaking out in Europe shortly after, there was no possi- 
bility till now of reaping from that new colony the advantages that 
might have been expected from thence; because the private men who 
are concerned in the sea trade were all under engagements with the 
other colonies, which they have been obliged to follow. And where- 
as, upon the information we have received concerning the disposition 
and situation of the said countries, known at present by the name of 
the province of Louisiana, we are of opinion that there may be estab- 
lished therein a considerable commerce, so much the more advan- 
tageous to our kingdom in that there has been hitherto a necessit} r of 
fetching from foreigners the greatest part of the commodities that may 
be brought from thence ; and because in exchange thereof we need 
carry thither nothing but the commodities of the growth and manu- 
facture of our own kingdom ; we have resolved to grant the com- 
merce of the country of Louisiana to the Sieur Anthony Crozat, 
our counsellor, secretary of the household, crown and revenue, to 
whom we intrust the execution of this project. We are the more 
readily inclined thereto because of his zeal and the singular knowledge 
he has acquired of maritime commerce, encourages us to hope for as 
good success as he has hitherto had in the divers and sundry enter- 
prises he has gone upon, and which have procured to our kingdom great 
quantities of gold and silver in such conjectures as have rendered them 
very welcome to us. For these reasons, being desirous to show our 
favor to him, and to regulate the conditions upon which we mean to 
grant him the said commerce, after having deliberated the affair in our 
council, of our own certain knowledge, full power and royal authority, 
we by these presents, signed by our hand, have appointed and do ap- 
point the said Sieur Crozat to carry on a trade in all the lands pos- 
sessed by us, and bounded by New Mexico and by the English of Caroli- 
na, all the establishments, ports, havens, rivers, and particularly the port 



LOUISIANA GRANTED TO CROZAT. 93 

and haven of Isle Dauphin, heretofore called Massacre ; the river St. 
Lonis, heretofore called Mississippi, from the edge of the sea as far as 
the Illinois* together with the river St. Philip, heretofore called Mis- 
souris, and St. Jerome, heretofore called the Ouabache (the Wabash), 
with all the countries, territories, lakes within land, and the rivers which 
fall directly or indirectly into that part of the river St. Louis. Our 
pleasure is, that all the aforesaid lands, countries, streams, rivers and 
islands, be and remain comprised under the name of the Government 
of Louisiana, which shall be dependent upon the general government 
of New France, to which it is subordinate." 

Crozat was permitted to search and open mines, and to pay the 
king one-fifth part of all the gold and silver developed. Work in de- 
veloping the mines was to be begun in three years, under penalty of 
forfeiture. Crozat was required to send at least two vessels annually 
from France to sustain the colonies already established, and for the 
maintenance of trade. 

The next year, 1713, there were, within the limits of Crozat's vast 
grant, not more than four hundred persons of European descent. 

Crozat himself did little to increase the colony, the time of his 
subordinates being spent in roaming over the country in search of the 
precious metals. He became wearied at the end of three years spent 
in profitless adventures, and, in 1717, surrendered his grant back to the 
crown. In August of the same year the French king turned Louis- 
iana over to the " Western Company," or the " Mississippi Company," 
subsequently called " The Company of the Indies," at whose head 
stood the famous Scotch banker, John Law. The rights ceded to Law's 
company were as broad as the grant to Crozat. Law was an infla- 
tionist, believing that wealth could be created without limit by the 
mere issuing of paper money, and his wild schemes of finance were 
the most ruinous that ever deluded and bankrupted a confiding people. 
Louisiana, with its real and undeveloped wealth a hundred times mag- 

* The expression, " as far as the Illinois," did not refer to the river of that name, 
but to the country generally, on both sides of the Mississippi, above the month of tlie 
Ohio, which, under both the French and Spanish governments was denominated "the 
country of the Illinois," and this designation appeared in all their records and official 
letters. For example, letters, deeds, and other official documents bore date, respect- 
ively, at Kaskaskia, of the Illinois; St. Louis, of the Illinois; St. Charles, of the Illi- 
nois; not to identify the village where such instruments were executed merely, but to 
denote the country in which these villages were situated. Therefore, the monopoly of 
Crozat, by the terms of his patent, extended to the utmost limit of Louisiana, north- 
ward, which, by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, was fixed at the 49th° of latitude; vide 
Stoddard's "Sketches of Louisiana," Brackenridge's "Views of Louisiana." From 
the year 1700 until some time subsequent to the conquest of the country by the British, 
in 1763, a letter or document executed anywhere within the present limits of the states 
of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, or Missouri, would have borne the superscription of "Les 
Illinoix" or "the Illinois.'" 



94 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

nitied, became tlie basis of a fictitious value, on which an enormous 
volume of stock, convertible into paper money, was issued. The stock 
rose in the market like a balloon, and chamber-maids, alike with 
wealthy ladies, barbers and bankers, — indeed, the whole French peo- 
ple, — gazing at the ascending phenomenon, grew mad with the desire 
for speedy wealth. The French debt was paid off; the depleted treasury 
filled ; poor men and women were made rich in a few days by the con- 
stantly advancing value of the stocks of the " Company of the West/' 
Confidence in the ultimate wealth of Louisiana was all that was re- 
quired, and this was given to a degree that would not now be credited 
as true, were not the facts beyond dispute. 

After awhile the balloon exploded ; people began to doubt ; they 
realized that mere confidence was not solid value ; stocks declined ; 
they awoke to a sorrowful contemplation of their delusion and ruin. 
Law, from the summit of his glory as a financier, fell into ignominy, 
and to escape bodily harm fled the country ; and Louisiana, from be- 
ing the source of untold wealth, sunk into utter ruin and contempt. 

It should be said to the credit of " the company " that they made 
some efforts toward the cultivation of the soil. The growth of tobacco, 
sugar, rice and indigo was encouraged. Negroes were imported to till 
the soil. New Orleans was laid out in 1718, and the seat of govern- 
ment of lower Louisiana subsequently established there. A settlement 
was made about Natchez. A large number of German emigrants were 
located on the Mississippi, from whom a portion of the Mississippi has 
ever since been known as the " German coast." The French settle- 
ments at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, begun, as appears from most authen- 
tic accounts, about the year 1700, — certainly not later, — were largely 
increased by emigration from Canada and France. In the year 1718 
the " Company of the West'" erected a fortification near Kaskaskia, and 
named it Fort Chartes, having a charter from the crown so to do. It 
is situated in the northwest corner of Randolph county, Illinois, on the 
American bottom. It was garrisoned with a small number of soldiers, 
and was made the seat of government of "the Illinois." Under the 
mild government of the " Company," the Illinois marked a steady 
prosperity, and Fort Chartes became the center of business, fashion and 
gaiety of all "the Illinois country." In 1756 the fort was reconstruct- 
ed, this time with solid stone. Its shape was an irregular quadrangle, 
the exterior sides of the polygon being four hundred and ninety feet, 
and the walls were tw T o feet two inches thick, pierced with port-holes 
for cannon. The walls of the fort were eighteen feet high, and con- 
tained within, guard houses, government house, barracks, powder 
house, bake house, prison and store room. A very minute description 



FORT CHARTES. 95 

is given of the whole structure within and without in the minutes of 
its surrender, October 10, 1765, by Louis St. Ange de Belrive, captain 
of infantry and commandant, and Joseph Le Febvre, the king's store- 
keeper and acting commissary of the fort, to Mr. Sterling, deputed by 
Mr. De Gage (Gage), governor of New York and commander of His 
Majesty's troops in America, to receive possession of the fort and conn- 
try from the French, according to the seventeenth article of the treaty 
of peace, concluded on the 10th of February, 1763, between the kings 
of France and Great Britain.* Fort Chartes was the strongest and 
most elaborately constructed of any of the French works of defense in 
America. Here the intendants and several commandants in charge, 
whose will was law, governed "the Illinois," administered justice to 
its inhabitants, and settled up estates of deceased persons, for nearly 
half a century. From this place the English commandants governed 
" the Illinois," some of them with great injustice and severitv, from 
the time of its surrender, in 1765, to 1772, when a great flood inun- 
dated the American Bottom, and the Mississippi cut a new channel so 
near the fort that the wall and two bastions on the west side were un- 
dermined and fell into the river. The British garrison then abandoned 
it, and their headquarters were afterward at Kaskaskia. 

Dr. Beck, while collecting material for his " Gazetteer of Illinois 
and Missouri," in 1820, visited the ruins of old Fort Chartes. ' At that " 
time enough remained to show the size and strength of this remarkable 
fortification. Trees over two feet in diameter were growing within its 
walls. The ruin is in a dense forest, hidden in a tangle of under- 
growth, furnishing a sad memento of the efforts and blasted hopes of 
La Belle France to colonize "Les fflinoix" 

* The articles of surrender are given at length in the Paris Documents, vol 10, 
pp. 1161 to 1166. 



CHAPTER XII 

SURRENDER OF LOUISIANA BY THE INDIES COMPANY— EARLY ROUTES. 

In 1731 the company of the Indies surrendered to France, Louisiana, 
with its forts, colonies and plantations, and from this period forward to 
the time of the conquest by Great Britain and the Anglo-American 
colonies, Louisiana was governed through officers appointed by the 
crown. 

We have shown how, when and where colonies were permanently 
established by the French in Canada, about Kaskaskia, and in Lower 
Louisiana. It is not within the scope of our inquiries to follow these 
settlements of the French in their subsequent development, but rather 
now to show how the establishments of the French along the lakes 
and near the gulf communicated with each other, and the routes of 
travel by which they were connected. 

The convenient way between Quebec and the several villages in the 
vicinity of Kaskaskia was around the lakes and down the Illinois 
River, either by way of the St. Joseph River and the Kankakee port- 
age or through Chicago Creek and the Des Plaines. The long winters 
and severe climate on the St. Lawrence made it desirable for many 
people to abandon Canada for the more genial latitudes of southern 
Illinois, and the still warmer regions of Louisiana, where snows were 
unknown and flowers grew the year round. It only required the pro- 
tection of a fort or other military safeguards to induce the Canadians 
to change their homes from Canada to more favorable localities 
southward. 

The most feasible route between Canada and the Lower Mississippi 
settlements was by the Ohio River. This communication, however, 
was effectually barred against the French. The Iroquois Indians, from 
the time of Champlain, were allies, first of the Dutch and then of the 
English, and the implacable enemies of the French. The upper waters 
of the Ohio were within the acknowledged territory of the Iroquois, 
whose possessions extended westward of New York and Pennsylvania 
well toward the Scioto. The Ohio below Pittsburgh was, also, in the 
debatable ground of the Miamis northward, and Chickasaws south- 
ward. These nations were warring upon each other continually, and 

96 



THE JIAUMEE AND WABASH ROUTE. 97 

the country for many miles beyond either bank of the Ohio was 
infested with war parties of the contending tribes.* 

There were no Indian villages near the Ohio River at the period 
concerning which we now write. Subsequent to this the Shawnees and 
Delawares, previously subdued by the Iroquois, were permitted by the 
latter to establish their towns near the confluence of the Scioto, Mus- 
kingum and other streams. The valley of the Ohio was within the 
confines of the " dark and bloody ground." Were a voyager to see 
smoke ascending above the forest line he would know it was from the 
camp fire of an enemy, and to be a place of danger. It would indi- 
cate the presence of a hunting or war party. If they had been suc- 
cessful they would celebrate the event by the destruction of whoever 
would commit himself to their hands, and if unfortunate in the chase 
or on the war-path, disappointment would give a sharper edge to their 
cruelty, f 

The next and more reliable route was that afforded by the Maumee 
and Wabash, laying within the territory of tribes friendly to the 
French. The importance of this route was noticed by La Salle, in his 
letter to Count Frontenac, in 1683, before quoted. La Salle says: "There 
is a river at the extremity of Lake Erie,;}: within ten leagues of the 
strait (Detroit River), which will very much shorten the way to the 
Illinois, it being navigable for canoes to within two leagues of their 
river." § As early as 1699, Mons. De Iberville conducted a colony of 
Canadians from Quebec to Louisiana, by way of the Maumee and Wa- 
bash. " These were followed by other families, under the leadership 
of M. Du Tessenet. Emigrants came by land, first ascending the St. 
Lawrence to Lake Erie, then ascending a river emptying into that lake 
to the portage of Des Miamis ; their effects being thence transported 
to the river Miamis, where pirogues,, constructed out of a single tree, 
and large enough to contain thirty persons, were built, with which the 
voyage down the Mississippi was prosecuted." || This memoir corre- 
sponds remarkably well with the claim of Little Turtle, in his speech 
to Gen. Wayne, concerning the antiquity of the title, in his tribe, to 
the portage of the Wabash at Fort Wayne. It also illustrates the 
fact that among the first French settlers in lower Louisiana were 

* A Miami chief said that his nation had no tradition of " a time when they were 
not at war with the Chickasaws/' 

t General William H. Harrison's Address before the Historical Society of Cin- 
cinnati. 

X The Maumee. 

§ Meaning the Wabash. 

|| Extract taken from a memoir, showing that the first establishments in Louisiana 
were at Mobile, etc., the original manuscript being among the archives in the depart- 
ment " De la Marine et Des Colonies," in Paris, France. 
7 



98 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

those who found their way thither through the " glorious gate," be- 
longing to the Miamis, connecting the Maumee and Wabash. 

Originally, the Maumee was known to the French as the " Miami," 
" Oumiami," or the " River of the Miamis," from the fact that bands 
of this tribe of Indians had villages upon its banks. It was also called 
" Ottawa," or " Tawwa," which is a contraction of the word Ottawa, 
as families of this tribe "resided on this river from time immemorial." 
The Shawnee Indian name is " Ottawa-sepe," that is " Ottawa River," 
By the Hurons, or Wyandots, it was called " Cagh-a-ren-du-te," the 
" River of the Standing Rock." * Lewis Evans, whose map was pub- 
lished in 1755, and which is, perhaps, the first English map issued of 
the territory lying north and west of the Ohio River, lays down the 
Miami as " Mine-a-mi," a way the Pennsylvania Indian traders had of 
pronouncing the word Miami. In 1703, Mons. Cadillac, the French 
commandant at Detroit, in his application for a grant of land six 
leagues in breadth on either side of the Maumee, upon which he pro- 
posed to propagate silk-worms, refers to the river as " Grand River " f 
As early as 1718 it is mentioned as the "Miamis River,";}: and it bore 
this name more generally than that of any other from 1718 to a pe- 
riod subsequent to the War of 1812. Capt Robert M'Afee, who was 
in the various campaigns up and down the Maumee during the War 
of 1812, and whose history of this war, published at Lexington, Ky., 
in 1816, gives the most authentic account of the military movements 
in this quarter, makes frequent mention of the river by the name of 
" Miami," occasionally designating it as the " Miami of the Lake." 

Gen. Joseph Harmar, in his report of the military expedition con- 
ducted by him to Fort Wayne, in October, 1790, calls the Miami the 
"Omee." He says: "As there are three Miamis in the northwestern 
territory, all bearing the name of Miami, I shall in the future, for dis- 
tinction's sake, when speaking of the Miami of the Lake, call it the 
* Omee,' and its towns the Omee Towns. By this name they are best 
known on the frontier. It is only, however, one of the many corrup- 
tions or contractions universally used among the French-Americans in 
pronouncing Indian names. 'Au-Mi,' for instance, is the contraction 
for 'Au Miami.' " § 

The habit of the " Coureur de Bois " and others using the mongrel 
language of the border Canadians, as well, also, the custom prevailing 

* "Account of the Present State of Indian Tribes, etc., Inhabiting Ohio." By John 
Johnson, Indian Agent, June 17, 1819. Published in vol. 1 of Archseologia Americana. 

f Sheldon's History of Michigan, p. 108. 

X Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 886 and 891. 

§ C4en. Harmar's official letter to the Secretary of War, under date of November 23, 
1790, published in the American State Papers. 



ORIGIN OF THE NAME MAUMEE. 99 

among this class of persons in giving nicknames to rivers and locali- 
ties, has involved other observers besides Gen. Harmar in the same 
perplexity. Thomas Hutchins, the American geographer, and Capt. 
Harry Gordon visited Kaskaskia and the adjacent territory subsequent 
to the conquest of the northwest territory from the French, and be- 
came hopelessly entangled in the contractions and epithets applied to 
the surrounding villages on both sides of the Mississippi. Kaskaskia 
was abbreviated to "Au-kas" and St. Louis nicknamed " Pain Court " 
— Short Bread; Carondelet was called "Vide Pouche " — Empty 
Pocket; Ste. Genevieve was called "Missier" — Misery. The Kas- 
kaskia, after being shortened to Au-kaus, pronounced " Okau," has 
been further corrupted to Okaw, and at this day we have the singu- 
lar contradiction of the ancient Kaskaskia being called Kaskaskia near 
its mouth and " Okaw " at its source, 

The Miamis, or bands of their tribe, had villages in order of time ; 
first on the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, then upon the Maumee; after 
this, 1750, they, with factions of other tribes who had become disaffected 
toward the French, established a mixed village upon the stream now 
known as the Great Miami, which empties into the Ohio, and in this way 
the name of Miami has been transferred, successively, from the St. Jo- 
seph to the Miami, and from the latter to the present Miami, with 
which it has become permanently identified.* The Miamis were, also, 
called the " Mau-mees," — this manner of spelling growing out of one 
of the several methods of pronouncing the word Miami — and it is 
doubtless from this source that the name of Maumee is derived f 

In this connection we may note the fact that the St. Marys and the 
Au-glaize were named by the Shawnee Indians, as follows ; The first 
was called by this tribe, who had several villages upon its banks, the 
" Co-kothe-ke-sepe," Kettle River; and the Auglaize "Cowthen-e- 
ke-sepe," or Fallen Timber River. These aboriginal names are given 
by Mr. John Johnson, in his published account of the Indian tribes 
before referred to4 

We will now give a derivation of the name of the Wabash, which 
has been the result of an examination of a number of authorities. 
Early French writers have spelled the word in various ways, each en- 
deavoring, with more or less success, to represent the name as the sev- 

*The aboriginal name of the Great Miami was "Assin-erient," or Rocky River, 
from the word Assin, or Ussin, the Algonquin appellation for stone or stony. Lewis 
Evan's map of 1755. 

t In an official letter of Gen. Harrison to the Secretary of War, dated March 22, 
1814, the name " Miamis " and "Matimees " are given as synonymous terms, referring 
to the same tribe. 

X Mr. Johnson had charge of the Indian affairs in Ohio for many years, and was 
especially acquainted with the Shawnees and their language. 

LffC. 



100 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

eral Algonquin tribes pronounced it. First, we have Father Marquette's 
orthography, " Oua-bous-kigou ; " and by later French authorities it is 
spelled "Abache," "Ouabache," " Oubashe," " Oubache," " Oubash," 
" Oubask," " Oubache," " Wabascou," " Wabache." and " Waubache." 
It should be borne in mind that the French alphabet does not contain 
the letter W, and that the diphthong " on " with the French has nearly 
the same sound as the letter W of the English alphabet. The Jesuits 
sometimes used a character much like the figure S, which is a Greek 
contraction formulated by them, to represent a peculiar guttural sound 
among the Indians, and which we often, though imperfectly, represent 
by the letter W, or Wau.* 

That Wabash is an Indian name, and was early applied to the stream 
that now bears this name, is clearly established by Father Gravier. 
This missionary descended the Mississippi in the year 1700, and speak- 
ing of the Ohio and its tributaries, says : " Three branches are assigned 
to it, one that comes from the northwest (the Wabash), passing 
behind the country of the Oumiamis, called the St. Joseph,f which 
the Indians properly call the Ouabachei; the second comes from the 
Iroquois (whose country included the head-waters of the Ohio), 
and is called the Ohio ; and the third, which comes from the Chaou- 
anona^; (Shawnees). And all of them uniting to empty into the Mis- 
sissippi, it is commonly called Ouabachi." § 

In the variety of manner in which Wabash is spelled in the exam- 
ples given above, we clearly trace the Waw-bish-kaw, of the Ojibe- 
ways ; the Wabisca (pronounced Wa-bis-sa) of the modern Algon- 
quin ; Wau-bish of the Menominees, and Wa-bi of the ancient Algon- 
quins, words which with all these kindred tongues mean White. \\ 

Therefore the aboriginal of Wabash (Sepe) should be rendered 
White River. This theory is supported by Lewis Evans, who for manj' 
years was a trader among the Indians, inhabiting the country drained 
by the Wabash and its tributary waters. The extensive knowledge 
which he acquired in his travels westward of the Alleghanies resulted 

* Shea's Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi, p. 41, foot-note. For 
example, we find in the Journal of Marquette, 8ab8kig8, for Wabash. The same man- 
ner of spelling is also observed in names, as written by other missionaries, where they 
design to represent the sound of the French " ou," or the English W. 

t Probably a mistake of the copyist, and which should be the St. Jerome, a name 
given by the French to the Wabash, as we have seen in the extracts taken from Crozat's 
grant. Dr. Shea has pointed out numerous mistakes made by the copyist of the man- 
uscripts from which the " Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi " are composed. 

\ The Tennessee. 

S Father Gravier's Journal in Dr. Shea's Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi, 
pp. 120, 121. 

|| The several aboriginal names for white, which we have given above, are taken 
from the vocabularies of Mackenzie, Dr. Ewin James and Albert Gallatin, which are 
regarded as standard authorities. 



ORIGIN OF THE NAME WABASH. 101 

in his publishing, in 1755, a map, accompanied with an extended de- 
scription of the territory it embraced. In describing the Wabash, Mr. 
Evans calls it by the name the Iroquois Indians had given it, viz : the 
" Quia-agh-tena," and says " it is called by the French Ouabach, though 
that is truly the name of its southeastern branch." Why the White 
River, of Indiana, which is the principal southeastern branch of the 
Wabash, should have been invested with the English meaning of the 
word, and the aboriginal name should have been retained by the river 
to which it has always properly belonged, is easily explained, when we 
consider the ignorance and carelessness of many of the early travelers, 
whose writings, coming down to us, have tended to confuse rather than 
aid the investigations of the modern historian. The Ohio River below 
the confluence of the Wabash is designated as the Wabash by a majority 
of the early French writers, and so laid down on many of the contem- 
poraneous maps. This was, probably, due to the fact that the Wabash 
was known and used before the Ohio had been explored to its mouth. 
So fixed has become the habit of calling the united waters of these two 
streams Wabash, from their union continuously to their discharge into 
the Mississippi, that the custom prevailed long after a better knowledge 
of the geography of the country suggested the propriety of its aban- 
donment. Even after the French of Canada accepted the change, and 
treated the Ohio as the main river and the Wabash as the tributary, the 
French of Louisiana adhered to the old name. 

We quote from M. Le Page Du Pratz' History of Louisiana:* 
" Let us now repass the Mississippi in order to resume a description of 
the lands to the east, which we quit at the river Wabash. This river 
is distant from the sea four hundred and sixty leagues; it is reckoned 
to have four hundred leagues in length from its source to its conflu- 
ence with the Mississippi. It is called Wabash, though, according to 
the usual method, it ought to be called the Ohio, or Beautiful River, f 
seeing the Ohio was known under that name before its confluence 
was known ; and as the Ohio takes its rise at a greater distance off 
than the three others which mix together before they empty them- 
selves into the Mississippi, this should make the others lose their 

*The author was for sixteen years a planter of Louisiana, having gone thither from 
France soon after the Company of the West or Indes restored the country to the crown. 
He was a gentleman of superior attainments, and soon acquired a thorough knowledge 
of the B'rench possessions in America. He returned to France, and m 1758 published 
his " History of Louisiana," with maps, which, in 1763, was translated into English. 
These volumes are largely devoted to the experience of the author in the cultivation of 
rice, indigo, sugar and other products congenial to the climate and soil of Louisiana, 
and to quite an extended topographical description of the whole Mississippi Valley. 

yThe Iroquois' name for the Ohio was " O-io," meaning beautiful, and the French 
retained the signification in the name of "La Belle Riviere,'" by which the Ohio was 
known to them. 



102 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

names; but custom has prevailed in this respect. The first known 
to ns which falls into the Ohio is that of the Miamis (Wabash), which 
takes its rise toward Lake Erie. It is by this river of the Miamis that 
the Canadians come to Louisiana. For this purpose they embark on 
the River St. Lawrence, go up this river, pass the cataracts quite to 
the bottom of Lake Erie, where they find a small river, on which they 
also go up to a place called the carriage of the Miamis, because that 
people come and take their effects and carry them on their "backs for 
two leagues from thence to the banks of the river of their name which 
I just said empties itself into the Ohio. From thence the Canadians 
go down that river, enter the Wabash, and at last the Mississippi, 
which brings them to New Orleans, the capital of Louisiana. They 
reckon eighteen hundred leagues from the capital of Canada to that 
of Louisiana, on account of the great turns and windings they are 
obliged to take. The river of the Miamis is thus the first to the north 
which falls into the Ohio, then that of the Chaouanons to the south, 
and lastly, that of the Cherokee, all which together empty themselves 
into the Mississippi. This is what we (in Louisiana) call the Wabash, 
and what in Canada and New England is called the Ohio." * 

A failure to recognize the fact that the Ohio below the mouth of the 
Wabash was, for a period of over half a century, known to the French 
as the Wabash, has led not a few later writers to erroneously locate 
ancient French forts and missionary stations upon the banks of the 
Wabash, which were in reality situated many miles below, on the Ohio.f 

* On the map prefixed to Du Pratz' history, the Ohio from the Mississippi up to 
the confluence of the Wabash is called the " Wabash ";' above this the Ohio is called 
Ohio, and the Wabash is called "The River of the Miamis," with villages of that 
tribe noted near its source. The Maumee is called the "River of the Carrying Place." 
The Upper Mississippi, the Illinois River and the lakes are also laid down, and, alto- 
gether, the map is quite accurate. 

t A noticeable instance of such a mistake will be found relative to the city of Vin- 
cennes. On the authority of LaHarpe, and the later historian Charlevoix, the French 
in the year 1700, established a trading post near the mouth of the Ohio, on the site of 
the more modern Fort Massac, in Massac county, 111., for the purpose of securing 
buffalo hides. The neighboring Mascotins, as was customary with the Indians, soon 
gathered about for the purpose of barter. Their numbers, as well as the expressed 
wish of the French traders, induced Father Merment to visit the place and engage in 
mission work. At the end of four or five years, in 1705, the establishment was broken 
up on account of a quarrel of the Indians among themselves, and which so threatened 
the lives of the Frenchmen that the latter fled, leaving behind their effects and 13,000 
buffalo hides which they had collected. Some years later Father Marest, writing from 
Kaskaskia, in his letter before referred to, relates the failure of Father Merment to 
convert the Indians at this " post on the Wabash "; and on the authority of this letter 
alone, and although Father Marest only followed the prevailing style in calling the 
lower Ohio the Wabash, some writers, the late Judge John Law being the first, have 
contended that this post was on the Wabash and at Vincennes. Charlevoix says "it 
was at the mouth of the Wabash which discharges itself into the Mississippi." La 
Harpe, and also Le Suere, whose personal knowledge of the post was contemporaneous 
with its existence, definitely fix its position near the mouth of the Ohio. The latter 
gives the date of its beginning, and the former narrates an account of its trade and 
final abandonment. In this way an antiquity has been claimed for Vincennes to which 
it is not historically entitled. 



EAKLY ACCOUNT OF THE MAUMEE. 103 

We now give a description of the Maumee and Wabash, the location 
of the several Indian villages, and the manners of their inhabitants, 
taken from a memoir prepared in 1718 by a French officer in Canada, 
and sent to the minister at Paris.* 

" I return to the Miamis River. Its entrance from Lake Erie is 
very wide, and its banks on both sides, for a distance of ten leagues 
up, are nothing but continued swamps, abounding at all times, espe- 
cially in the spring, with game without end, swans, geese, ducks, cranes, 
etc., which drive sleep away by the noise of their cries. This river is 
sixty leagues in length, very embarrassing in summer in consequence 
of the lowness of the water. Thirty leagues up the river is a place 
called La Glaise,-f where buffalo are always to be found ; they eat the 
clay and wallow in it. The Miamis are sixty leagues from Lake Erie, 
and number four hundred, all well formed men, and well tattooed ;:{: 
the women are numerous. They are hard working, and raise a species 
of maize unlike that of our Indians at Detroit. It is white, of the 
same size as the other, the skin much finer, and the meal much whiter. 
This nation is clad in deer skin, and when a woman goes with another 
man her husband cuts off her nose and does not see her any more. 
They have plays and dances, wherefore they have more occupation. 
The women are well clothed ; but the men use scarcely any covering, 
and are tattooed all over the bod} 7 . 

" From this Miami village there is a portage of three leagues to a 
little and very narrow stream,§ that falls, after a course of twenty 
leagues, into the Ohio or Beautiful River, which discharges into the 
Ouabache, a fine river that falls into the Mississippi forty leagues from 
the Cascachias. Into the Ouabache falls also the Casquinampo, | which 
communicates with Carolina ; but this is far off, and is always up 
stream. 

" The River Ouabache is the one on which the Ouyatanons *[ are 
settled. 

"Thev consist of five villages, which are contiguous the one to the 
other. One is called Oujatanon, the other Peanguichias,** and another 

*The document is quite lengthy, covering all the principal places and Indian tribes 
east of the Mississippi, and showing the compiler possessed a very thorough acquaint- 
ance with the whole subject. It is given entire in the Paris Documents, vol. 9; that 
relating to the Maumee and Wabash on pages 886 to 891. 

f Defiance, Ohio. 

% These villages were near the confluence of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph, and 
this is the first account we have of the present site of Fort Wayne. 

§ Little River, that empties into the Wabash just below Huntington. 

|j The Tennessee River. 

*TThe " Weas," whose principal villages were near the mouth of Eel River, near 
Logansport, and on the Wea prairie, between Attica and La Fayette. 

**The ancient Piankashaw town was on the Vermilion of the Wabash, and the 
Miami name of the Vermilion was Piankashaw. 



104 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Petitscotias, and a fourth Le Gros. The name of the last I do not 
recollect, but they are all Oujatanons, having the same language as the 
Miamis, whose brothers they are, and properly all Miamis, having the 
same customs and dress.* The men are very numerous ; fully a 
thousand or twelve hundred. 

" They have a custom different from all other nations, which is to 
keep their fort extremely clean, not allowing a blade of grass to remain 
within it. The whole of the fort is sanded like the Tuilleries. The 
village is situated on a high hill, and they have over two leagues of 
improvement where they raise their Indian corn, pumpkins and 
melons. From the summit of this elevation nothing is visible to the 
eye but prairies full of buffaloes. Their play and dancing are inces- 
sant.f 

"All of these tribes use a vast quantity of vermilion. The women 
wear clothing, the men very little. The River Ohio, or Beautiful river, 
is the route which the Iroquois take. It would be of importance that 
they should not have such intercourse, as it is very dangerous. Atten- 
tion has been called to this matter long since, but no notice has been 
taken of it." 

*The "Le Gros," that is, The Great (village), was probably "Chip-pe-co-ke," or 
the town of "Brush- wood," the name of the old village at Vincennes, which was the 
principal city of the Piankashaws. 

fThe village here described is Ouatanon, which was situated a few miles below 
La Fayette, near which, though on the opposite or north bank of the Wabash, the 
Stockade Fort of "Ouatanon" was established by the French. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS — THE SEVERAL ILLINOIS TRIBES. 

The Indians who lived in and claimed the territory to which our 
attention is directed were the several tribes of the Illinois and Miami 
confederacies, — the Pottawatomies, the Kickapoos and scattered bands 
of Shawnees and Delawares. Their title to the soil had to be extin- 
guished by conquest or treatise of purchase before the country could 
be settled by a higher civilization ; for the habits of the two races, red 
and white, were so radically different that there could be no fusion, and 
they could not, or rather did not, live either happily or at peace 
together. 

We proceed to treat of these several tribes, observing the order in 
which their names have been mentioned ; and we do so in this con- 
nection for the reason that it will aid toward a more ready under- 
standing of the subjects which are to follow. 

The Illinois were a subdivision of the great Algonquin family. 
Their language and manners differed somewhat from other surround- 
ing tribes, and resembled most the Miamis, with whom they originally 
bore a very close affinity. Before Joliet and Marquette's voyage to the 
Mississippi, all of the Indians who came from the south to the mission 
at La Pointe, on Lake Superior, for the purposes of barter, were by the 
French called Illinois, for the reason that the first Indians who came 
to La Pointe from the south " called themselves Illinois" * 

In the Jesuit Relations the name Illinois appears as " Illi-mouek,' 1 
" Illinoues," " Ul-i-ne-wek," " Allin-i-wek " and " Lin-i-wek." By 
Father Marquette it is " Ilinois," and Hennepin has it the same as it 
is at the present day. The ois was pronounced like our way, so that 
ouai, ois, wek and oueh were almost identical in pronunciation. f 
"Willinis" is Lewis Evans' orthography. Major Thomas Forsyth, 
who for many years was a trader and Indian agent in the territory, and 
subsequently the state, of Illinois, says the Confederation of Illinois 

* As we have given the name of Ottawas to all the savages of these countries, al- 
though of different nations, because the first who have appeared among the French 
have been Ottawas; so also it is with the name of the Illinois, very numerous, and 
dwelling toward the south, because the first who have come to the " point of the Holy 
Ghost for commerce called themselves Illinois. " — Father Claude Dablon, in the Jesuit 
Relations for 1670, 1671. 

t Note by Dr. Shea in the article entitled "The Indian Tribes of Wisconsin," fur- 
nished by him for the Historical Society of Wisconsin, and published in Vol. Ill oi' 
their collections, p. 128. 



106 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

"called themselves Linneway" — which is almost identical with the 
Lin-i-wek of the Jesuits, having a regard for its proper pronuncia- 
tion, — " and that by others they were called Minneway, signifying men," 
and that their confederacy embraced the combined Illinois and Miami 
tribes ; " that all these different bands of the Minneway nation spoke 
the language of the present Miamis, and the whole considered them- 
selves as one and the same people, yet from their local situation, and 
having no standard to go by, their language became broken up into 
different dialects.''' * They were by the Iroquois called "Chick-tagh- 
ick&P 

Many theories have been advanced and much fine speculation in- 
dulged in concerning the origin and meaning of the word Illinois. 
We have seen that the Illinois first made themselves known to the 
French by that name, and we have never had a better signification of 
the name than that which the Illinois themselves gave to Fathers Mar- 
quette and Hennepin. The former, in his narrative journal, observes : 
" To say Illinois is, in their language, to say ' the men,' as if other 
Indians, compared to them, were mere beasts.''' f " The word Illinois 
signifies a man of full age in the vigor of his strength. This word Illi- 
nois comes, as it has already been observed, from Illini, which in the 
language of that nation signifies a perfect and accomplished man." ^ 

Subsequently the name Illini, Linneway, Willinis or Illinois, with 
more propriety became limited to a confederacy, at first composed of 
four subdivisions, known as the Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Tamaroas and 
Peorias. Not many years before the discovery of the Mississippi by 
the French, a foreign tribe, the Metchigamis, nearly destroyed by wars 
w T ith the Sacs to the north and the Chickasaws to the south, to save 
themselves from annihilation appealed to the Kaskaskias for admission 
into their confederacy. § The request was granted, and the Metchiga- 
mis left their homes on the Osage river and established their villages 
on the St. Francis, within the limits of the present State of Missouri 
and below the mouth of the Kaskaskia. 

The subdivision of the Illinois proper into cantons, as the French 
writers denominate the families or villages of a nation, like that of 
other tribes was never very distinct. There were no villages exclu- 
sively for a separate branch of the tribe. Owing to intermarriage, 
adoption and other processes familiar to modern civilization, the sub- 
id 17. 



* Life of Black-Hawk, by Benjamin Drake, seventh edition, pp. 16 an( 
t Shea's Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, p. 25. 
% Hennepin's Discovery of America, pp. 35 and 119, London edition, 169u. 
§ Charlevoix's " Narrative Journal," Vol. II, p. 228. Also note of B. F. French, p. 
61 of Vol. Ill, First Series of Historical Collections of Louisiana. 



LOCATION OF VILLAGES. 107 

tribal distinctions were not well preserved ; and when Charlevoix, that 
acute observer, in 1721 visited these several Illinois villages near Kas- 
kaskia, their inhabitants were so mixed together and confounded that 
it was almost impossible to distinguish the different branches of the 
tribe from each other.* 

The first accounts vce have of the Illinois are given by the Jesuit 
missionaries. In the "Relations" for the year 1655 we find that the 
Lin-i-ouek are neighbors of the Winnebagoes ; again in the ''Rela- 
tions" for the next year, "that the Illinois nation dwell more than 
sixty leagues from here, f and beyond a great river, % which as near 
as can be conjectured flows into the sea toward Virginia. These 
people are warlike. They use the bow, rarely the gun, and never the 
canoe . 

When Joliet and Marquette were descending the Mississippi, they 
found villages of the Illinois on the Des Moines river, and on their 
return they passed through larger villages of the same nation situated 
on the Illinois river, near Peoria and higher up the stream. 

While the Illinois were nomads, though not to the extent of many 
other tribes, they had villages of a somewhat permanent character, and 
when they moved after game they went in a body. It would seem 
from the most authentic accounts that their favorite abiding places 
were on the Illinois river, from the Des Plaines down to its confluence 
with the Mississippi, and on the Mississippi from the Kaskaskia to the 
mouth of the Ohio. This beautiful region abounded in game ; its riv- 
ers were well stocked with fish, and were frequented by myriads of 
wild fowls. The climate was mild. The soil was fertile. By the 
mere turning of the sod, the lands in the rich river bottoms yielded 
bountiful crops of Indian corn, melons and squashes. 

In disposition and morals the Illinois were not to be very highly 
commended. Father Charlevoix, speaking of them as they were in 
1700, says: "Missionaries have for some years directed quite a flour- 
ishing church among the Illinois, and they have ever since continued 
to instruct that nation, in whom Christianity had already produced a 
change such as she alone can produce in morals and disposition. Before 
the arrival of the missionaries, there were perhaps no Indians in any 
part of Canada with fewer good qualities and more vices. They have 

* " These tribes are at present very much confounded, and are become very inconsid- 
erable. There remains only a very small number of Kaskaskias, and the two villages 
of that name are almost entirely composed of Tamaroas and Metchigamis, a foreign 
nation adopted by the Kaskaskias, and originally settled on a small river you meet 
with going down the Mississippi." — Charlevoix' " Narrative Journal," Letter XXVIII, 
dated Kaskaskia, October 20, 1721; p. 228, Vol. II. 

t The letter is sent from the Mission of the Holy Ghost, at La Pointe. 

X The Mississippi. 



108 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

always been mild and docile enough, but they were cowardly, treach- 
erous, fickle, deceitful, thievish, brutal, destitute of faith or honor, 
selfish, addicted to gluttony and the most monstrous lusts, almost un- 
known to the Canada tribes, who accordingly despised them heartily, 
but the Illinois were not a whit less haughty or self-complacent on 
that account. 

" Such allies could bring no great honor or assistance to the French ; 
yet we never had any more faithful, and, if we except the Abenaqui 
tribes, they are the only tribe who never sought peace with their ene- 
mies to our prejudice. They did, indeed, see the necessity of our aid 
to defend themselves against several nations who seemed to have sworn 
their ruin, and especially against the Iroquois and Foxes, who, by con- 
stant harrassing, have somewhat trained them to war, the former taking 
home from their expeditions the vices of that corrupt nation." * 

Father Charlevoix' comments upon the Illinois confirm the state- 
ments of Hennepin, who says : " They are lazy vagabonds, timorous, 
pettish thieves, and so fond of their liberty that they have no great 
respect for their chiefs."f 

Their cabins were constructed of mats, made out of flags, spread 
over a frame of poles driven into the ground in a circular form and 
drawn together at the top. 

" Their villages," sa)'s Father Hennepin,;}: " are open, not enclosed 
with palisades because they had no courage to defend them ; they would 
flee as they heard their enemies approaching." Before their acquaint- 
ance with the French they had no knowledge of iron and fire-arms. 
Their two principal weapons were the bow and arrow and the club. 
Their arrows were pointed with stone, and their tomahawks were made 
out of stag's horns, cut in the shape of a cutlass and terminating in a 
large ball. In the use of the bow and arrow, all writers agree, that 
the Illinois excelled all neighboring tribes. For protection against the 
missies of an enemy they used bucklers composed of buffalo hides 
stretched over a wooden frame. 

In form they were tall and lithe. They were noted for their swift- 
ness of foot. They wore moccasins prepared from buffalo hides ; and, 
in summer, this generally completed their dress. Sometimes they wore 
a small covering, extending from the waist to the knees. The rest of 
the body was entirely nude. 

The women, beside cultivating the soil, did all of the household 
drudgery, carried the game and made the clothes. The garments 

* Charlevoix's " History of New France," vol. 5, page 130. 
f Hennepin, page 132, London edition, 1698. 
X Page 132. 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 109 

were prepared from buffalo hides, and from the soft wool that grew 
upon these animals. Both the wool and hides were dyed with bril- 
liant colors, black, yellow or vermilion. In this kind of work the 
Illinois women were greatly in advance of other tribes. Articles of 
dress were sewed together with thread made from the nerves and ten- 
dons of deer, prepared by exposure to the sun twice in every twenty- 
four hours. After which the nerves and tendons were beaten so that 
their fibers would separate into a fine white thread. The clothing of 
the women w T as something like the loose wrappers worn by ladies of 
the present day. Beneath the wrapper were petticoats, for warmth in 
winter. With a fondness for finery that characterizes the feminine sex 
the world over, the Illinois women wore head-dresses, contrived more 
for ornament than for use. The feet were covered with moccasins, and 
leggings decorated with quills of the porcupine stained in colors of 
brilliant contrasts. Ornaments, fashioned out of clam shells and other 
hard substances, were worn about the neck, wrists and ankles ; these, with 
the face, hands and neck daubed with pigments, completed the toilet of 
the highly fashionable Illinois belle. 

Their food consisted of the scant}- products of their fields, and prin- 
cipally of game and fish, of which, as previously stated, there was in 
their country a great abundance. Father Allouez, who visited them in 
1673, stated that they had fourteen varieties of herbs and forty-two 
varieties of fruits which they use for food. Their plates and other 
dishes were made of wood, and their spoons were constructed out of 
buffalo bones. The dishes for boiling food were earthen, sometimes 
glazed. * 

From all accounts, it seems that the Illinois claimed an extensive 
tract of country, bounded on the east by the ridge that divides the 
waters flowing into the Illinois from the streams that drain into the 
Wabash above the head waters of Saline creek, and as high up the Illi- 
nois as the Des Plaines, extending westward of the Mississippi, and 
reaching northward to the debatable ground between the Illinois, 
Chippeways, Winnebagoes, Sacs and Foxes. Their favorite and most 
populous cities were on the Illinois river, near Starved Rock, and 

* The account we have given of the manners, habits and customs of the Illinois is 
compiled from the following' authorities : La Hontan, Charlevoix, Hennepin, Tonti, 
Marquette, Joutel, the missionaries Marest, Rasles and Allouez. Besides, the historic 
letter of Marest, found in Kip's Jesuit Missions, is another from this distinguished 
priest, written from Kaskaskia to M. Bienville, and incorporated in Penicaut's Annals 
of Louisiana, a translation of which is contained in the Historical Collections of Louisi- 
ana and Florida, by B. F. French. In this letter of Father Marest, dated in 1711, is a 
very fine description of the customs of the Illinois Indians, and their prosperous condi- 
tion at Kaskaskia and adjacent villages. 



110 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

below as far as Peoria. The missionary station founded by Father 
Marquette was, in all probability, near the latter place. 

Prior to the year 1700, Father Marest had charge of a mission at 
the neck, strait or narrows of Peoria lake. In Peoria lake, above 
Peoria, is a contracted channel, and this is evidently referred to by 
Father Gravier in his " Narrative Journal" where he states: " I ar- 
rived too late at the Illinois du Detroit, of whom Father Marest has 
charge, to prevent the transmigration of the village of the Kaskaskias, 
which was too precipitately made on vague news of the establishment 
on the Mississippi. I do not believe that the Kaskaskias would have 
thus separated from the Peouaroua and other Illinois du Detroit. At 
all events, I came soon enough to unite minds a little, and to prevent 
the insult which the Peouaroua and the Mouin-gouena were bent on 
offering to the Kaskaskias and French as they embarked. I spoke to 
all the chiefs in full council, and as they continued to preserve some 
respect and good will for me, we separated very peaceably. But I 
argue no good from this separation, which I have always hindered, 
seeing too clearly the evil results. God grant that the road from 
Chikagoua to this strait " (au Detroit) " be not closed, and the whole 
Illinois mission suffer greatly. I avow to you, Reverend Father, that 
it rends my heart to see my old flock thus divided and dispersed, and 
I shall never see it, after leaving it, without having some new cause of 
affliction. The Peouaroua, whom I left without a missionary (since 
Father Marest has followed the Kaskaskias), have promised me that 
they would preserve the church, and that they would await my return 
from the Mississippi, where I told them I went only to assure myself 
of the truth of all that was said about it." * 

The area of the original country of the Illinois was reduced by 
continuous wars with their neighbors. The Sioux forced them east- 
ward ; the Sac and Fox, and other enemies, encroached upon them 
from the north, while war parties of the foreign Iroquois, from the east, 
rapidly decimated their numbers. These unhappy influences were doing 

* Father Gravier's Journal in Shea's Early Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi, 
pp. 116 and 117. Dr. Shea, in a foot note, p. 116, says: "This designation {Illinois 
Du Detroit) does not appear elsewhere, and I cannot discover what strait is referred to. 
It evidently includes the Peorias.' 1 

Dr. Shea's conjecture is very nearly correct. The narrows in Peoria lake retained 
the appellation of Little Detroit, a name handed clown from the French-Canadians. 
Dr. Lewis Beck, in his "Gazetteer of Illinois and Missouri," p. 124, speaks of "Little 
Detroit, an Indian village situated on the east bank of lake Peoria, six miles above 
Ft. Clark." On the map prefixed to the Gazetteer prepared in 1820 the contraction of 
the lake is shown and designated as " Little Detroit." 

We have seen from extracts from Father Marquette's Journal, quoted on a preced- 
ing page, that it was the Kaskaskias at whose village this distinguished missionary 
promised to return and to establish a mission, and that with the ebbing out of his life 
he fulfilled his engagement. From Father Gravier's Journal, just quoted, it is appar- 



ATTACK OF THE IKOQUOIS. Ill 

their fatal work, and the Illinois confederacy was in a stage of decline 
when they first came in contact with the French. Their afflictions made 
them accessible to the voice of the missionary, and in their weakness 
they hailed with delight the coming of the Frenchman with his prom- 
ises of protection, which were assured by guns and powder. The mis- 
fortunes of the Illinois drew them so kindly to the priests, the coureurs 
des Bois and soldiers, that the friendship between the two races never 
abated ; and when in the order of events the sons of France had de- 
parted from the Illinois, their love for the departed Gaul was inculcated 
into the minds of their children. 

The erection of Fort St. Louis on the Illinois, St. Joseph on the 
stream of that name, and the establishment at Detroit, for a while 
stayed the calamity that was to befall the Illinois. Frequent allusion 
has been made to the part the Iroquois took in the destruction of this 
powerful confederacy. For the gratification of the reader we give a 
condensed account of some of these Iroquois campaigns in the Illinois 
country. The extracts we take are from a memoir on the western 
Indians, by M. Du Chesneau,* dated at Quebec, September 13, 1681 : 
" To convey a correct idea of the present state of all those Indian na- 
tions it is necessary to explain the cause of the cruel war waged by the 
Iroquois for these three years past against the Illinois. The former 
were great warriors, cannot remain idle, and pretend to subject all other 
nations to themselves, and never want a pretext for commencing hos- 
tilities. The following was their assumed excuse for the present war: 
Going, about twenty years ago, to attack the Outagamis (Foxes), 
they met the Illinois and killed a considerable number of them. This 
continued during the succeeding years, and finally, having destroyed a 
great many, they forced them to abandon their country and seek refuge 
in very distant parts. The Iroquois having got quit of the Illinois, 
took no more trouble with them, and went to war against another 
nation called the Andostagues.f Pending this war the Illinois re- 
turned to their country, and the Iroquois complained that they had 

ent that the mission had for some years been in successful operation at the combined 
village of the Kaskaskias, Peorias and Mouin-gouena, situated at the Du Detroit of the 
Illinois; and also that the Kaskaskias, hearing- that the French were about to form es- 
tablishments on the lower Mississippi, in company with the French inhabitants of their 
ancient village, were in the act of going down the Mississippi at the time of Gravier's 
arrival, in September, 1700. All these facts taken together would seem to definitely 
locate the Mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the 
narrows, six miles above the present city of Peoria, which is upon the site of old Fort 
Clark, and probably, from the topography of the locality, upon the east bank of the 
strait. In conclusion, we may add that the Kaskaskias were induced to halt in their 
journey southward upon the river, which has ever since borne their name ; and the 
mission, transferred from the old Kaskaskias, above Peoria, retained the name of "The 
Immaculate Conception," etc. 

* Paris Documents, vol. 9, pp. 161 to 1G6. 

t The Eries, or Cats, were entirely destroyed by the Iroquois. 



112 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

killed forty of their people who were on their way to hunt beaver in 
the Illinois country. To obtain satisfaction, the Iroquois resolved to 
make war upon them. Their true motive, however, was to gratify the 
English at Manatte* and Orange,f of whom they are too near neigh- 
bors, and who, by means of presents, engaged the Iroquois in this ex- 
pedition, the object of which was to force the Illinois to bring their 
beaver to them, so that they may go and trade it afterward to the 
English ; also, to intimidate the other Indians, and constrain them to 
to do the same thing. 

" The improper conduct of Sieur de la Salle, $ governor of Fort 
Frontenac, has contributed considerabh 7 to cause the latter to adopt 
this proceeding ; for after he had obtained permission to discover the 
Great River Mississippi, and had, as he alleged, the grant of the 
Illinois, he no longer observed any terms with the Iroquois. He ill- 
treated them, and avowed that he would convey arms and ammunition 
to the Illinois, and would die assisting them. 

"The- Iroquois dispatched in the month of April of last year, 1G80, 
an army, consisting of between five and six hundred men, who ap- 
proached an Illinois village where Sieur Tonty, one of Sieur de la 
Salle's men happened to be with some Frenchmen and two Recollect 
fathers, whom the Iroquois left unharmed. One of these, a most holy 
man,§ has since been killed by the Indians. But they would listen 
to no terms of peace proposed to them by Sieur de Tonty, who was 
slightly wounded at the beginning of the attack ; the Illinois having 
fled a hundred leagues thence, were pursued by the Iroquois, who 
killed and captured as many as twelve hundred of them, including 
women and children, having lost only thirty men. 

" The victory achieved by the Iroquois rendered them so insolent that 
they have continued ever since that time to send out divers war parties. 
The success of these is not yet known, but it is not doubted that they 
have been successful, because those tribes are very warlike and the Illi- 
nois are but indifferently so. Indeed, there is no doubt, and it is the 
universal opinion, that if the Iroquois are allowed to proceed they will 
subdue the Illinois, and in a short time render themselves masters of 
all the Outawa tribes and divert the trade to the English, so that it is 
absolutely essential to make them our friends or to destroy them." 

* New York. 

t Albany, New York. 

X It must be remembered that La Salle was not exempt from the jealousy and envy 
which is inspired in souls of little men toward those engaged in great undertakings ; 
and we see this spirit manifested here. La Salle could not have done otherwise than 
supply fire-arms to the Illinois, who were his friends and the owners of the country, the 
trade of which he had opened up at great hardship and expense to himself. 

§ Gabriel Ribourde. 



DEFEAT OF THE IROQUOIS. 113 

The Iroquois were not always successful in their western forays. 
Tradition records two instances in which they were sadly discomfited. 
The first was an encounter with the Sioux, on an island in the Missis- 
sippi, at the mouth of the Des Moines. The tradition of this engage- 
ment is preserved in the curious volumes of La Hontan, and is as fol- 
lows : " March 2nd, 1689, 1 arrived in the Mississippi. To save the labor 
of rowing we left our boats to the current, and arrived on the tenth in 
the island of Rencontres, which took its name from the defeat of four 
hundred Iroquois accomplished there by three hundred Nadouessis 
(Sioux). The story of the encounter is briefly this : A party of 
four hundred Iroquois having a mind to surprise a certain people in 
the neighborhood of the Otentas (of whom more anon), marched to 
the country of the Illinois, where they built canoes and were furnished 
with provisions. After that they embarked upon the river Mississippi, 
and were discovered by another little fleet that was sailing down the 
other side of the same river. The Iroquois crossed over immediately 
to that island which is since called Aux Rencontres. The Nadouessis, 
i. e., the other little fleet, being suspicious of some ill design, without 
knowing what people they were (for they had no knowledge of the 
Iroquois but by hear-say) — upon this suspicion, I say, they tugged hard 
to come up with them. The two armies posted themselves upon the 
point of the island, where the two crosses are put down in the map,* 
and as soon as the Nadouessis came in sight, the Iroquois cried out in 
the Illinese language: k Who are yeV To which the Nadouessis 
answered, 'Somebody'; and putting the same question to the Iroquois, 
received the same answer. Then the Iroquois put this question to 
'em: ' Where are you going f " 'To hunt buffalo,' answered the Na- 
douessis / ' but, pray,' says the Nadouessis, ' what is your business ? ' ' To 
hunt men,' reply'd the Iroquois. ''Tis well, 1 says the Nadouessis ; 
' we are men, and so you need go no farther." Upon this challenge, 
the two parties disembarked, and the leader of the Nadouessis cut his 
canoes to pieces, and, after representing to his warriors that they be- 
hoved either to conquer or die, marched up to the Iroquois, who 
received them at first onset with a cloud of arrows. But the Nadou- 
essis having stood their first discharge, which killed eighty of them, 
fell in upon them with their clubs in their hands before the others 
could charge again, and so routed them entirely. This engagement 
lasted for two hours, and was so hot that two hundred and sixty Iro- 
quois fell upon the spot, and the rest were all taken prisoners. Some 
of the Iroquois, indeed, attempted to make their escape after the action 

* On La Hontan 's map the place marked is designated by an island in the Missis- 
sippi, immediately at the mouth of the Des Moines. 



114 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

was over ; but the victorious general sent ten or twelve of his men to 
pursue them in one of the canoes that he had taken, and accordingly 
they were all overtaken and drowned. The Nadouessis having ob- 
tained this victory, cut off the noses and ears of two of the cleverest 
prisoners, and supplying them with fusees, powder and ball, gave them 
the liberty of returning to their own country, in order to tell their 
countrymen that they ought not to employ women to hunt after men 
any longer. 1 '* 

The second tradition is that of a defeat of a war party of Iroquois 
upon the banks of the stream that now bears the name of " Iroquois 
River. 1 ' Father Charlevoix, in his Narrative Journal, referring to his 
passage down the Kankakee, in September, 1721, alludes to this defeat 
of the Iroquois in the following language : " I was not a little sur- 
prised at seeing so little water in the The-a-ki-ki, notwithstanding it 
receives a good many pretty large rivers, one of which is more than a 
hundred and twenty feet in breadth at its mouth, and has been called 
the River of the Iroquois, because some of that nation were surprised 
on its banks by the Illinois who killed a great many of them. This 
check mortified them so much the more, as they held the Illinois in 
great contempt, who, indeed, for the most part are not able to stanc} 
before them." f 

The tradition has been given with fuller particulars to the author, 
by Colonel Guerdon S. Hubbard, as it was related by the Indians to 
him. It has not as yet appeared in print, and is valuable as well as 
interesting, inasmuch as it explains why the Iroquois River has been 
so called for a period of nearly two centuries, and also because it gives 
the origin of the name Watseka. 

The tradition is substantially as follows: Many years ago the Iro- 
quois attacked an Indian village situated on the banks of the river a 
few miles below the old county seat, — Middleport, — and drove out 
the occupants with great slaughter. The fugitives were collected in 
the night time some distance away, lamenting their disaster. A wo- 
man, possessing great courage, urged the men to return and attack the 
Iroquois, saying the latter were then rioting in the spoils of the village 
and exulting over their victory ; that they would not expect danger 
from their defeated enemy, and that the darkness of the night would 
prevent their knowing the advance upon them. The warriors refused 
to go. The woman then said that she would raise a party of squaw r s 
and return to the village and fight the Iroquois ; adding that death or 
captivity would be the fate of the women and children on the morrow, 

*La Hontan's New Voyages to America, vol. 1, pp. 128, 129. 
t Charlevoix' Narrative Journal, vol. 2, p. 199. 



INDIAN LEGEND. 115 

and that they might as well die in an effort to regain their village and 
property as to submit to a more dreadful fate. She called for volun- 
teers and the women came forward in large numbers. Seeing the 
bravery of their wives and daughters the men were ashamed of their 
cowardice and became inspired with a desperate courage. A plan of 
attack was speedily formed and successfully executed. The Iroquois, 
taken entirely unawares, were surprised and utterly defeated. 

The name of the heroine who suggested and took an active part in 
this act of bold retaliation, bore the name of Watch-e-kee. In honor 
of her bravery and to perpetuate the story of the engagement, a coun- 
cil of the tribe was convened which ordained that when Watch-e-kee 
died her name should be bestowed upon the most accomplished maiden 
of the tribe, and in this way be handed down from one generation to 
another. By such means have the name and the tradition been pre- 
served. 

The last person who bore this name was the daughter of a Potta- 
watomie chief, with whose band Col. Hubbard was intimately associ- 
ated as a trader for many years. She was well known to many of the 
old settlers in Danville and upon the Kankakee. She was a person of 
great beauty, becoming modesty, and possessed of superior intelligence. 
She had great influence among her own people and w T as highly re- 
spected by the whites. She accompanied her tribe to the westward of 
the Mississippi, on their removal from the state. The present county 
seat of Iroquois county is named after her, and Col. Hubbard advises 
the author that Watseka, as the name is generally spelled, is incorrect, 
and that the orthography for its true pronunciation should be Watch-e- 
kee.* 

We resume the narration of the decline of the Illinois : La Salle's 
fortification at Starved Rock gathered about it populous villages of 
Illinois, Shawnees, Weas, Piankeshaws and other kindred tribes, shown 
on Franquelin's map as the Colonie Du Sr. de la Sallcf The Iroquois 
were barred out of the country of the Illinois tribes, and the latter 
enjoyed security from their old enemies. La Salle himself, speaking 
of his success in establishing a colony at the Rock, says : " There would 
be nothing to fear from the Iroquois when the nations of the south, 

* The Iroquois also bore the name of Can-o-wa-ga, doubtless an Indian name. It 
had another aboriginal name. Mocabella (which was, probably, a French-Canadian cor- 
ruption of the Kickapoo word Mo-gua), signifying a bear. Beck's Illinois and Mis- 
souri Gazetteer, p. 90. The joint commission appointed by the legislatures of Indiana 
and Illinois to run the boundary line between the two states, in their report in 1821, 
and upon their map deposited in the archives at Indianapolis, designate the Iroquois 
by the name of Pick-a-mink River. They also named Sugar Creek after Mr. McDon- 
ald, of Vincennes, Indiana, who conducted the surveys for the commission. 

fThis part of Franquelin's map appears in the well executed frontispiece of Park- 
insons Discovery of the Great West. 



116 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

strengthened through their intercourse with the French, shall stop 
their conquest, and prevent their being powerful by carrying off a great 
number of their women and children, which they can easily do from 
the inferiority of the weapons of their enemies. As respects com- 
merce, that post will probably increase our traffic still more than has 
been done by the establishment of Fort Frontenac, which was built 
with success for that purpose ; for if the Illinois and their allies were 
to catch the beavers which the Iroquois now kill in the neighborhood 
in order to carry them to the English, the latter not being any longer 
able to get them from their own colonies would be obliged to buy from 
us, to the great benefit of those who have the privilege of this traffic. 
These were the views which the Sieur de la Salle had in placing the 
settlement where it is. The colony has already felt its effects, as all 
our allies, who had fled after the departure of M. de Frontenac, have 
returned to their ancient dwellings, in consequence of the confidence 
caused by the fort, near which they have defeated a party of Iroquois, 
and have built four forts to protect themselves from hostile incursions. 
The Governor, M. de la Barre, and the intendant, M. de Muelles, have- 
told Sieur de la Salle that they would write to Monseigneur to inform 
him of the importance of that fort in order to keep the Iroquois in 
check, and that M. de Sagny had proposed its establishment in 1678. 
Monsiegneur Colbert permitted Sieur de la Salle to build it, and 
granted it to him as a property." * 

The fort at Le Rocher (the rock) was constructed on its summit in 
1682, and enclosed with a palisade. It was subsequently granted to 
Tonti and Forest, f It was abandoned as a military post in the year 
1702 ; and when Charlevoix went down the Illinois in 1721 he passed 
the Rock, and said of it : " This is the point of a very high terrace 
stretching the space of two hundred paces, and bending or winding 
with the course of the river. This rock is steep on all sides, and at a 
distance one would take it for a fortress. Some remains of a palisado 
are still to be seen on it, the Illinois having formerly cast up an en- 
trenchment here, which might be easily repaired in case of any inter- 
ruption of the enemy. "J 

The abandonment of Fort St. Louis in 1702 was followed soon after 
by a dispersion of the tribes and remnants of tribes that La Salle and 
Tonti had gathered about it, except the straggling village of the 
Illinois. 

* Memoir of the Sieur de la Salle, reporting to Monseigneur de Seingelay the dis- 
coveries made by him under the order of His Majesty. Historical Collections of 
Louisiana, Part I, p. 42. 

t Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 494. 

\ Charlevoix' Narrative Journal, vol. 2, p. 200. 



DECLINE OF THE ILLINOIS. 117 

The Iroquois came no more subsequent to 1721, having war enough 
on their hands nearer home ; but the Illinois were constantly harassed 
by other enemies ; the Sacs, Foxes, Kickapoos and Pottawatomies. 
In 1722 their villages at the Rock and on Peoria Lake were besieged 
by the Foxes, and a detachment of a hundred men under Chevalier de 
Artaguette and Sieur de Tisne were sent to their assistance. Forty of 
these French soldiers, with four hundred Indians, marched by land to 
Peoria Lake. However, before the reinforcements reached their des- 
tination they learned that the Foxes had retreated with a loss of more 
than a hundred and twenty of their men. " This success did not, 
however, prevent the Illinois, although they had only lost twenty men, 
with some women and children, from leaving the Rock and Pimiteony, 
where they were kept in constant alarm, and proceeding to unite with 
those of their brethren who had settled on the Mississippi ; this was a 
stroke of grace for most of them, the small number of missionaries 
preventing their supplying so many towns scattered far apart ; but on 
the other side, as there was nothing to check the raids of the Foxes 
along the Illinois River, communication between Louisiana and New 
France became much less practicable."* 

The fatal dissolution of the Illinois still proceeded, and their 
ancient homes and hunting grounds were appropriated by the more 
vigorous Sacs, Foxes, Pottawatomies and Kickapoos. The killing of 
Pontiac at Cahokia, whither he had retired after the failure of his 
effort to rescue the country from the English, was laid upon the 
Illinois, a charge which, whether true or false, hastened the climax of 
their destruction. 

General Harrison stated that " the Illinois confederacy was com- 
posed of five tribes : the Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Peorians, Michiganians 
and the Temarois, speaking the Miami language, and no doubt 
branches of that nation. When I was first appointed Governor of the 
Indiana Territory (May, 1800), these once powerful tribes were re- 
duced to about thirty warriors, of whom twenty-five were Kaskaskias, 
four Peorians, and a single Michiganian. There was an individual 
lately alive at St. Louis who saw the enumeration made of them by 
the Jesuits in 1745, making the number of their warriors four thou- 
sand. A furious war between them and the Sacs and Kickapoos 
reduced them to that miserable remnant which had taken refuge 
amongst the white people in the towns of Kaskaskia and St. Genieve."f 

* History of New France, vol. 6, p. 71. 

t Official letter of Gen. Harrison to Hon. John Armstrong, Secretary of War, 
dated at Cincinnati, March 22, 1814: contained in Captain M'Afee's " History of the 
Late War in the Western Country." 



118 HISTORIC NOTES OX THE NORTHWEST. 

By successive treaties their lands in Illinois were ceded to the 
United States, and they were removed west of the Missouri. In 1872 
they had dwindled to forty souls — men, women and children all told. 

Thus have wasted away the original occupants of the larger part of 
Illinois and portions of Iowa and Missouri. In 16S4 their single vil- 
lage at La Salle's colony, could muster twelve hundred warriors. In the 
days of their strength they nearly exterminated the Winnebagoes, and 
their war parties penetrated the towns of the Iroquois in the valleys of 
the Mohawk and Genesee. They took the Metchigamis under their 
protection, giving them security against enemies with whom the latter 
could not contend. This people who had dominated over the surround- 
ing tribes, claiming for themselves the name Illini or Linneway, to rep- 
resent their superior manhood, have disappeared from the earth ; another 
race, representing a higher civilization, occupy their ancient domains, 
and already, even the origin of their name and the location of their 
cities have become the subjects of speculation. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE MIAMIS— THE MIAMI, PIANKESHAW, AND WEA BANDS. 

The people known to us as the Miamis formerly dwelt beyond the 
Mississippi, and, according to their own traditions, came originally 
from the Pacific. " If what I have heard asserted in several places be 
true, the Illinois and Miamis came from the banks of a very distant sea 
to the westward. It would seem that their first stand, after they made 
their first descent into this country, was at Moingona* At least it is 
certain that one of their tribes bears that name. The rest are known 
under the name of Peorias, Tamaroas, Caoquias and Kaskaskias." 

The migration of the Miamis from the west of the Mississippi, 
eastward through "Wisconsin and northern Illinois, around the south- 
ern end of Lake Michigan to Detroit, and thence up the Maumee and 
down the "Wabash, and eastward through Indiana into Ohio as far as 
the Great Miami, can be followed through the mass of records handed 
down to us from the missionaries, travelers and officers connected with 
the French. Speaking of the mixed village of Maskoutens, situated on 
Fox River, Wisconsin, at the time of his visit there in 1670, Father 
Claude Dabion says the village of the Fire-nation "is joined in the 
circle of the same barriers to another people, named Oumiami, which 
is one of the Illinois nations, which is, as it were, dismembered from 
the others, in order to dwell in these quarters, f It is beyond this 
great river ^ that are placed the Illinois of whom we speak, and from 
whom are detached those who dwell here with the Fire-nation to form 
here a transplanted colony." 

From the quotations made there remains little doubt that the Mi- 
amis were originally a branch of the great Illinois nation. This theory 
is confirmed by writers of our own time, among whom we may men- 
tion General "William II. Harrison, whose long acquaintance and official 
connection with the several bands of the Miamis and Illinois gave him 

* Charlevoix' Narrative Journal, vol. 2, p. 227. Moingona, from undoubted 
authorities, was a name given to the Des Moines River; and we find on the original 
map, drawn by Marquette, the village of the Moingona placed on the Des Moines 
above a village of the Peorias on the same stream. 

t Father Dabion is here describing the same village referred to by Father Mar- 
quette in that part of his Journal which we have copied on page 44. 

X The Mississippi, of which the missionary had been speaking in the paragraph 
preceding that which we quote. 

119 



120 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

the opportunities, of which he availed himself, to acquire an intimate 
knowledge concerning them. "Although the language, manners 
and customs of the Kaskaskias make it sufficiently certain that they 
derived their origin from the same source with the Miamis, the 
connection had been dissolved before the French had penetrated 
from Canada to the Mississippi."* The assertion of General Har- 
rison that the tribal relation between the Illinois and Miamis had 
been broken at the time of the discovery of the Upper Mississippi 
valley by the French is sustained with great unanimity by all other 
authorities. In the long and disastrous wars waged upon the Illinois 
by the Iroquois, Sacs and Foxes, Kickapoos and other enemies, we 
have no instance given where the Miamis ever offered assistance to 
their ancient kinsmen. After the separation, on the contrary, they 
often lifted the bloody hatchet against them. 

Father Dablon, in the narrative from which we have quoted, f 
gives a detailed account of the civility of the Miamis at Mascouten, 
and the formality and court routine with which their great chief was 
surrounded. "The chief of the Miamis, whose name was Tetin- 
choua, was surrounded by the most notable people of the village', 
who, assuming the role of courtiers, with civil posture full of defer- 
ence, and keeping always a respectful silence, magnified the great- 
ness of their king. The chief and his routine gave Father Dablon 
every mark of their most distinguished esteem. The physiognomy 
of the chief was as mild and as attractive as any one could wish to 
see ; and while his reputation as a warrior was great, his features 
bore a softness which charmed all those who beheld him." 

Nicholas Perrot, with Sieur de St. Lussin, dispatched by Talon, 
the intendant, to visit the westward nations, with whom the French 
had intercourse, and invite them to a council to be held the follow- 
ing spring at the Sault Ste. Marie, was at this Miami village shortly 
after the visit of Dablon. Perrot was treated with great consider- 
ation by the Miamis. Tatinchoua "sent out a detachment to meet 
the French agent and receive him in military style. The detach- 
ment advanced in battle array, all the braves adorned with feathers, 
armed at all points, were uttering war cries from time to time. The 
Pottawatomies who escorted Perrot, seeing them come in this guise, 
prepared to receive them in the same manner, and Perrot put him- 
self at their head. When the two troops were in face of each other, 
they stopped as if to take breath, then all at once Perrot took the 
right, the Miamis the left, all running in Indian file, as though they 
wished to gain an advantage to charge. 

* Memoirs of General Harrison, by Moses Dawson, p. 62. 
t Relations, 1670, 1671. 



OF THE NAME MIAMI. 121 

"But the Miamis wheeling in the form of an arc, the Pottawat- 
omies were invested on all sides. Then both uttered loud jells, 
which were the signals for a kind of combat. The Miamis fired a 
volley from their guns, which were only loaded with powder, and 
the Pottawatomies returned it in the same way ; after this they 
closed, tomahawk in hand, all the blows being received on the tom- 
ahawks. Peace was then made ; the Miamis presented the calumet 
to Perrot, and led him with all his chief escort into the town, where 
the great chief assigned him a guard of fifty men, regaled him mag- 
nificently after the custom of the country, and gave him the diver- 
sion of a game of ball.* 1 * The Miami chief never spoke to his 
subjects, but imparted his orders through some of his officers. On 
account of his advanced age he was dissuaded from attending the 
council to be held at Ste. Marie, between the French and the Indians ; 
however, he deputized the Pottawatomies to act in his name. 

This confederacy called themselves "Miamis," and by this name 
were known to the surrounding tribes. The name was not bestowed 
upon them by the French, as some have assumed from its resem- 
blance to 3Ion-ami, because they were the friends of the latter. 
When Hennepin was captured on the Mississippi by a war party of 
the Sioux, these savages, with their painted faces rendered more 
hideous by the devilish contortions of their features, cried out in 
angry voices, " L Mia-haina! Mia-hama ! ' and we made signs with 
our oars upon the sand, that the Miamis, their enemies, of whom 
they were in search, had passed the river upon their flight to join 
the Illinois, "f 

1,1 The confederacy which obtained the general appellation of 
Miamis, from the superior numbers of the individual tribe to whom 
that, name more properly belonged,' ' were subdivided into three 
principal tribes or bands, namely, the Miamis proper, Weas and 
Piankeshaws. French writers have given names to two or three 
other subdivisions or families of the three principal bands, whose 
identity has never been clearly traced, and who figure so little in 
the accounts which we have of the Miamis, that it is not necessary 
here to specify their obsolete names. The different ways of writing 

* History of New France, vol. 3, pp. 166, 167. Father Charlevoix improperly 
locates this village, where Perrot was received 1 ; at " Chicago, at the lower end of Lake 
Michigan, where the Miamis then were," page 166, above quoted. The Miamis were 
not then at Chicago. The reception of Perrot was at the mixed village on Fox River, 
Wisconsin, as stated in the text. The error of Charlevoix, as to the location of this 
village, has been pointed out by Dr. Shea, in a note on page 166, in the "History of 
New France," and also by Francis Parkman, in a note on page 40 of his " Discovery 
of the Great West." 

t Hennepin, p. 187. 



122 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Miamis are: Oumiamwek,* Oumamis,+ Maumees, :{: Au-Miami § 
(contracted to Au-Mi and Omee) and Mine-ami. j 

The French called the Weas Ouiatenons, Syatanons, Ouyatanons 
and Ouias ; the English and Colonial traders spelled the word, 
Ouicatanon,*j Way-ough-ta nies,*"" Wawiachtens,ff and Wehahs.^ 

For the Piankeshaws, or Pou-an-ke-k,i-as, as they were called in 
the earliest accounts, we have Peangnichias, Pian-gui-shaws, Pyan- 
ke-shas and Pianquishas. 

The Miami tribes were known to the Iroquois, or Five Nations 
of New York, as the Twight-wees, a name generally adopted by the 
British, as well as by the American colonists. Of this name there 
are various corruptions in pronunciation and spelling, examples of 
which we have in " Twich-twichs, 11 " Twick-twicks," " Twis-twicks, 1 ' 
k, Twigh-twees," and " Twick-tovies.' 1 The insertion of these many 
names, applied to one people, would seem a tedious superfluity, were 
it otherwise possible to retain the identity of the tribes to which 
these different appellations have been given by the French, British 
and American officers, traders and writers. It will save the reader 
much perplexity in pursuing a history of the Miamis if it is borne in 
mind that all these several names refer to the Miami nation or to 
one or the other of its respective bands. 

Besides the colony mentioned by Dablon and Charlevoix, on the 
Fox River of Wisconsin, Hennepin informs us of a village of 
Miamis south and west of Peoria Lake at the time he was at the 
latter place in 1679, and it was probably this village whose inhabit- 
ants the Sioux were seeking. St. Cosmie, in 1699, mentions the 
"village of the w Peanzichias-Miamis, who formerly dwelt on the 

■ of the Mississippi, and who had come some years previous 

and settled ' on the Illinois River, a few miles below the confluence 
of the DesP^iiies.' 1 §§ 

The Miamis were within the territory of La Salle's colony, of 
which Starved Rock was the center, and counted thirteen hundred 
warriors. The Weas and Piankeshaws were also there, the former 
having five hundred warriors and the Piankeshaw band one hundred 
and fifty. This was prior to 1687. ||| At a later day the Weas "were 
at Chicago, but being afraid of the canoe people, left it. ,,a 1 *r Sieur 
de Courtmanche, sent westward in 1701 to negotiate with the tribes 
in that part of New France, w r as at " Chicago, where he found some 

Marquette. fLaHontan. % Gen. Harrison. §Gen. Harmar. | Lewis Evans. 
1[ George Croghan's Narrative Journal. ** Croghan's List of Indian Tribes, 
tt John Heckwelder, a Moravian Missionary. %\ Catlin's Indian Tribes. 

SS St. Cosmie's Journal in " Early Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi," p. 58. 

Parkman's Discovery of the Great West, note on p. 290. 
^,I1T Memoir on the Indian tribes, prepared in 1718: Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 890. 



AT WAR WITH THE SIOUX. 123 

Weas (Ouiatanons), a Miami tribe, who had sung the war-song 
against the Sioux and the Iroquois. He obliged them to lay down 
their arms and extorted from them a promise to send deputies to 
Montreal."* 

In a letter dated in 1721, published in his "Narrative Journal," 
Father Charlevoix, speaking of the Miamis about the head of Lake 
Michigan, says: " Fifty years ago the Miamis were settled on the 
southern extremity of Lake Michigan, in a place called Chicagou, 
from the name of a small river which runs into the lake, the source 
of which is not far distant from that of the river of the Illinois ; 
they are at present divided into three villages, one of which stands 
on the river St. Joseph, the second on another river which bears 
their name and runs into Lake Erie, and the third upon the river 
Ouabache, which empties its waters into the Mississippi. These last 
are better known by the appellation of Ouyatanons." f 

In 1694, Count Frontenac, in a conference with the Western In- 
dians, requested the Miamis of the Pepikokia band who resided on 
the Maramek,+ to remove, and join the tribe which was located on 
the Saint Joseph, of Lake Michigan. The reason for this request, 
as stated by Frontenac himself, was, that he wished the different 
bands of the Miami confederacy to unite, "so as to be able to exe- 
cute with greater facility the commands which he might issue." At 
that time the Iroquois were at war with Canada, and the French 
were endeavoring to persuade the western tribes to take up the tom- 
ahawk in their behalf. The Miamis promised to observe the Gov- 
ernor 1 s wishes and began to make preparations for the removal. § 

" Late in August, 1696, they started to join their brethren settled 
on the St. Joseph. On their way they were attacked by the Sioux, 
who killed several. The Miamis of the St. Joseph, learning this 
hostility, resolved to avenge their slaughter. They pursued the 
Sioux to their own country, and found them entrenched in their fort 
with some Frenchmen of the class known as coureurs des bois (bush- 
lopersV They nevertheless attacked them repeatedly with great res- 
olution, but were repulsed, and at last compelled to retire, after 
losing several of their braves. On their way home, meeting other 
Frenchmen carrying arms and ammunition to the Sioux, they seized 
all they had, but did them no harm." 

The Miamis were very much enraged at the French for supplying 

* History of New France, vol. 5, p. 142. 

t Charlevoix' Narrative Journal, vol. 1, p. 287. 

\ The Kalamazoo, of Michigan. 

§ Paris Documents, vol. 9, pp. 624, 625. 

I Charlevoix' History of New France, vol. 5, p. 65. 



124 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

their enemies, the Sioux, with guns and ammunition. It took all 
the address of Count Frontenac to prevent them from joining the 
Iroquois ; indeed, they seized upon the French agent and trader, 
Nicholas Perrot, who had been commissioned to lead the Maramek 
band to the St. Josephs, and would have burnt him alive had it not 
been for the Foxes, who interposed in his behalf. * This was the 
commencement of the bitter feeling of hostility with which, from 
that time, a part of the Miamis always regarded the French. From 
this period the movements of the tribe were observed by the French 
with jealous suspicion. 

We have already shown that in 1699 the Miamis were at Fort 
Wayne, engaged in transferring across their portage emigrants from 
Canada to Louisiana, and that, within a few years after, the Weas 
are described as having their fort and several miles of cultivated 
fields on the Wea plains below La Fayette. + From the extent and 
character of these improvements, it may be safely assumed that the 
Weas had been established here some years prior to 1718, the date 
of the Memoir. 

When the French first discovered the Wabash, the Piankeshaws 
were found in possession of the land on either side of that stream, 
from its mouth to the Vermilion River, and no claim had ever 
been made to it by any other tribe until 1804, the period of a ces- 
sion of a part of it to the United States by the Delawares, who had 
obtained their title from the Piankeshaws themselves.^: 

We have already seen that at the time of the first account we 
have relating to the Maumee and the Wabash, the Miamis had vil- 
lages and extensive improvements near Fort Wayne, on the Wea 
prairie below La Fayette, on the Vermilion of the Wabash, and at 
Vincennes. At a later day they established villages at other places, 
viz, near the forks of the Wabash at Huntington, on the Mississin- 
ewa,^ on Eel Paver near Logansport, while near the source of this 
river, and westward of Fort Wayne, was the village of the "Little 
Turtle." Near the mouth of the Tippecanoe was a sixth village. 

* Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 672. 

fVide, p. 104. 

X Memoirs of General Harrison, pp. 61, 63. 

ijThis stream empties into the Wabash near Peru, and on the opposite side of the 
river from that city. The word is a compound of missi, great, and assin, stone, signify- 
ing the river of the great or much stone. "The Mississinewa, with its pillared rocks, 
is full of geological as well as romantic interest. Some three miles from Peru the 
channel is cut thi'ough a solid wall of cherty silico-magnesian limestone. The action 
of the river and unequal disintegration of the rocks has carved the precipitous wall, 
which converts the river's course into a system of pillars, rounded buttresses, alcoves, 
chambers and overhanging sides." Prof. Collett's Report on the Geology of Miami 
county, Indiana. 



A WARLIKE PEOPLE. 125 

Passing below the Vermilion, the Miamis had other villages, one 
on Sugar creek* and another near Terre Haute, f 

The country of the Miamis extended west to the watershed be- 
tween the Illinois and Wabash rivers, which separated their posses- 
sions from those of their brethren, the Illinois. On the north were 
the Pottawatomies, who were slowly but steadily pushing their lines 
southward into the territory of the Miamis. The superior numbers 
of the Miamis and their great valor enabled them to extend the 
limit of their hunting grounds eastward into Ohio, and far within 
the territory claimed by the Iroquois. "They were the undoubted 
proprietors of all that beautiful country watered by the Wabash and 
its tributaries, and there remains as little doubt that their claim ex- 
tended as far east as the Scioto.":}: 

Unlike the Illinois, the Miamis held their own until they were 
placed upon an equal footing with the tribes eastward by obtaining 
possession of fire-arms. With these implements of civilized warfare 
they were able to maintain their tribal integrity and the independ- 
ence they cherished. They were not to be controlled by the French, 
nor did they suffer enemies from any quarter to impose upon them 
without prompt retaliation. They traded and fought with the 
French, English and Americans as their interests or passions in- 
clined. They made peace or declared war against other nations of 
their own race as policy or caprice dictated. More than once they 
compelled even the arrogant Iroquois to beg from the governors of 
the American colonies that protection which they themselves had 
failed to secure by their own prowess. Bold, independent and 
flushed with success, the Miamis afforded a poor field for missionary 
work, and the Jesuit Relations and pastoral letters of the French 
priesthood have less to say of the Miami confederacy than any of the 
other western tribes, the Kickapoos alone excepted. 

The country of the Miamis was accessible, by way of the lakes, 
to the fur trader of Canada, and from the eastward, to the adven- 
turers engaged in the Indian trade from Pennsylvania, New York 
and Virginia, either by way of the Ohio River or a commerce car- 
ried on overland by means of pack-horses. The English and the 
French alike coveted their peltries and sought their powerful alli- 

*This stream was at one time called Rocky River, vide Brown's Western Gazet- 
teer. By the Wea Miamis it was called Ptoi-go-se-cou-e, "Sugar tree " (creek), vide 
statement of Mary Ann Baptiste to the author. 

fThe villages below the Vermilion and above Vincennes figure on some of the early 
English maps and in accounts given by traders as the lower or little Wea towns. Be- 
sides these, which were the principal ones, the Miamis had a village at Thorn town, 
and many others of lesser note on the Wabash and its tributaries. 

X Official Letter of General Harrison to the Secretary of War, before quoted. 



126 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

ance, therefore the Miamis were harassed with the jealousies and 
diplomacy of both, and if they or a part of their several tribes be- 
came inveigled into an alliance with the one, it involved the hostility 
of the other. The French government sought to use them to check 
the westward advance of the British colonial influence, while the 
latter desired their assistance to curb the French, whose ambitious 
schemes involved nothing less than the exclusive subjugation of 
the entire continent westward of the Alleghanies. In these wars 
between the English and the French the Miamis were constantly 
reduced in numbers, and whatever might have been the result to 
either of the former, it only ended in disaster to themselves. Some- 
times they divided ; again they were entirely devoted to the interest 
of the English and Iroquois. Then they joined the French against 
the British and Iroquois, and when the British ultimately obtained 
the mastery and secured the valley of the Mississippi, — the long 
sought for prize, — the Miamis entered the confederacy of Pontiac 
to drive them out of the country. They fought with the British, 
— except the Piankeshaw band, — against the colonies during the 
revolutionary war. After its close their young men were largely 
occupied in the predatory warfare waged by the several Maumee 
and Wabash tribes upon the frontier settlements of Ohio, Pennsyl- 
vania, Virginia and Kentucky. They likewise entered the con- 
federacy of Tecumseh, and, either openly or in secret sympathy, 
they were the allies of the British in the war of 1812. Their history 
occupies a conspicuous place in the military annals of the west, 
extending over a period of a century, during which time they main- 
tained a manly struggle to retain possession of their homes in the 
valleys of the Wabash and Maumee. 

The disadvantage under which the Miamis labored, in encounters 
with their enemies, before they obtained fire-arms, was often over- 
come by the exercise of their cunning and bravery. "In the year 
16S0 the Miamis and Illinois were hunting on the St. Joseph River. 
A party of four hundred Iroquois surprised them and killed thirty 
or forty of their hunters and captured three hundred of their women 
and children. After the victors had rested awhile they prepared to 
return to their homes by easy journeys, as they had reason to believe 
that they could reach their own villages before the defeated enemy 
would have time to rally and give notice of their disaster to those of 
their nation who were hunting in remoter places. But they were 
deceived ; for the Illinois and Miamis rallied to the number of two 
hundred, and resolved to die fighting rather than suffer their women 
and children to be carried away. In the meantime, because they 



DEFEAT OF THE IROQUOIS. 127 

were not equal to their enemies in equipment of arms or numbers, 
they contrived a notable stratagem. 

After the Miamis had duly considered in what way they would at- 
tack the Iroquois, they decided to follow them, keeping a small dis- 
tance in the rear, until it should rain. The heavens seemed to favor 
their plan, for. after awhile it began to rain, and rained continually 
the whole day from morning until night. When the rain began to 
fall the Miamis quickened their march and passed by the Iroquois, 
and took a position two leagues in advance, where they lay in an am- 
buscade, hidden by the tall grass, in the middle of a prairie, which 
the Iroquois had to cross in order to reach the woods beyond, where 
they designed to kindle fires and encamp for the night. The Illi- 
nois and Miamis, lying at full length in the grass on either side of 
the trail, waited until the Iroquois were in their midst, when they 
shot off their arrows, and then attacked vigorously with their clubs. 
The Iroquois endeavored to use their fire-arms, but finding them of 
no service because the rain had dampened and spoiled the priming, 
threw them upon the ground, and undertook to defend themselves 
with their clubs. In the use of the latter weapon the Iroquois were 
no match for their more dexterous and nimble enemies. They were 
forced to yield the contest, and retreated, fighting until night came 
on. They lost one hundred and eighty of their warriors. 

The fight lasted about an hour, and would have continued through 
the night, were it not that the Miamis and Illinois feared that their 
women and children (left in the rear and bound) would be exposed 
to some surprise in the dark. The victors rejoined their women and 
children, and possessed themselves of the fire-arms of their enemies. 
The Miamis and Illinois then returned to their own country, without 
taking one Iroquois for fear of weakening themselves." 

Failing in their first efforts to withdraw the Miamis from the 
French, and secure their fur trade to the merchants at Albany and 
New York, the English sent their allies, the Iroquois, against them. 
A series of encounters between the two tribes was the result, in 

*This account is taken from La Hontan, vol. 2, pp. 63, 64 and 65. The facts con- 
cerning the engagement, as given by La Hontan, may be relied upon as substantially 
correct, for they were written only a few years after the event. La Hontan, as appears 
from the date of his letters which comprise the principal part of his volumes, was in 
this country from November, 1683, to 1689, and it was during this time that he was 
collecting the information contained in his works. The place where this engagement 
between the Miamis and Illinois against the Iroquois occurred, is a matter of doubt. 
Some late commentators claim that it was upon the Maumee. La Hontan says that 
the engagement was "near the river Oumamis." When he wrote, the St. Joseph of 
Lake Michigan was called the river Oumamis, and on the map accompanying La Hon- 
tan's volume it is so-called, while the Maumee, though laid down on the map, is 
designated by no name whatever. It would, therefore, appear that when La Hontan 
mentioned the Miami River he referred to the St. Joseph. 



128 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

which the blood of both was profusely shed, to further the purposes 
of a purely commercial transaction. 

In these engagements the Senecas — a tribe of the Iroquois, or 
Five Nations, residing to the west of the other tribes of the confed- 
eracy, and, in consequence, being nearest to the Miamis, and more 
directly exposed to their fury — were nearly destroyed at the out- 
set. The Miamis followed up their success and drove the Senecas 
behind the palisades that inclosed their villages. For three years 
the war was carried on with a bitterness only known to exasperated 
savages. 

When at last the Iroquois saw they could no longer defend them- 
selves against the Miamis, they appeared in council before the Gov- 
ernor of New York, and, pittyingly, claimed protection from him, 
who, to say the least, had remained silent and permitted his own 
people to precipitate this calamity upon them. 

''You say you will support us against all your kings and our 
enemies; we will then forbear keeping any more correspondence 
with the French of Canada if the great King of England will de- 
fend our people from the Twichtivieks and other nations over whom 
the French have an influence and have encouraged to destroy an 
abundance of our people, even since the peace between the two crowns," 
etc. -' 

The governor declined sending troops to protect the Iroquois 
against their enemies, but informed them: "You must be sensible 
that the Dowaganhaes, Twichtwicks, etc., and other remote Indians, 
are vastly more numerous than you Five Nations, and that, by their 
continued warring upon you, they will, in a few years, totally de- 
stroy you. I should, therefore, think it prudence and good policy in 
you to try all possible means to fix a trade and correspondence with 
all those nations, by which means you would reconcile them to your- 
selves, and with my assistance, I am in hopes that, in a short time, 
they might be united with us in the covenant chain, and then you 
might, at all times, without hazard, go hunting into their country, 
which, I understand, is much the best for beaver. I wish you would 
try to bring some of them to speak to me, and perhaj)s I might pre- 
vail upon them to come and live amongst you. I should think my- 
self obliged to reward you for such a piece of service as I tender 
your good advantage, and will always use my best endeavor to pre- 
serve you from all your enemies." 

* Speech of an Iroquois chief at a conference held at Albany, August 26, 1700, be- 
tween Richard, Earl of Belmont, Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of His Maj- 
esty's provinces of New York, etc., and the sachems of the Five Nations. New York 
Colonial Documents, vol. 4. p. 729. 




• 



Wk -v* 




OECD 

DANVILLE 



TRADE WITH THE ENGLISH. 129 

The conference continued several days, (hiring which the Iroquois 
stated their grievances in numerous speeches, to which the governor 
graciously replied, using vague terms and making no promisi s, 
after the manner of the extract from his speech above quoted, but 
placed great stress on the value of the fur trade to the English, and 
enjoining his brothers, the Iroquois, to bring all their peltries to 
Albany ; to maintain their old alliance with the English, offensive 
and defensive, and have no intercourse whatever, of a friendly na- 
ture, with the rascally French of Canada. 

The Iroquois declined to follow the advice of the governor, 
deeming it of little credit to their courage to sue for peace. In the 
meantime the governor sent emissaries out among the Miamis, with 
an invitation to open a trade with the English. The messengers were 
captured by the commandant at Detroit, and sent, as prisoners. t<> 
Canada. However, the Miamis. in Jul v. 1702, sent, through the 
sachems of the Five Nations, a message to the governor at Albany, 
advising him that many of the Miamis. with another nation, had 
removed to. and were then living at, Tjughsaghrondie,* near by the 
fort which the French had built the previous summer : that they had 
been informed that one of their chiefs, who had visited Albany two 
years before, had been kindly treated, and that they had now come 
forward to inquire into the trade of Albany, and see if goods could 
not be purchased there cheaper than elsewhere, and that they had 
intended to go to Canada with their beaver and peltries, but that 
they ventured to Albany to inquire if goods could not be secured on 
better terms. The governor replied that he was extremely pleased 
to speak with the Miamis about the establishment of a lasting friend- 
ship and trade, and in token of his sincere intentions presented his 
guests with guns, powder, hats, strouds. tobacco and pipes, and sent 
to their brethren at Detroit, waumpum, pipes, shells, nose and ear 
jewels, looking-glasses, tans, children* > toy-, and such other light 
articles as his guests could conveniently carry ; and. finally, assured 
them that the Miamis might come freely to Albany, where they 
would be treated kindly, and receive, in exchange for their peltries, 
everything as cheap as any other Indians in covenant of friei 
with the English. ~ 

During the same year 1 1702) the Miamis and Senecas settled their 
quarrels, exchanged prisoners, and established a peace between 
themselves.^ 

*The Iroquois name for the Straits of Detroit. 

t Proceedings of a conference between the parties mentioned above. New York 
Colonial Documents, vol. 4. pp. 979 to 981. 

X New York Colonial Documents, vol. 4, p. 989. 
9 



130 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

The French were not disposed to allow a portion of the fur trade 
to be diverted to Albany. Peaceable means were first used to dis- 
suade the Miamis from trading with the English ; failing in this, 
forcible means were resorted to. Captain Antoine De La Mothe 
Cadillac marched against the Miamis and reduced them to terms.* 

The Miamis were not unanimous in the choice of their friends. 
Some adhered to the French, while others were strongly inclined to 
trade with the English, of whom they could obtain a better quality 
of goods at cheaper rates, while at the same time they were allowed 
a greater price for their furs. Cadillac had hardly effected a coercive 
peace with the Miamis before che latter were again at Albany. ''I 
have,' 1 writes Lord Cournbury to the Board of Trade, in a letter 
dated August 20, 1708,f "been there five years endeavoring to get 
these nations [referring to the Miamis and another nation] to trade 
with our people, but the French have always dissuaded them from 
coming until this year, when, goods being very scarce, they came to 
Albany, where our people have supplied them with goods much 
cheaper than ever the French did, and they promise to return in the 
spring with a much greater number of their nations, which would be 
a very great advantage to this province. I did, in a letter of the 
25th day of June last, inform your Lordships that three French 
soldiers, having deserted from the French at a place they call Le 
Destroit, came to Albany. Another deserter came from the same 
place, whom I examined myself, and I inclose a copy of his exam- 
ination, by which your Lordships will perceive how easily the French 
may be beaten out of Canada. The better I am acquainted with this 
country, and the more I inquire into matters, so much the more I 
am confirmed in my opinion of the facility of effecting that conquest, 
and by the method I then proposed.' 1 

Turning to French documents we find that Sieur de Callier de- 
sired the Miamis to withdraw from their several widely separated 
villages and settle in a body upon the St. Joseph. At a great council 
of the westward tribes, held' in Montreal in 1694, the French In- 
tendant, in a speech to the Miamis, declares that "he will not believe 
that the Miamis wish to obey him until they make altogether one 
and the same fire, either at the River St. Joseph or at some other 
place adjoining it. He tells them that he has got near the Iroquois, 
and has soldiers at Katarakoui, ;{; in the fort that had been abandoned ; 
that the Miamis must get near the enemy, in order to imitate him 

* Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 671: note of the editor. 
t New York Colonial Documents, vol. 5, p. 65. 
\ At Fort Frontenac. 



URGED TO UNITE AT ONE PLACE. 131 

(the Intendant), and be able to strike the Iroquois the more readily. 
My children," continued the Intendant, "tell me that the Miamis 
are numerous, and able of themselves to destroy the Iroquois. Like 
them, all are afraid. What! do you wish to abandon your country 
to your enemy? . . . Have you forgotten that I waged war against 
him, principally on your account, alone? Your dead are no longer 
visible in his country; their bodies are covered by those of the 
French who have perished to avenge them; I furnished you the 
means to avenge them, likewise. It depends only on me to receive 
the Iroquois as a friend, which I will not do on account of you, who 
would be destroyed were I to make peace without including you in 
its terms." * 

"I have heard," writes Governor Vaudreuil, in a letter dated 
the 2Sth of October, 1719, to the Council of Marine at Paris, "that 
the Miamis had resolved to remain where they were, and not go 
to the St. Joseph River, and that this resolution of theirs was dan- 
gerous, on account of the facility they would have of communicating 
with the English, who were incessantly distributing belts secretly 
among the nations, to attract them to themselves, and that Sieur 
Dubinson had been designed to command the post of Ouaytanons, 
where he should use his influence among the Miamis to induce them 
to go to the River St. Joseph, and in case they were not willing, 
that he should remain with them, to counteract the effect of those 
belts, which had already caused eight or ten Miami canoes to go that 
year to trade at Albany, and which might finally induce all of the 
Miami nation to follow the example, "f Finally, some twenty-five 
years later, as we learn from the letter of M. de Beauharnois, that 
this French officer, having learned that the English had established 
trading magazines on the Ohio, issued his orders to the command- 
ants among the Weas and Miamis, to drive the British off by force 
of arms and plunder their stores.^ 

Other extracts might.be drawn from the voluminous reports of 
the military and civil officers of the French and British colonial 
governments respectively, to the same purport as those already 
quoted ; but enough has been given to illustrate the unfortunate 
position of the Miamis. For a period of half a century they were 
placed betw r een the cutting edges of English and French pur- 
poses, during which there was no time when they were not threat- 
ened with danger of, or engaged in, actual war either with the 
French or the English, or with some of their several Indian allies. 

* Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 625. f Ibid, p. 894. % Ibid, p. 1105. 



132 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

By this continual abrasion, the peace and happiness which should 
have been theirs was wholly lost, and their numbers constantly 
reduced. They had no relief from the strife, in which only injury 
could result to themselves, let the issue have been what it might 
between the English and the French, until the power of the latter 
was finally destroyed in 17G3 ; and even then, after the French had 
given up the country, the Miamis 'were compelled to defend their 
own title to it against the arrogant claims of the English. In the 
effort of the combined westward tribes to wrest 'their country from 
the English, subsequent to the close of the colonial war, the Miamis 
took a conspicuous part. This will be noticed in a subsequent chap- 
ter. After the conclusion of the revolutionary war, the several 
Miami villages from the Vermilion River to Fort "Wayne suffered 
severely from the attacks of the federal government under General 
Harmer, and the military expeditions recruited in Kentucky, and 
commanded by Colonels Scott and Wilkinson. Besides these dis- 
asters, whole villages were nearly depopulated by the ravages of 
small-pox. The uncontrollable thirst for whisky, acquired, through 
a long course of years, by contact with unscrupulous traders, reduced 
their numbers still more, while it degraded them to the last degree. 
This was their condition in 1814, when General Harrison said of 
them: "The Miamis will not be in our way. They are a poor, 
miserable, drunken set, diminishing every year. Becoming too lazy 
to hunt, they feel the advantage of their annuities. The fear of the 
other Indians has alone prevented them from selling their whole 
claim to the United States ; and as soon as there is peace, or when 
the British can no longer intrigue, they will sell."* The same 
authority, in his historical address at Cincinnati in 1838, on the 
aborigines of the Valley of the Ohio, says: "At any time before 
the treaty of Greenville in 1795 the Miamis alone could have fur- 
nished more than three thousand warriors. Constant war with our 
frontier had deprived them of many of their braves, but the ravages 
of small-pox was the principal cause of the great decrease in their 
numbers. They composed, however, a body of the finest light 
troops in the world. And had they been under an efficient system of 
discipline, or possessed enterprise equal to their valor, the settle- 
ment of the country would have been attended with much greater 
difficulty than was encountered in accomplishing it, and their final 
subjugation would have been delayed for some years.'' \ 

Yet their decline, from causes assigned, was so rapid, that when 

* Official letter of General Harrison to the Secretary of War, of date March 24, 1814. 
fP. 39 of General Harrison's address, original pamphlet edition. 



CESSION OF THEIR LANDS. 133 

the Baptist missionary, Isaac McCoy, was among them from 1817 
until 1822, and drawing conclusions from personal contact, declared 
that the Miamis were not a warlike people. There is, perhaps, in 
the history of the North American Indians, no instance parallel to 
the utter demoralization of the Miamis, nor an example of a tribe 
which stood so high and had tallen so low through the practice of 
all the vices which degrade human beings. Mr. McCoy, within the 
period named, traveled up and down the Wabash, from Terre Haute 
to Fort Wayne ; and at the villages near Montezuma, on Eel River, 
at the Mississinewa and Fort Wayne, there were continuous rounds 
of drunken debauchery whenever whisky could be obtained, of which 
men, women and children all partook, and life was often sacrificed 
in personal broils or by exposure of the debauchees to the inclemency 
of the weather. * 

By treaties, entered into at various times, from 1795 to 1845, in- 
clusive, the Miamis ceded their lands in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, 
and removed west of the Mississippi, going in villages or by detach- 
ments, from time to time. At a single cession in 1838 they sold 
the government 177,000 acres of land in Indiana, which was only a 
fragment of their former possessions, still retaining a large tract. 
Thus they alienated their heritage, and gradually disappeared from 
the valleys of the Maumee and Wabash. A few remained on their 
reservations and adapted themselves to the ways of the white peo- 
ple, and their descendants may be occasionally met with about Peru, 
Wabash and Fort Wayne. The money received from sales of their 
lands proved to them a calamity, rather than a blessing, as it intro- 
duced the most demoralizing habits. It is estimated that within a 
period of eighteen years subsequent to the close of the war of 1812 
more than rive hundred of them perished in drunken broils and lights. + 

The last of the Miamis to go westward were the Mississinewa 
band. This remnant, comprising in all three hundred and fifty per- 
sons, under charge of Christmas Dagney,^: left their old home in the 

* Mr. McCoy has contributed a valuable fund of original information in his History 
of Baptist Indian Missions, published in 1840. The volume contains six hundred and 
eleven pages. He mentions many instances of drunken orgies which he witnessed in 
the several Miami towns. We quote one of them: '"An intoxicated Indian at Fort 
Wayne dismounted from his horse and ran up to a young Indian woman who was his 
sister-in-law, with a knife in his hand. She first ran around one of the company pres- 
ent, and then another, to avoid the murderer, but in vain. He stabbed her with his 
knife. She then fled from the company. He stood looking after her, and seeing she 
did not fall, pursued her, threw her to the earth and drove his knife into her heart, in 
the presence of the whole company, none of whom ventured to save the girl's life." 
P. 85. 

t Vide American Cyclopaedia, vol. 11, p. 490. 

X His name was, also, spelled Dazney and Dagnett. He was born on the 25th of 
December, 1799, at the Wea village of Old Orchard Town, or We-au-ta->io, "The 
Risen Sun," situated two miles below Fort Harrison. His father, Ambroise Dagney, 



134 HISTOKIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

fall of 1S4C>, and readied Cincinnati on canal-boats in October of 
that year. Here they were placed upon a steamboat and taken down 
the Ohio, up the Mississippi and Missouri, and landed late in the 
season at Westport, near Kansas City. Ragged men and nearly 
naked women and children, forming a motley group, were huddled 
upon the shore, alone, with no friends to relieve their wants, and 
exposed to the bitter December winds that blew from the chilly 
plains of Kansas. In 1670 the Jesuit Father Dablon introduces the 
Miamis to our notice at the village of Maskoutench. where we see 
the chief surrounded by his officers of state in all the routine of bar- 
baric display, and the natives of other tribes paying his subjects the 
greatest deference. The Miamis, advancing eastward, in the rear of 
the Hue of their valorous warriors, pushed their villages into Michi- 
gan, Indiana, and as far as the river still bearing their name in Ohio. 
Coming in collision with the French, English and Americans, re- 
duced by constant wars, and decimated, more than all, with vices 
contracted by intercourse with the whites, whose virtues they failed 
to emulate, they make a westward turn, and having, in the progress 
of time, described the round of a most singular journey, we at last 
behold the miserable and friendless remnant on the same side of the 

was a Frenchman, a native of Kaskaskia, and served during Harrison's campaign 
against the Indians, in 1811, in Captain Scott's company, raised at Vincennes. He 
took part in the battle of Tippecanoe. His mother, Me-chin-quam-e-sha, the Beauti- 
ful Shade Tree, was the sister of Jocco, or Tack-ke-ke-kah, "The Tall Oak," who 
was chief of the Wea band living at the village named, and whose people claimed 
the country east of the Wabash, from the mouth of Sugar Creek to a point some dis- 
tance below Terre Haute. "Me-chin-quam-e-sha" died in 1822, and was buried at 
Fort Harrison. Christmas Dagney received a good education under the instruction of 
the Catholics. He spoke French and English with great fluency, and was master of 
the dialects of the several Wabash tribes. For many years he was government inter- 
preter at Fort Harrison, and subsequently Indian agent, having the superin tendency 
of the AVabash Miamis, whom he conducted westward. On the 16th of February, 
1819. he was married to "Mary Ann Isaacs," of the Brothertown Indians, who had 
been spending a few weeks at the mission house of Isaac McCoy, situated on Raccoon 
Creek, — or PisJieica, as it was called by the Indians, — a few miles above Armysburg. 
The marriage was performed by Mr. McCoy " in the presence of our Indian neighbors, 
who were invited to attend the ceremony. And we had the happiness to have twenty- 
three of the natives partake of a meal prepared on the occasion." Vide page 64 in his 
book, before quoted. This was, doubtless, the first marriage that was celebrated after 
the formality of our laws within the present limits of Parke country. By the terms of 
the treaty at St. Mary's, concluded on the 2d of October. 1818, one section of land was 
reserved for the exclusive use of Mr. Dagney, and he went to Washington and selected 
a section that included the village of Armysburg, which at that time was the county 
seat, and consisted of a row of log houses formed out of sugar-tree logs and built 
continuously together, from which circumstance it derived the name of " String- 
town." As a speculation the venture was not successful, for the seat of justice was 
removed to Rockville, and town lots at Stringtown ceased to have even a prospective 
value. Mr. Dagney's family occupied the reservation as a farm until about 1846. Mr. 
Dagney died in 1848, at Coldwater Grove, Kansas. Her second husband was Babtise 
Peoria. Mrs. Babtise Peoria had superior opportunities to acquire an extensive knowl- 
edge of the Wabash tribes between Vincennes and Fort Wayne, as she lived on the 
Wabash from 1817 until 1846. She is now living at Paola, Kansas, where the author 
met her in November, 1878. 



REMOVAL WESTWARD. 135 

Mississippi from whence their warlike progenitors had come nearly 
two centuries before. 

From Westport the Mississinewas were conducted to a place 
near the present village of Lowisburg, Kansas, in the county named 
(Miami) after the tribe. Here they suffered greatly. Nearly one 
third of their number died the first year. They were homesick and 
disconsolate to the last degree. ' ; Strong men would actually weep, 
as their thoughts recurred to their dear old homes in Indiana, 
whither many of them would make journeys, barefooted, begging 
their way, and submitting to the imprecations hurled from the door 
of the white man upon them as they asked for a crust of bread. 
They wanted to die to forget their miseries." "I have seen," says 
Mrs. Mary Baptiste to the author, "mothers and fathers give their 
little children away to others of the tribe for adoption, and after 
singing their funeral songs, and joining in the solemn dance of 
death, go calmly away from the assemblage, to be seen no more 
alive. The Miamis could not be reconciled to the prairie winds of 
Kansas ; they longed for the woods and groves that gave a partial 
shade to the flashing waters of the Wah-pe-sha."* 

The AVea and Piankeshaw bands preceded the Mississinewas to 
the westward. They had become reduced to a wretched community 
of about two hundred and fifty souls, and they suffered severely. 
during the civil war, in Kansas. The Miamis, Weas, Piankeshaws, 
and the remaining fragments of the Kaskaskias, containing under 
that name what yet remained of the several subdivisions of the old 
IHini confederacy, were gathered together by Baptiste Peoria, and 
consolidated under the title of The Confederated Tribes. t This 

*The peculiar sound with which Mrs. Baptiste gave the Miami pronunciation of 
Wabash is difficult to express in mere letters. The principal accent is on the first syl- 
lable, the minor accent on the last, while the second syllable is but slightly sounded. 
The word means "white" in both the Miami and Peoria dialects. In treating upon 
the derivation of the word Wabash (p. 100), the manuscript containing the statements 
of Mrs. Baptiste was overlooked. 

fThis remarkable man was the son of a daughter of a sub-chief of the Peoria 
tribe. He was born, according to the best information, in 1793, near the confluence of 
the Kankakee and Maple, as the Des Plaines River was called by the Illinois Indians 
and the French respectively. His reputed father was a French Canadian trader liv- 
ing with this tribe, and whose name was Baptiste. Young Peoria was called Batticy 
by his mother. Later in life he was known as Baptiste the Peoria, and finally as Bap- 
tiste Peoria. The people of his tribe gave the name a liquid sound, and pronounced 
it as if it were spelled Paola. The county seat of Miami county, Kansas, is named 
after him. He was a man of large frame, active, and possessed of great strength and 
courage. Like Keokuk, the great chief of the Sacs and Fox Indians, Paola was fond 
of athletic sports, and was an expert horseman. He had a ready command both of 
the French Canadian and the English languages. He was familiar with the dialects of 
the Pottawatomies, Shawnees, Delawares, Miamis and Kickapoos. These qualifications 
as a linguist soon brought him into prominence among the Indians, while his known 
integrity commended his services to the United States government. From the year 
1821 to the year 1838 he assisted in the removal of the above-named tribes from Indi- 



136 HISTOKIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

little confederation disposed of their reservation in Miami county, 
Kansas, and adjacent vicinity, and retired to a tract of reduced 
dimensions within the Indian Territory. Since their last change of 
location in 1867 they have made but little progress in their efforts 
toward a higher civilization. The numbers of what remains of the 
once numerous Illinois and Miami confederacies are reduced to less 
than two hundred persons. The Miamis, like the unfortunate man 
who has carried his dissipations beyond the limit from which there 
can be no healthy reaction, seem not to have recovered from the 
vices contracted before leaving the states, and with some notable 
exceptions, they are a listless, idle people, little worthy of the spirit 
that inspired the breasts of their ancestors. 

ana and Illinois to their reservations beyond the Mississippi. His duties as Indian 
agent brought him in contact with many of the early settlers on the Illinois and the 
Wabash, from Vincennes to Fort Wayne. In 1818, when about twenty-five years of 
age, Batticy represented his tribe at the treaty at Edwardsville. By this treaty, which is 
signed by representatives from all the five tribes comprising the Illinois or Illini nation 
of Indians, viz, the Peorias. Kaskaskias, Mitchigamias, Cahokias and Tamaoris, it 
appears that for a period of years anterior to that time the Peorias had lived, and were 
then living, separate and apart from the other tribes named. Treaties with the Indian 
Tribes, etc., p. 247, government edition. 1837. By this treaty the several tribes named 
ceded to the United States the residue of their lands in Illinois. For nearly thirty years 
was Baptiste Peoria in the service of the United States. In 1867 Peoria became the 
chief of the consolidated tribes of the Miamis and Illinois, and went with them to 
their new reservation in the northeast corner of the Indian Territory, where he died 
on the 13th of September, 1873, aged eighty years. Some years before his death he 
married Mary Baptiste, the widow of Christmas Dagney, who, as before stated, still 
survives. I am indebted to this lady for copies of the " Western Spirit," a newspaper 
published at Paola, and the "Fort Scott Monitor," containing obituary notices and 
biographical sketches of her late husband, from which this notice of Baptiste Peoria 
has been summarized. Baptiste may be said to be "the last of the Peorias." He ' 
made a manly and persistent effort to save the fragment of the Illinois and Miamis, 
and by precepts and example tried to encourage them to adopt the ways of civilized 
life. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE POTTAW ATOMIES. 

When the Jesuits were extending their missions westward of 
Quebec they found a tribe of Indians, called Ottawas, living upon 
a river of Canada, to which the name of Ottawa was given. After 
the dispersion of the Hurons by the Iroquois, in 1649, the Ottawas, 
to the number of one thousand, joined five hundred of the discom- 
fited Hurons, and with them retired to the southwestern shore of 
Lake Superior.* The fugitives were followed by the missionaries, 
who established among them the Mission of the Holy Ghost, at La 
Pointe, already mentioned. Shortly after the establishment of the 
mission the Jesuits made an enumeration of the western Algonquin 
tribes, in which all are mentioned except the Ojibbeways and Pian- 
keshaws. The nation which dwelt south of the mission, classified as 
speaking the pure Algonquin, is uniformly called Ottawas, and the 
Ojibbeways, by whom they were surrounded, were never once noticed 
by that name. Hence it is certain that at that early day the Jesuits 
considered the Ottawas and Ojibbeways as one people, f 

In close consanguinity with the Ottawas and Ojibbeways were 
the Pottawatomies, between whom there was only a slight dialectical 
difference in language, while the manners and customs prevailing in 
the three tribes were almost identical.:}; This view was again re- 
asserted by Mr. Gallatin: ''Although it must be admitted that the 
Algonquins, the Ojibbeways, the Ottawas and the Pottawatomies 
speak different dialects, these are so nearly allied that they may be 
considered rather as dialects of the same, than as distinct languages."^ 

This conclusion of Mr. Gallatin was arrived at after a scientific 
and analytical comparison of the languages of the tribes mentioned. 

In confirmation of the above statement we have the speeches of 
three Indian chiefs at Chicago in the month of August, 1821. Dur- 
ing the progress of the treaty, Keewaygooshkum, a chief of the first 
authority among the Ottawas, stated that ''the Chippewas, the Pot- 

* Jesuit Relations for 1666. 

t Albert Gallatin's Synopsis of the Indian Tribes, p. 27. 

X Jesuit Relations. 

§ Synopsis of the Indian Tribes, p. 29. 

137 



138 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

tawatomies and the Ottawas were originally one nation. We sepa- 
rated from each other near Michilimackinac. We were related by 
the ties of blood, language and interest, but in the course of a long 
time these things have been forgotten," etc. 

At the conclusion of this speech, Mich-el, an aged chief of the 
Chippewas, said : "My Brethren, — I am about to speak a few words. 
I know you expect it. Be silent, therefore, that the words of an old 
man may be heard. 

"My Brethren, — You have heard the man who has just spoken. 
We are all descended from the same stock, — the Pottawatomies, the 
Chippeways and the Ottawas. We consider ourselves as one. Why 
should we not always act in concert '. " 

Metea, the most powerful of the Pottawatomie chieftains, in his 
speech made this statement: 

"Brothers, Chippeways and Ottawas, — we consider ourselves as 
one people, which you know, as also our father* here, who has trav- 
eled over our country." 

Mr. Schoolcraft, in commenting on the above statements, re- 
marks : "This testimony of a common origin derives additional 
weight from the general resemblance of these tribes in person, man- 
ners, customs and dress, but above all by their having one council- 
tire and speaking one language. Still there are obvious characteris- 
tics which will induce an observer, after a general acquaintance, to 
pronounce the Pottawatomies tall, fierce, haughty ; the Ottawas 
short, thick-set, good-natured, industrious ; the Chippeways warlike, 
daring, etc. But the general lineaments, or, to borrow a phrase 
from natural history, the suite features, are identical, f 

The first mention that we have of the Pottawatomies is in the 
Jesuit Relations for the years 1639-40. They are then mentioned as 
dwelling beyond the River St. Lawrence, and to the north of the 
great lake of the ITurons. At this period it is very likely that the 
Pottawatomies had their homes both north of Lake Huron and 
south of it, in the northern part of the present State of Michigan. 
Twenty-six or seven years after this date the country of the Potta- 
watomies is described as being "about the Lake of the Ilimouek. ,, ;{; 
They were mentioned as being "a warlike people, hunters and fish- 
ers. Their country is very good for Indian corn, of which they 
plant fields, and to which they willingly retire to avoid the famine 
that is too common in these quarters. They are in the highest de- 
gree idolaters, attached to ridiculous fables and devoted to polygamy. 

* Lewis Cass. f Schoolcraft's Central Mississippi Valley, pp. 357, 360, 368. 

\ Lake Michigan. 



THE POTTAWATOMIES. 139 

We have seen them here* to the number of three hundred men, all 
capable of bearing arms. Of all the people that I have associated with 
in these countries, they are the most docile and the most affectionate 
toward the French. Their wives and daughters are more reserved 
than those of other nations. They have a species of civility among 
them, and make it apparent to strangers, which is very rare among 
our barbarians, "t 

In 1670 the Pottawatomies had collected at the islands at the 
mouth of Green Bay which have taken their name from this tribe. 
Father Claude Dablon, in a letter concerning the mission of St. 
Francis Xavier, which was located on Green Bay, in speaking of 
this tribe, remarks that "the Pouteouatami, the Ousaki, and those 
of the Forks, also dwell here, but as strangers, the fear of the Iro- 
quois having driven them from their lands, which are between the 
Lake of the Hurons and that of the. Illinois. "J 

In 1721, says Charlevoix, "the Poutewatamies possessed only 
one of the small islands at the mouth of Green Bay, but had two 
other villages, one on the St. Joseph and the other at the Nar- 
rows. "£ 

Driven out of the peninsula between lakes Huron and Michigan, 
the Pottawatomies took up their abode on the Bay de Noquet, and 
other islands near the entrance of Green Bay. From these islands 
they advanced southward along the west shore of Lake Michigan. 
Extracts taken from Hennepin's Narrative of La Salle's Voyage 
mention the fact that the year previous to La Salle's coming west- 
ward (1678), he had sent out a party of traders in advance, who had 
bartered successfully with the Pottawatomies upon the islands 
named, and who were anxiously waiting for La Salle at the time of 
his arrival in the Griffin. Hennepin further states that La Salle's 
party bartered with the Pottawatomies at the villages they passed 
on the voyage southward. 

From this time forward the Pottawatomies steadily moved south- 
ward. When La Salle readied the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan 
there were no Pottawatomies in that vicinity. Shortly after this 
date, however, they had a village on the south bank of this stream, 
near the present city of Xiles. Michigan. On the northern bank 
was a village of Miamis. The Mission of St. Joseph was here 
established and in successful operation prior to 1711, from which 
fact, with other incidental circumstances, it has been inferred that 

* La Pointe. X Jesuit Relations, 1670-71. 

t Jesuit Relations, 1666-7. § Detroit. 



140 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

the Pottawatomies, as well as the mission, were on the St. Joseph as 
early as the year 1700.* 

Father Charlevoix fixes the location of both the mission and the 
military post as being at the same place beyond a doubt. " It was 
eight days yesterday since I arrived at this post, where we have a 
mission, and where there is a commandant with a small garrison. 
The commandant's house, which is a very sorry one, is called the 
fort, from its being surrounded by an indifferent palisado, which is 
pretty near the case in all the rest, except Forts Chambly and Cata- 
rocony, which are real fortresses. We have here two villages of 
Indians, one of Miamis and the other of Pottawatomies, both of 
them mostly Christians ; but as they have been for a long time with- 
out any pastors, the missionary who has lately been sent them will 
have no small difficulty in bringing them back to the exercise of 
their religion.'" f 

The authorities for locating the old mission and fort of St. Joseph 
near Niles are Charlevoix, Prof. Keating and the Rev. Isaac Mc- 
Coy. Commenting on the remains of the old villages upon the St. 
Joseph River at the time Long's expedition passed that way, in 1S23, 
the compiler states that "the prairies, woodland and river were 
rendered more picturesque by the ruins of Strawberry, Rum and 
St. Joseph's villages, formerly the residence of the Indians or of 
the first French settlers. It was curious to trace the difference in 
the remains of the habitations of the red and white man in the 
midst of this distant solitude. While the untenanted cabin of the 

* Some confusion has arisen from a confounding of the Mission of St. Joseph and 
Fort St. Joseph with the Fort Miamis. The two were distinct, some miles apart, and 
erected at different dates. It is plain, from the accounts given by Hennepin, Membre 
and LaHontan, that Fort Miamis was located on Lake Michigan, at the month of the 
St. Joseph. It is equally clear that the Mission of St. Joseph and Fort St. Joseph 
were some miles up the St. Joseph River, and a few miles below the "portage of the 
Kankakee " at South Bend. Father Charlevoix, in his letter of the 16th of August, 
1721, — after having in a previous letter referred to his reaching the St. Joseph and 
going up it toward the fort, — says: "We afterward sailed up twenty leagues before 
we reached the fort." Vol. 2, p. 94. Again, in a subsequent letter (p. 184): " I de- 
parted yesterday from the Fort of the River St. Joseph and sailed up that river about 
six leagues. I went ashore on the right and walked a league and a quarter, first along 
the water side and afterward across a field in an immense meadow, entirely covered 
with copses of wood." And in the next paragraph, on the same page, follows his 
description of the sources of the Kankakee, quoted in this work on page 77. Here, 
then, we have the position of Fort St. Joseph and the mission of that name and the 
two villages of the Pottawatomies and the Miamis, on the St. Joseph River, six leagues 
below South Bend. In Dr. Shea's Catholic Missions, page 423, it is stated that " La Salle, 
on his way to the Mississippi, had built a temporary fort on the St. Joseph, not far 
from the portage leading to the The-a-ki-ke"; and Mr. Charles R. Brown, in his 
Missions, Forts and Trading Posts of the Northwest, p. 14, says that "Fort Miamis, 
built at the mouth of the St. Joseph's River by La Salle, was afterward called St. 
Joseph, to distinguish it from (Fort) Miamis, on the Maumee." In this instance 
neither of these writers follow the text of established authorities, 
t Charlevoix' Narrative Journal, pp. 93, 94. 



ST. JOSEPH. 141 

Indian presented in its neighborhood but the remains of an old 
cornfield overgrown with weeds, the rude hut of the Frenchman was 
surrounded with vinos, and with the remains of his former garden- 
ing exertions. The asparagus, the pea vine and the woodbine still 
grow about it, as though in defiance of the revolutions which have 
dispersed those who planted them here. The very names of the 
villages mark the difference between their former tenants. Those 
of the Indians were designated by the name of the fruit which grew 
abundantly on the spot or of the object which they coveted most, 
while the French missionary has placed his village under the patron- 
age of the tutelar saint in whom he reposed his utmost confidence."" 

The asparagus, the pea-vine and the woodbine preserved the 
identity of the spot against the encroachments of the returning for- 
ests until 1822, when Isaac McCoy established among the Pottawat- 
omies the Baptist mission called Carey, out of respect for the Rev. 
Mr. Carey, a missionary of the same church in Hindostan. "It is 
said that the Pottawatoinies themselves selected this spot for Carey's 
mission, it being the site of their old village. This must have been 
very populous, as the remains of corn-hills are very visible at this 
time, and are said to extend over a thousand acres. The village 
was finally abandoned about fifty years ago (1773), but there are a 
few of the oldest of the nation who still recollect the sites of their 
respective huts. They are said to frequently visit the establishment 
and to trace with deep feeling a spot which is endeared to them.' 1 f 

On a cold winter night in 1833 a traveler was ferried over the 
St. Joseph at the then straggling village of Niles. " Ascending the 
bank, a beautiful plain with a clump of trees here and there upon its 
surface opened to his view. The establishment of Carey's mission, 
a long, low, white building, could be distinguished afar off faintly 
in the moonlight, while several winter lodges of the Pottawatoinies 
were plainly visible over the plain/ 1 + 

Concerning the Pottawatomie village near Detroit, and also some 
of the customs peculiar to the tribe, we have the following account. 
It was written in 1718 : § 

"The fort of Detroit is south of the river. The village of the 
Pottawatoinies adjoins the fort; they lodge partly under Apaquois,|i 

* Long's Second Expedition, vol. 1, pp. 147, 148. 

t Long's Second Expedition, vol. 1, p. 153, McCoy's History of Baptist Indian Mis- 
sions. 

X Hoffman's Winter in the West, vol. 1, p. 225. 

§ Memoir on the Indians between Lake Erie and the Mississippi. Pans Documents, 
vol. '9, p. 887. . 

|| Apaquois, matting made of flags or rushes; from apee, a leaf, and wigquouim, a 
hut. They cover their huts with mats made of rushes platted. Carver's Travels. 



142 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

which are made of mat-grass. The women do all the work. The 
men belonging to that nation are well clothed, like our domiciliated 
Indians at Montreal. Their entire occupation is hunting and dress ; 
thev make use of a great deal of vermilion, and in winter wear 
buffalo robes richly painted, and in summer either blue or red cloth. 
They play a good deal at La Crosse in summer, twenty or more on 
each side. Their bat is a sort of a little racket, and the ball with 
which they play is made of very heavy wood, somewhat larger than 
the balls used at tennis. When playing they are entirely naked, 
except a breech cloth and moccasins on their feet. Their body is 
completely painted with all sorts of colors. Some, with white clay, 
trace white lace on their bodies, as if on all the seams of a coat, and 
at a distance it would be apt to be taken for silver lace. They play 
very deep and often. The bets sometimes amount to more than 
eight hundred livres. They set up two poles, and commence the 
game from the center ; one party propels the ball from one side and 
the others from the opposite, and whichever reaches the goal wins. 
This is fine recreation and worth seeing. They often play village 
against village, the Poux* against the Ottawas or Hurons, and 
lay heavy stakes. Sometimes Frenchmen join in the game with 
them. The women cultivate Indian corn, beans, peas, squashes and 
melons, which come up very fine. The women and girls dance at 
night ; adorn themselves considerably, grease their hair, put on a 
white shift, paint their cheeks with vermilion, and wear whatever 
wampum they possess, and are very tidy in their way. They dance 
to the sound of the drum and sisiquoi, which is a sort of gourd con- 
taining some grains of shot. Four or five young men sing and beat 
time with the drum and sisiquoi, and the women keep time and do 
not lose a step. It is very entertaining, and lasts almost the entire 
night. The old men often dance the Medicine. f They resemble a 
set of demons ; and all this takes place during the night. The 
young men often dance in a circle and strike posts. It is then they 
recount their achievements and dance, at the same time, the war 
dance ; and whenever they act thus they are highly ornamented. It 
is altogether very curious. They often perform these things for 
tobacco. When they go hunting, which is every fall, they carry 
their apaquois with them, to hut under at night. Everybody follows, 

* The Pottawatomies were sometimes known by the contraction Poux. La Hontan 
uses this name, and erroneously confounds them with the Puans or Winnebagoes. In 
giving the coat-of-arms of the Pottawatomies, representing a dog crouched in the 
grass, he says: "They were called Puants." Vol. 2, p. 84. 

t Medicine dance. 



ORIGIN OF POTTAWATOMIE. 143 

men, women and children. They winter in the forest and return in 
the spring.'" 

The Pottawatomies swarmed from their prolific hives about the 
islands of Mackinaw, and spread themselves over portions of Wis- 
consin, and eastward to their ancient homes in Michigan. At a 
later day they extended themselves upon the territory of the ancient 
Illinois, covering a large portion of the state. From the St. Joseph 
River and Detroit their bands moved southward over that part of 
Indiana north and west of the Wabash, and thence down that 
stream. They were a populous horde of hardy children of the 
forests, of great stamina, and their constitutions were hardened by 
the rigorous climate of the northern lakes. 

Among the old French writers the orthography of the word 
Pottawatomies varied to suit the taste of the writer. We give some 
of the forms: Poutouatimi,* Pouteotatamis,t Poutouatamies,^; Pou- 
tewatamis, >J Pautawattamies, Puttewatamies, Pottowottamies and 
Pottawattamies. | The tribe was divided into four clans, the Golden 
Carp, the Frog, the Crab, and the Tortoise. 1 The nation was not 
like the Illinois and Miamis, divided into separate tribes, but the 
different bands would separate or unite according to the scarcity or 
abundance of game. 

The word Pottawatomie signifies, in their own language, we are 
mailing a fire, for the origin of which they have the following tradi- 
tion : " It is said that a Miami, having wandered out from his cabin, 
met three Indians whose language was unintelligible to him; by signs 
and motions he invited them to follow him to his cabin, where they 
were hospitably entertained, and where they remained until after 
dark. During the night two of the strange Indians stole from the 
hut, while their comrade and host were asleep ; they took a few 
embers from the cabin, and, placing these near the door of the hut, 
they made a fire, which, being afterward seen by the Miami and 
remaining guest, was understood to imply a council fire in token of 
peace between the two nations. From this circumstance the Miami 
called them in his language Wa-Jto-na-ha, or the fire-makers, which, 
being translated into the language of the three guests, produced the 
term by which their nation has ever since been distinguished." 

After this the Miamis termed the Pottawatomies their younger 
brothers ; but afterward, in a council, this was changed, from the 

* Jesuit Relations. § Charlevoix, 

t Father Membre. || Paris Documents. 

iJoutel's Journal. 

II Enumeration of the Indian tribes, the Warriors and Armorial Bearings of each 
Nation, made in 1736. Published in Documentary History of New York. 



144 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

circumstance that they resided farther to the west; "as those nations 
which reside to the west o,f others are deemed more ancient."* 

The Pottawatomies were unswerving in their adherence to the 
French, when the latter had possession of the boundless Northwest. 
In 1712, when a large force of Mascoutins and Foxes besieged De- 
troit, they were conspicuous for their fidelity. They rallied the 
other tribes to the assistance of the French, and notified the besieged 
garrison to hold out against their enemies until their arrival. Mak- 
■is-abie, the war chief of the Pottawatomies, sent word through Mr. 
de Vincennes, "just arrived from the Miami country, that he would 
soon be at Detroit with six hundred of his warriors to aid the French 
and eat those miserable nations who had troubled all the country." 
The commandant, M. du Buisson, was gratified when he ascended 
a bastion, and looking toward the forest saw the army of the nations 
issuing from it ; the Pottawatomies, the Illinois, the Missouris, the 
Ottawas, the Sacs and the Menominees were there, armed and painted 
in all the glory of war. Detroit never saw such a collection. "My 
Father," says the chief to the commandant, "I speak to you on 
the part of all the nations, your children who are before you. What 
you did last year in drawing their flesh from the fire, which the Ou- 
tagamies (Foxes) were about to roast and eat, demands we should 
bring you our bodies to make you the master of them. We do not 
fear death, whenever it is necessary to die for you. We have only 
to request that you pray the father of all nations to have pity on our 
women and our children, in case we lose our lives for you. We beg 
you throw a blade of grass upon our bones to protect them from the 
flies. You see, my father, that we have left our villages, our women 
and children to hasten to join you. Have pity on us ; give us some- 
thing to eat and a little tobacco to smoke. We have come a long 
ways and are destitute of everything. Give us powder and balls to 
fight with you." 

Makisabie, the Pottawatomie, said to the Foxes and Mascoutines: 
"Wicked nations that you are, you hope to frighten us by all the 
red color which you exhibit in your village. Learn that if the earth 
is covered with blood, it will be with yours. You talk to us of the 
English, they are the cause of your destruction, because you have 
listened to their bad council. . . . The English, who are cowards, 
only defend themselves by killing men by that wicked strong drink, 
which has caused so many men to die after drinking it. Thus we 
shall see what will happen to you for listening to them." f 

* Long's Expedition to the Sources of the St. Peter's River, vol. 1, pp. 91, 92, 93. 
fThe extracts we have quoted are taken from the official report of Du Buisson. 



WARS AGAINST THE WHITES. 145 

The Pottawatomies sustained their alliance with the French con- 
tinuously to the time of the overthrow of their power in the north- 
west. They then aided their kinsman, Pontiac, in his attempt to 
recover the same territory from the British. They fought on the 
side of the British against the Americans throughout the war of the 
revolution, and their war parties made destructive and frequent raids 
upon the line of pioneer settlements in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, 
( )hio and Indiana. In the war of 1812 they were again ranged on 
the side of the British, with their bloody hands lifted alike against' 
the men, women and children of "the States." 

In the programme of Pontiac'' s war the capture of Post St. 
Joseph, on the St. Joseph's river of Lake Michigan, was assigned to 
the Pottawatomies, which was effected as will be hereafter narrated. 

It was also the Pottawatomies who perpetrated the massacre at 
Chicago on the 15th day of August, 1812. Bands of this tribe, from 
their villages on the St. Joseph, the Kankakee and the Illinois rivers, 
whose numbers were augmented by the appearance of Metea with 
his warriors, from their village westward of Fort Wayne, fell upon 
the forces of Captain Ileald, and the defenseless women and chil- 
dren retreating with him after the surrender of Fort Dearborn, and 
murdered or made prisoners of them all. Metea was a conspicuous 
leader in this horrible affair.* 

Robert Dixon, the British trader sent out among the Indians 
during the war of 1S12 to raise recruits for Proctor and Tecumseh, 
gathered in the neighborhood of Chicago, which after the massacre 
was his place of general rendezvous, nearly one thousand warriors 
of as wild and cruel savages as ever disgraced the human race. They 
were the most worthless and abandoned desperadoes whom Dixon 
had been enabled to collect from among all the tribes he had visited. 
These accomplices of the British were to be let loose upon the re- 
mote settlements under the leadership of the Pottawatomie chief, 
Mai-pock, or Mai-po, a monster in human form, who distinguished 
himself with a girdle sewed full of human scalps, which he wore 
around his waist, and strings of bear's claws and bills of owls and 
hawks around his ankles, worn as trophies of his power in arms and 
as a terror to his enemies, t 

relating to the siege of Detroit. The manuscript copy of it was obtained from the 
archives at Paris, by Gen. Cass, when minister to France, and is published at length 
in volume III of the History of Wisconsin, compiled by the direction of the legislature 
of that state by William R. Smith, President of the State Historical Society ; a work 
of very great value, not only to the State of Wisconsin but to the entire Northwest, for 
the amount of reliable historical information it contains. 

* Hall and McKenney's History of the Indian Tribes of North America, vol. 2, 
pp. 59, 60. 

t McAfee's History of the Late War, pp. 297, 298. 
10 



146 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Their manners, like their dialect, were rough and barbarous as 
compared with other Algonquin tribes. They were not the civil, 
modest people, an exceptional and christianized band of whom the 
Jesuits before quoted drew a nattering description. 

" It is a fact that for many years the current of emigration as to 
the tribes east of the Mississippi has been from the north to the south. 
This was owing to two causes : the diminution of those animals from 
which the Indians derive their support, and the pressure of the two 
great tribes, — the Ojibbeways and the Sioux, — to the north and 
west. So long ago as 1795, at the treaty of Greenville, the Potta- 
watomies notified the Miamis that they intended to settle upon the 
Wabash. They made no pretensions to the country, and the only 
excuse for the intended aggression was that they were tired of eating 
fish and wanted meat.'''''" And come they did. They bore down 
upon their less populous neighbors, the Miamis, and occupied a large 
portion of their territory, impudently and by sheer force of numbers, 
rather than by force of arms. They established numerous villages 
upon the north and west bank of the Wabash and its tributaries 
flowing in from that side of the stream above the Vermilion. They, 
with the Sacs, Foxes and Kickapoos, drove the Illinois into the vil- 
lages about Ivaskaskia, and portioned the conquested territory among 
themselves. By other tribes they were called squatters, who justly 
claimed that the Pottawatomies never had any land of their own, 
and were mere intruders upon the prior rights of others. They were 
foremost at all treaties where lands were to be ceded, and were clam- 
orous for a lion's share of presents and annuities, particularly where 
these last were the price given for the sale of others' lands rather 
than their own.f Between the years 1789 and 1837 the Pottawato- 
mies, by themselves, or in connection with other tribes, made no 
less than thirty-eight treaties with the United States, all of which, — 
excepting two or three which were treaties of peace only, — were for 
cessions of lands claimed wholly by the Pottawatomies, or in com- 
mon with other tribes. These cessions embraced territory extending 
from the Mississippi eastward to Cleveland, Ohio, and reaching over 
the entire valleys of the Illinois, the Wabash, the Maumee and their 
tributaries.^: 

They also had villages upon the Kankakee and Illinois rivers. 
Among them we name 3£ine?naung, or Yellow Head, situated a 

* Official letter to the Secretary of War, dated March 22, 1814. 
t Schoolcraft's Central Mississippi Valley, p. 358. 

X Treaties between the United States and the several Indian tribes, from 1778 to 
1837: Washington, D.C., 1837. 



THEIR VILLAGES. 147 

few miles north of Momence, at a point of timber still known as 
Yellow Head Point; She-mar-gar, or the Soldier's Village, at the 
mouth of Soldier Creek, that runs through Kankakee City, and the 
village of ''Little Rock " or Shaw-waw-nas-see, at the mouth of Rock 
Creek, a few miles below Kankakee City.* Besides these, the Pot- 
tawatomies had villages farther down the Illinois, particularly the 
great town of Co?no, Gumo, or Gumbo as the pioneers called it, at the 
upper end of Peoria Lake. They had other towns on the Milwaukee 
River, Wisconsin. On the St. Joseph, near Niles, was the village of 
To-pe?i-?ie-bee, the great hereditary chief of the Pottawatomie nation ; 
higher up, near the present village of White Pigeon, was situated 
AYap-pe-me-me } s, or White Pigeon's town. Westward of Fort Wayne, 
Indiana, nine miles, was Mus-fowa-wa-sepe-otan, "the town of old 
Red Wood creek,'' where resided the band of the distinguished war- 
rior and orator of the Pottawatomies, Metea, whose name in their 
language signifies kiss me. 

Finally, the renowned Kesis, or the sun, the old friend of Gen- 
eral Hamtrauck and the Americans, in a speech to General Wayne 
at the treaty of Greenville in 1795, said that his village "was a day's 
walk below the Wea towns on the Wabash," referring, doubtless, to 
the mixed Pottawatomie and Kickapoo town which stood on the site 
of the old Shelby farm, on the north bank of the Vermilion, a short 
distance above its mouth. f 

The positions of several of the principal Pottawatomie villages 
have been given for the purpose of showing the area of country 
over which this people extended themselves. As late as 1823 their 
hunting grounds appeared to have been "bounded on the north by 
the St. Joseph (which on the east side of Lake Michigan separated 
them from the Ottawas) and the Milwacke,^: which, on the west side 
of the lake, divided them from the Menomonees. They spread to the 
south along the Illinois River about two hundred miles ; to the west 

* The location of these three villages of Pottawatomies is fixed by the surveys of 
reservations to Mine-maung, Shernargar and Shaw-waw-nas-see respectively, secured 
to them by the second article of a treaty concluded at Camp Tippecanoe, near Logans- 
port, Indiana, on the 20th of October. 1832, between the United States and the chiefs 
and head men of the Pottawatomie tribe of Indians of the prairie and of the Kanka- 
kee. The reservations were surveyed in the presence of the Indians concerned and 
General Tipton, agent on the part of the United States, in the month of May, 1834, 
by Major Dan W. Beckwith, surveyor. The reservations were so surveyed as to include 
the several villages we have named, as appears from the manuscript volumes of the 
surveys in possession of the author. 

t Journal of the Proceedings at the Treaty of Greenville: American State Papers 
on Indian Affairs, vol. 1, p. 580. The author has authorities and manuscripts from 
which the location of Kesis' band at the mouth of the Vermilion may be quite confi- 
dently affirmed. 

| Milwaukee. 



148 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

their grounds extended as far as Rock River, and the Mequin or 
Spoon River of the Illinois ; to the east they probably seldom passed 
beyond the Wabash."* After the Kickapoos and Pottawatomies 
had established themselves in the valley, of the Wabash, it was 
mutually agreed between them and the Miamis that the river should 
be the dividing line, — the Pottawatomies and Kickapoos to occupy 
the west, and the Miamis to remain undisturbed on the east or south 
side of the stream. It was a hard bargain for the Miamis, who were 
unable to maintain their rights, f 

The Pottawatomies were among the last to leave their possessions 
in Illinois and Indiana, and it was the people of this tribe with 
whom the first settlers came principally in contact. Their hostility 
ceased at the close of the war of 1812. After this their intercourse 
with the whites was uniformly friendly, and they bore the many im- 
positions and petty grievances which were put upon them by not a 
few of their unprincipled and unfeeling white neighbors with a for- 
bearance that should have excited public sympathy. 

The Pottawatomies owned extensive tracts of land on the Wabash, 
between the mouth of Pine Creek, in Warren county, and the Fort 
Wayne portage, which had been reserved to them by the terms of 
their several treaties with the United States. They held like claims 
upon the Tippecanoe and other westward tributaries of the Wabash, 
and elsewhere in northwestern Indiana, eastern Illinois and southern 
Michigan. These reservations are now covered by some of the 
finest farms in the states named. The treaties by which such reser- 
vations were granted generally contained a clause that debarred the 
owner from alienating them without having first secured the sanction 
of the President of the United States. This restriction was de- 
signed to prevent unprincipled persons from overreaching the Indian, 
who, at best, had only a vague idea of the fee simple title to, and 
value of, real estate. It afforded little security, however, against the 
wiles of the unscrupulous, and whenever the Indian could be in- 
duced by the arts of his "-White Brother"' to put his name to an 
instrument, the purport of which, in many instances, he did not at 
all understand as forever conveying away his possessions, the ratify- 
ing signature of the President followed as a matter of department 
routine. The greater part of the Pottawatomie reservations was 
retroceded to the United States in exchange either for annuities or 
for lands west of the Mississippi, and the title disposed of in this 
way. 

* Long's Second Expedition, vol. 1, p. 171. 

f The writer was informed of this agreement by Mary Baptiste. 



THE EXODUS. 149 

The final emigration of the Pottawatomies from the Wabash, 
under charge of Col. Pepper and Gen. Tipton, of Indiana, took place 
in the summer of 1838. Many are yet living who witnessed the 
sad exodus. The late Sanford Cox has recorded his impressions of 
this event in the valuable little book which he published.* "Hearing 
that this large emigration, numbering nearly a thousand of all ages 
and sexes, would pass within eight or nine miles west of La Fayette, 
a few of us procured horses and rode over to see the retiring band, 
as they reluctantly wended their way toward the setting sun. It 
was, indeed, a mournful spectacle to see these children of the forest 
slowly retiring from the homes of their childhood, where were not 
only the graves of their loved ancestors but many endearing scenes 
to which their memories would ever recur as sunny spots along their 
pathway through the wilderness. They felt that they were bidding 
a last farewell to the hills, the valleys and the streams of their 
infancy : the more exciting hunting grounds of their advanced 
youth ; the stern and bloody battle-fields on which, in riper man- 
hood, they had received wounds, and where many of their friends 
and loved relatives had fallen, covered with gore and with glory. All 
these they were leaving behind, to be desecrated by the plowshare 
of the white man. As they cast mournful glances back toward these 
loving scenes that were rapidly fading in the distance, tears fell from 
the cheek of the downcast warrior, — old men trembled, matrons wept, 
the swarthy maiden's cheek turned pale, and sighs and half-suppressed 
sobs escaped from the motley groups, as they passed along, some on 
foot, some on horseback, and others in wagons, sad as a funeral pro- 
cession. I saw several of the aged warriors glancing upward to the sky 
as if invoking aid from the spirits of their departed sires, who were 
looking down upon them with pity from the clouds, or as if they were 
calling upon the great spirit to redress the wrongs of the red man, 
whose broken bow had fallen from his hand. Ever and anon one 
of the throng would strike off from the procession into the woods 
and retrace his steps back to the old encampments on the Wabash, 
Ell River, or the Tippecanoe, declaring that he would die there 
rather than be banished from his country. Thus would scores leave 
the main party at different points on the journey and return to their 
former homes ; and it was several years before they could be induced 
to join their countrymen west of the Mississippi." 

This body, on their westward journey, passed through Danville, 
Illinois, where they halted several days, being in want of food. The 

* Recollections of the Early Settlement of the Wabash Valley, La Fayette, Ind., 
1860, pp. 154, 155. 



150 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

commissary department was wretchedly supplied. The Indians 
begged for food at the houses of the citizens. Others, in their 
extremity, killed rats at the old mill on the North Fork and ate 
them to appease their hunger. Without tents or other shelter, 
many of them, with young babes in their arms, walked on foot, as 
there was no adequate means of conveyance for the weak, the aged 
or infirm. Thus the mournful procession passed across the state of 
Illinois. 

The St. Joseph band were removed westward the same year. So 
strong was their attachment to southern Michigan and northern 
Indiana, that the Federal government invoked the aid of troops to 
coerce their removal. The soldiers surrounded them, and, as prison- 
ers of war, compelled them to leave. At South Bend, Indiana, was 
the village of Chichipe Outipe. The town was on a rising ground 
near four small lakes, and contained ten or twelve hundred christian- 
ized Pottawatomies. Benjamin M. Petit, the Catholic missionary in 
charge at Po-ke-ganns village on the St. Joseph, asked Bishop Brute 
for leave to accompany the Indians, but the prelate withheld his 
consent, not deeming it proper to give even an implied indorsement 
of the cruel act of the government. But being himself on their 
route, he afterward consented. The power of religion then appeared. 
Amid their sad march he confirmed several, while hymns and prayers, 
chanted in Ottawa, echoed for the last time around their lakes. Sick 
and well were carried off alike. After giving all his Episcopal bless- 
ing, Bishop Brute proceeded with Petit to the tents of the sick, 
where they baptized one and confirmed another, both of whom ex- 
pired soon after. The march was resumed. The men, women and 
elder children, urged on by the soldiers in their rear, were followed 
with the wagons bearing the sick and dying, the mothers, little chil- 
dren and property. Thus they proceeded through the country, tur- 
bulent at that time on account of the Mormon war, to the Osage 
River, Missouri, where Mr. Petit confided the wretched exiles to the 
care of the Jesuit Father J. Hoecken.* 

In the year 1846 the different bands of Pottawatomies united on 
the west side of the Mississippi. A general treaty was made, in 
which the following clause occurs: "Whereas, the various bands of 
the Pottawatomie Indians, known as the Chippeways, Ottawas and 
Pottawatomies, the Pottawatomies of the Prairie, the Pottawatomies 
of the Wabash, and the Pottawatomies of Indiana, have, subsequent 
to the year 1820, entered into separate and distinct treaties with the 

* Extract from Shea's Catholic Missions, p. 397. 



THE POTTAWATOMIE NATION. 151 

United States, by which they have been separated and located 
in different countries, and difficulties have arisen as to the proper 
distributions of the stipulations under various treaties, and being 
the same people by kindred, by feeling and by language, and 
having in former periods lived on and owned their lands in com- 
mon, and being desirous to unite in one common country and 
again become one people and receive their annuities and other 
benefits in common, and to abolish all minor distinctions of bands 
by which they have heretofore been divided, and are anxious to 
be known as the Pottawatomie Nation, thereby reinstating the 
national character ; and whereas, the United States are also anxious 
to restore and concentrate said tribes to a state so desirable and 
necessary for the happiness of their people, as well as to enable 
the government to arrange and manage its intercourse with them ; 
now, therefore, the United States and said Indians do hereby agree 
that said people shall hereafter be known as a nation, to be called 
the Pottawatomie Nation." 

Pursuant to the terms of this treaty, the Pottawatomies received 
$850,000, in consideration of which they released all lands owned 
by them within the limits of the territory of Iow T a and on the Osage 
Paver in Missouri, or in any state or place whatsoever. Eighty- 
seven thousand dollars of the purchase money coining to them was 
paid, by cession from the United States, of 576,000 acres of land 
lying on both sides of the Kansas River. The tract embraces the 
finest body of land within the present state of Kansas, and Topeka, 
the state capital, has since been located nearly in the center of the 
reservation. AYhile the territory was going through the process of 
organization, adventurers trespassed upon the lands of the Potta- 
watomies, sold them whisky, and spread demoralization among 
them. The squatters who intruded upon the farmer-Indians killed 
their stock and burned some of their habitations, all of which was 
borne without retaliation. Notwithstanding the old habendum, clause 
inserted in Indian treaties (as a mere matter of form, as may be in- 
ferred from the little regard paid to it) that these lands should inure 
to Pottawatomies, "their heirs and assigns forever," the squatter 
sovereigns wanted them, and resorted to all the well-known methods 
in vogue on the border to make it unpleasant for the Indians, who 
were progressing with assured success from barbarism to the ways 
of civilized society. The usual result of dismemberment of the re- 
serve followed. The farmer-Indians, who so desired, had their por- 
tions of the reserve set off in severalty, the uncivilized members of 
the tribe had their proportion set off in common. These last, which 



152 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

were exchanged for money, or lands farther southward, fell into the 
possession of a needy railroad corporation. 

We gather from the several reports of the commissioners on In- 
dian affairs that, in 1863, the tribe numbered 2,274, inclusive of men, 
women and children, which was an alarming decrease since the cen- 
sus of 1854. The diminution was caused, probably, aside from the 
casualties of death, by some having returned to their former homes 
east of the Missouri, while many of the young and wild men of the 
tribe went to the buffalo grounds to enjoy the exciting and unre- 
strained freedom of the chase. The farmers raised 3,720 bushels of 
wheat, 45,000 of corn, 1,200 of oats and 1,000 tons of hay, and had 
1,200 horses, 1,000 cattle and 2,000 hogs, as appears from the offi- 
cial report for 1863. 

The Catholic school at St. Mary's enumerated an average of 
ninety-five boys and seventy-five girls in 1863, and in 1866 the total 
number was two hundred and forty scholars. Of his pupils the 
superintendent says: "They not only spell, read, write and cipher, 
but successfully master the various branches of geography, history, 
book-keeping, grammar, philosophy, logic, geometry and astronomy. 
Besides this, they are so docile, so wulling to improve, that between 
school-hours they employ their time, with pleasure, in learning 
w r hatever handiwork may be assigned to them ; and they particu- 
larly desire to become good farmers." The girls, in addition to 
their studies, are "trained to whatever is deemed useful to good 
housekeepers and accomplished mothers.' 1 

The Pottawatomies attested their fidelity to the government by 
the volunteering of seventy-five of their young men in the "army 
of the Union. " 

In 1867, out of a population of 2,400, 1,400 elected to become 
citizens of the United States, under an enabling act passed by con- 
gress. Of those who became citizens, some did well, others soon 
squandered their lands and joined the wild band. There are still 
a few left in Michigan, while about one hundred and eighty remain 
in Wisconsin. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE KICKArOOS AND MASCOUTINS. 

The Kickapoos and Mascoutins, if there was more than a nominal 
difference between the two tribes, are here treated of together, for 
reasons explained farther on in the chapter. The name of the Kick- 
apoos has been written by the French, "Kicapoux," "Kickapous," 
"Kikapoux," " Quickapous," "Kickapoos," "Kikabu." This 
tribe has long been connected witli the northwest, and have acquired 
a notoriety for the wars in which they were engaged with other tribes, 
as well for their persistent hostility to the white race, which con- 
tinued uninterrupted for more than one hundred and fifty years. 
They were first noticed by Samuel Champlain, who, in 1612, dis- 
covered the "Mascoutins residing near the place called Sakinam," 
meaning the country of the Sacs, comprising that part of the state 
of Michigan bordering on Lake Huron, in the vicinity of Saginaw 
Bay.; 

Father Claude Allouez visited the mixed village of Miamis, Kick- 
apoos and Mascoutins on Fox River, Wisconsin, in the winter of 
1669-70. Leaving his canoe at the water's edge he walked a league 
over beautiful prairies and perceived the fort. The savages, having 
discovered him, raised the cry of alarm in their villages, and then 
ran out to receive the missionary with honor, and conducted him to 
the lodge of the chief, where they regaled him with refreshments, 
and further honored him by greasing his feet and legs. Every one 
took their places, a dish was filled with powdered tobacco ; an old 
man arose to his feet, and, tilling his two hands with tobacco from 
the dish, addressed the missionary thus : 

"This is well, Black-robe, that thou hast come to visit us; have 
pity on us. Thou art a Manitou.f We give thee wherewith to 

* Memoir of Louis XIV, and Cobert, Minister of France, on the French Limits in 
North America: Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 378, and note by E. B. O'Callaghan, the 
editor, on p. 293. 

f Manitou, with very few changes in form of spelling or manner of pronunciation, 
is the word used almost universally by the Algonquin tribes to express a spirit or God 
having control of their destinies. Their Manitous were numerous. It was also an 
expression sometimes applied to the white people, — particularly the missionaries. At 
first they regarded the Europeans as spirits, or persons possessing superior intelligence 
to themselves. 



154 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

smoke. The Nadoiiessious and the Iroquois eat us up ; have pity 
on us. We often are sick, our children die, we are hungry. Listen, 
my Manitou, I give thee wherewith to smoke, that the earth may 
yield us corn, that the rivers may furnish us with fish, that sickness 
no more shall kill us, that famine no longer shall so harshly treat 
us." At each wish, the old men who were present answered by a 
great " O-oh ! "* 

The good father was shocked at this ceremony, and replied that 
they should not address such requests to him. Protesting that he 
could afford them no relief other than offering prayers to Him who 
was the only and true God, of whom he was only the servant and 
messenger, t 

Father Allouez says in the same letter that four leagues from this 
village "are the Kikdbou and Kitchigamick, who speak the same 
language with the Machkouteng/' 1 

The Kickapoos were not inclined to receive religious impressions 
from the early missionaries. In fact, they appear to have acquired 
their first notoriety in history by seizing Father Gabriel Ribourde, 
whom they "carried away and broke his head/ 1 as Tonti quaintly 
expresses it in referring to this ruthless murder. Again, in 1728, 
as Father Ignatius Guignas, compelled to abandon his mission among 
the Sioux, on account of the victory of the Foxes over the French, 
was attempting to reach the Illinois, he, too, fell into the hands of 
the Kickapoos and Mascoutins, and for five months was held a cap- 
tive and constantly exposed to death. During this time he was con- 
demned to be burnt, and was only saved through the friendly inter- 
vention of an old man in the tribe, who adopted him as a son. 
While held a prisoner, the missionaries from the Illinois relieved 
his necessities by sending timely supplies, which Father Guignas 
used to gain over the Indians. Having induced them to make 
peace, he was taken to the Illinois missions, and suffered to remain 
there on parole until November, 1729, when his old captors returned 
and took him back to their own country \% after which nothing 
seems to have been known concerning the fate of this worthy mis- 
sionary. 

The Kickapoos early incurred the displeasure of the French by 

*The o-oh of the Algonquin and the yo-hah of the Iroquois (Colden's History of 
the Five Nations) is an expression of assent given by the hearers to the remarks of the 
speaker who is addressing them, and is equivalent to good or bravo! The Indians 
indulged in this kind of encouragement to their orators with great liberality, drawing 
out their o-ohs in unison and with a prolonged cry, especially when the speaker's 
utterances harmonized with their own sentiments. 

t Jesuit Relations, 1669-70. 

t Shea's Catholic Missions, p. 379. 



MIGRATIONS OF THE KICKAPOOS. 155 

committing depredations south of Detroit. A band living at the 
mouth of the Maumee River in 1712, with thirty Mascoutins, were 
about to make war upon the French. They took prisoner one 
Langlois, a messenger, on his return from the Miami country, 
whither he was bringing many letters from the Jesuit Fathers of the 
Illinois villages, and also dispatches from Louisiana. The letters and 
dispatches were destroyed, which gave much uneasiness to M. Du 
Boisson, the commandant at Detroit. A canoe laden with Kicka- 
poos, on their way to the villages near Detroit, was captured by the 
Hurons and Ottawas residing at these villages, and who were the 
allies of the French. Among the slain was the principal Kickapoo 
chief, whose head, with those of three others of the same tribe, 
were brought to De Boisson, who alleges that the Hurons and 
Ottawas committed this act out of resentment, because the previous 
winter the Kickapoos had taken some of the Hurons and Iroquois 
prisoners, and also because they considered the Kickapoo chief to 
be a "true Outtagamie" ; that is, they regarded him as one of the 
Fox nation.* 

From the village of Machkoutench, where first Father Claude 
Allouez, and afterward Father Marquette, found the Kickapoos inhab- 
iting the same village with the Muscotins and Miamis, the Kickapoos 
and the Muscotins appear to have passed to the south, extending 
their flanks to the right in the direction of Rockf- River, and their 
left to the southern trend of Lake Michigan. Referring to the 
country on Fox River about Winnebago Lake, Father Charlevoix 
says::£ "All this country is extremely beautiful, and that which 
stretches to the southward as far as the river of the Illinois is still 
more so. It is, however, inhabited by two small nations only, who 
are the Kickapoos and the Mascoutins. 11 Father Charlevoix, £ 
speaking of Fox River, says: "The largest of these, 11 referring to 
the streams that empty into the Illinois, "is called Pisticoui, and 
proceeds from the line country of the Mascoutins." 

* Extract from M. Du Boisson's official report to the Marquis De Vaudreuil, gov- 
ernor- g-en era! of New France, of the siege of Detroit, dated June 15, 1712. This val- 
uable paper is published entire in vol. 3 of Wm. R. Smith's History of Wisconsin, 
a work that contains many important documents not otherwise accessible to the gen- 
eral public. Indeed, the publications of the Historical Society of Wisconsin, of which 
Judge Smith's two volumes are the beginning, are the repository of a fund of infor- 
mation of great utility, not only to the people of that state, but to the entire North- 
west. 

tRock River — Assin-Sepe — was also called Kickapoo River, and so laid down on a 
map of La Salle's discoveries. 

X Narrative Journal, vol. 1, p. 287. 

| Vol. 2, p. 199. 

|| "The Fox River of the Illinois is called by the Indians Pish-ta-ko. It is the 
same mentioned by Charlevoix under the name of Pisticoui, and which flows as he, 



156 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Prior to 1718 the Mascoutins and Kickapoos had villages upon 
the banks of Rock River, Illinois. "Both these tribes together do 
not amount to two hundred men. They are a clever people and 
brave warriors. Their language and manners strongly resemble 
those of the Foxes. They are the same stock. They catch deer by 
chasing them, and even at this day make considerable use of bows 
and arrows."* On a French map, issued in 1712, a village of Mas- 
coutins is located near the forks of the north and south branches of 
Chicago River. 

From references given, it is apparent that this people, like the 
Miamis and Pottawatomies, were progressing south and eastward. 
This movement was probably on account of the fierce Sioux, whose 
encroaching wars from the northwest were pressing them in this 
direction. Even before this date the Foxes, with Mascoutins and 
Kickapoos, were meditating a migration to the Wabash as a place of 
security from the Sioux. This threatened exodus alarmed the French, 
who feared that the migrating tribes would be in a position on the 
Wabash to effect a junction with the Iroquois and English, which 
would be exceedingly detrimental to the French interests in the 
northwest. From an official document relative to the "occurrences 
in Canada, sent from Quebec to France in 1695, the Department at 
Paris is informed that the Sioux, who have mustered some two or 
three thousand warriors for the purpose, would come in large num- 
bers to seize their village. This has caused the outagamies to quit 
their country and disperse themselves for a season, and afterward 
return and save their harvest. They are then to retire toward the 
river Wabash to form a settlement, so much the more permanent, as 
they will be removed from the incursions of the Sioux, and in a 
position to effect a junction easily with the Iroquois and the English 
without the French being able to prevent it. Should this project be 
realized, it is very apparent that the Mascoutins and Kickapoos will 
be of the party, and that the three tribes, forming a new village of 
fourteen or fifteen hundred men, would experience no difficulty in 
considerably increasing it by attracting other nations thither, which 
would be of most pernicious consequence, "f That the Mascoutins, 
at least, did go soon after this date toward the lower Wabash is con- 
says, through the country of the Mascoutins." Long's Second Expedition, vol. 1, p. 
176. The Algonquin word Pish-tah-te-koosh, according to Edwin James' vocabulary, 
means an antelope. The Pottawatomies, from whom Major Long's party obtained the 
word Pish-ta-ko, may have used it to designate the same animal, judging from the 
similarity of the two words. 

* Memoir prepared in 1718 on the Indians between Lake Erie and the Missis- 
sippi: Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 889. 

f Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 619. 



OF THE NAME MASCOUTINS. 157 

elusively shown by the fact of their presence about Juchereau's 
trading post, which was erected near the mouth of the Ohio in the 
year 1700. 

It is doubtful if either the Foxes or the Kickapoos followed the 
Mascoutins to the Wabash country, and it is evident that the Mas- 
coutins who survived the epidemic that broke out among them at 
Juchereau's post on the Ohio soon returned to the north. The 
French effected a conciliation with the Sioux, and for a number of 
years subsequent to 1705 we find the Mascoutins back again among 
the Foxes and Kickapoos upon their old hunting grounds in northern 
Illinois and southern Wisconsin. 

The Kickapoos entered the plot of the Mascoutins to capture the 
post of Detroit in 1712, and the latter had repaired to the neighbor- 
hood of Detroit, and were awaiting the arrival of the Kickapoos to 
execute their purposes, when they were attacked by the confedera- 
tion of Indians who were friendly toward the French and had hast- 
ened to the relief of the garrison. * 

The Mascoutins were called "Machkoutench,"t "Machkouteng," 
"Maskouteins " and "Masquitens," by French writers. The Eng- 
lish called them "Masquattimes,":}: " Musquitons, " § "Mascou- 
tins,"! and " Musquitos, " a corruption used by the American colo- 
nial traders, and "Meadows, 1 ' the English synonym for the French 
word " prairie. "T 

The derivation of the name has been a subject of discussion. 
Father Marquette, with some others, following the example of the 
Hurons, rendered it " fire-nation" while Fathers Allouez and Char- 
levoix, with recent American authors, claim that the word signifies 
a prairie, or "a land bare of trees, 1 ' such as that which this people 
inhabit.** The name is doubtless derived from mus-kor-tence,j"f or 
mus-ko-tia, a prairie, a derivative from shoutay or scote, the word for 
fire.^ " The Mascos or Mascoutins were, by the French traders of a 
more recent day, called gens des prairies, and lived and hunted on 
the great prairies between the Wabash and Illinois Iiivers.' 1 §>< That 

* History of New France, vol. 5, p. 257. 

t Fathers Claude Allouez and Marquette. 

X George Croghan's Narrative Journal. 

§ Minutes of the treaty at Greenville in 1795. 

|| Samuel R. Brown's Western Gazetteer. 

•[[ It was some years after the conquest of the northwest from the French before 
the name " prairie " became naturalized, as it were, into the English language. 

** Charlevoix' Narrative Journal, vol. 1, p. 287. Father Allouez, in the Jesuit Re- 
lations between the years 1670 and 1671. 

ft Note of Callaghan: Paris Documents, vol. 10. 

XX Tanner, Gallatin, Mackenzie and Johnson's vocabularies of Algonquin words. 

§§ Manuscript account of this and other tribes, by Major Forsyth, quoted by Drake, 
in his Life of Black Hawk. 



158 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

the word Muskotia is synonymous with, and has the same meaning 
as, the word prairie, is further confirmed by the fact that the Indians 
prefixed it to the names of those animals and plants found exclu- 
sively on the prairies." 

Were the Kickapoos and Mascoutins separate tribes, or were they 
one and the same ? These queries have elicited the attention of 
scholars well versed in the history of the North American Indians, 
among whom might be named Schoolcraft, Gallatin and Shea. 
Sufficient references have been given in this chapter to show that, 
by the French, the Kickapoos and Mascoutins were regarded as dis- 
tinct tribes. If necessary, additional extracts to the same purport 
could be produced from numerous French documents down to the 
close of the French colonial war, in 1763, all bearing uniform testi- 
mony upon this point. 

The theory has been advanced that the Mascoutins and Kickapoos 
were bands of one tribe, first known to the French by the former 
name, and subsequently to the English by the latter, under which 
name alone they figure in our later annals. + This supposition is at 
variance with English and American authorities. It was a war party 
of Kickapoos and Mascoutins, from their contiguous villages near 
Fort Ouitanon, on the Wabash, who captured George Croghan, the 
English plenipotentiary, below the mouth of that river in 1765.;}; Sir 
William Johnson, the English colonial agent on Indian affairs, in 
the classified list of Indians within his department, prepared in 1763, 
enumerates both the Kickapoos and Mascoutins, locating them "in 
the neighborhood of the fort at Wawiaghta, and about the Wabash 
River. "§ Captain Imlay, "commissioner for laying out lands in the 
back settlements," — as the territory west of the Alleghanies was 
termed at that period, — in his list of westward Indians, classifies the 
Kickapoos (under the name of Vermilions) and the Muscatines, lo- 
cating these two tribes between the Wabash and Illinois Rivers. This 
was in 1792. || The distinction between these two tribes was main- 
tained still later, and down to a period subsequent to the year 1816. 
At that time the Mascoutins were residing on the west bank of the 
Wabash, between Vincennes and the Tippecanoe River, while their 
old neighbors, the Kickapoos, were living a short distance above 

*For example, mus-ko-tia-chit-ta-mo, prairie squirrel; mus-ko-ti-pe-neeg, prairie 
potatoes. Edwin James' Catalogue of Plants and Animals found in the country of 
the Ojibbeways. See further references on page 35. 

fThe Indian Tribes of Wisconsin: Historical Collections of that State, vol. 3, p. 
130. F 

% Vide his Narrative Journal. 

§ Colonial History of New York, vol. 7: London Documents, p. 583. 

|| Imlay's America, third edtion, London, 1797, p. 290. 



KICKAPOOS AND MASCOUTINS ONE PEOPLE. 159 

them in several large villages. At this date the Kickapoos could 
raise four hundred warriors.* From the authors cited, — and other 
references to the same effect would be produced but for want of space, 
— it is evident that the English and the Americans, equally with the 
French, regarded the Kickapoos and Mascoutins as separate bands 
or subdivisions of a tribe. 

While this was so, the language, manners and customs of the two 
tribes were not only similar, but the two tribes were almost invaria- 
bly found occupying continguous villages, and hunting in company 
with each other over the same country. "The Kickapoos are neigh- 
bors of the Mascoutins, and it seems that these two tribes have 
always been united in interests. "f There is no instance recorded 
where they were ever arrayed against each other, nor of a time when 
they took opposite sides in any alliance with other tribes. Another 
noticeable fact is that, with but one exception, the Mascoutins were 
never known as such in any treaty with the United States, while the 
Kickapoos were parties to many. We have seen that the former 
were occupying the Wabash country in common with the latter as 
far back, at least, as 1765, when they captured Croghan, until 1816 ; 
and in all of the treaties for the extinguishment of the title of the 
several Indian tribes bordering on the Wabash and its tributaries, 
the Mascoutins are nowhere alluded to, while the Kickapoos are 
prominent parties to many treaties at which extensive tracts of coun- 
try were ceded. No man living, in his time, was better informed 
than Gen. Harrison, — who conducted these several treaties on behalf 
of the United States, — of the relations and distinctions, however 
trifling, that may have existed among the numerous Indian tribes 
with whom, in a long course of official capacity, he came in contact, 
either with the pen. around the friendly council-fire, or with the up- 
lifted sword upon the field of hostile encounter. In all his volumi- 
nous correspondence during the years when the northwest was com- 
mitted to his charge the General makes no mention of the Mascoutins 

* Western Gazetteer, by Samuel R. Brown, p. 71. This work of Mr. Brown's is 
exceedingly valuable for the amount of reliable information it affords not obtainable 
from any other source. He was with Gen. Harrison in the campaigns of the war of 
1812. In the preface to his Gazetteer he says: " Business and curiosity have made the 
writer acquainted with a large portion of the western country never before described. 
Where personal knowledge was wanting I have availed myself of the correspondence of 
many of the most intelligent gentlemen in the west. ' ' At the time Mr.Brown was compil- 
ing material for his Gazetteer, "the Harrison Purchase was being run out into townships 
and sections," and Mr. Brown came in contact with the surveyors doing the work, and 
derived much information from them. The book is carefully prepared, covering a 
topographical description of the country embraced, its towns, rivers, counties, popula- 
tion, Indian tribes, etc., and altogether is one of the most authentic and useful books 
relative to " the west," which was attracting the attention of emigrants at the time of 
its publication. 

t Charlevoix' History of New France. 



160 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

by that name, but often refers to "the Kickapoos of the prairies," 
to distinguish them from other bands of the same tribe who occupied 
villages in the timbered portions of the Wabash and its tributaries.* 

At a subsequent treaty of peace and friendship, concluded on the 
27th of September, 1815, between Governor Ninian Edwards, of 
Illinois Territory, and the chiefs, warriors, etc., of the Kickapoo 
nation, Wash-e-own, who at the treaty of Vincennes signed as a Mas- 
coutin, was a party to it, and in this instance signed as a Kickapoo. 
No Mascoutins by that name appear in the record of the treaty.! 

The preceding facts, negative and direct, admit of the following 
inferences : that there were two subdivisions of the same nation, 
known first to the French, then to the English, and more recently 
to the Americans, the one under the name of Kickapoos and the 
other as Mascoutines ; that they spoke the same language and ob- 
served the same customs ; that they were living near each other, 
and always had a community of interest in their wars, alliances and 
migrations ; and that since the United States have held dominion 
over the territory of the northwest the Kickapoos and Mascoutines 
have considered themselves as one and the same people, whose tri- 
bal relations w T ere so nearly identical that, in all official transactions 
with the federal government, they were recognized only as Kicka- 
poos. And is it not apparent, after all, that there was only a nom- 
inal distinction between these two tribes, or, rather, families of the 
same tribe ? Were not the Mascoutins bands of the Kickapoos who 
dwelt exclusively on the prairies ? It seems, from authorities cited, 
that this question admits of but one answer. 

The destruction that followed the attempt of the Mascoutins to 
capture Detroit was, perhaps, one of the most remorseless in which 
white men took a part of which we have an account in the annals of 
Indian warfare. As before stated, the Muscotins in 1712 laid siege 
to the Fort, hearing of which the Pottawatomies, with other tribes 
friendly to the French, collected in a large force for their assistance. 

* The only treaty which the Mascoutins. as such, were parties to was the one 
concluded at Vincennes on the 27th of September, 1792, between the several Wabash 
tribes and Gen. Rufus Putnam, on behalf of the United States. Two Mascoutins 
signed this treaty, viz, Waush-eown and At-schat-schaw. Three Kickapoo chiefs also 
signed the parchment, viz, Me-an-ach-kah, Ma-en-a-pah and Mash-a-ras-a, the Black 
Elk, and, what is singular, this last person, although a Kickapoo, signs himself to the 
treaty as "The Chief of The Meadows." This treaty was only one of peace and friend- 
ship. The text of the treaty is found in the American State Papers, Indian Affairs, 
vol. 1, p. 388; in Judge Dillon's History of Indiana, edition of 1859, pp. 293, 294, and 
in the Western Annals, Pittsburg edition, pp. 605, 606. The names of the tribes and 
of the individual chiefs who participated in it are not given in any of the works cited. 
They only appear in the copy on file at the War Department and in the original manu- 
script journal of Gen. Putnam. The author is indebted to Dr. Israel W. Andrews, 
president of Marietta College, for transcripts from Gen. Putnam's journal. 

t Treaties with the Indian Tribes, Washington edition, p. 172. 



IDENTITY OF KICKAPOOS WITH THE MASCOUTINS. 161 

The Muscotines, after protracted efforts, abandoned the position in 
which they were attacked, and fled, closely pursued, to an intrenched 
position on Presque Isle, opposite Hog Island, near Lake St. Clair, 
some distance above the fort. Here they held out for four days 
against the combined French and Indian forces. Their women and 
children were actually starving, numbers dying from hunger every 
day. They sent messengers to the French officer, begging for quar- 
ter, offering to surrender at discretion, only craving that their re- 
maining women and children and themselves might be spared the 
horror of a general massacre. The Indian allies of the French 
would submit to no such terms. "At the end of the fourth day, 
after fighting with much courage," says the French commander, 
"and not being able to resist further, the Muscotins surrendered at 
discretion to our people, who gave them no quarter. Our Indians 
lost sixty men, killed and wounded. The enemy lost a thousand 
souls — men, women and children. All our allies returned to our 
fort with their slaves (meaning the captives), and their amusement 
was to shoot four or five of them every day. The Hurons did not 
spare a single one of theirs. "* 

"We find no instance in which the Kickapoos or Muscotins assisted 
either the French or the English in any of the intrigues or wars for 
the control of the fur trade, or the acquisition of disputed territory 
in the northwest. At the close of Pontiac's conspiracy, the Kicka- 
poos, whose temporary lodges were pitched on the prairie near Fort 
Wayne, notified Captain Morris, the English ambassador, on his 
way from Detroit to Fort Chartes, to take possession of "the coun- 
try of the Illinois" ; that if the Miamis did not put him to death, 
they themselves would do so, should he attempt to pass their camp.f 

Still later, on the 8th of June, 1765, as George Croghan, likewise 
an English ambassador, on his route by the Ohio River to Fort 
Chartes, was attacked at daybreak, at the mouth of the Wabash, by 
a party of eighty Kickapoo and Mascoutin warriors, who had set out 
from Fort Ouiatanon to intercept his passage, and killed two of his 
men and three Indians, and wounded Croghan himself, and all the 
rest of his party except two wdiite men and one Indian. They then 
made all of them prisoners, and plundered them of everything they 
had.} 

* Official Report of M. Du Boisson on the Siege of Detroit. 

t Parkman's History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac, 3d single volume edition, p. 474. 

X The narrative, Journal of Col. George Croghan, "who was sent, at the peace 
of 1768, etc., to explore the country adjacent to the Ohio River, and to conciliate the 
Indian nations who had hitherto acted with the French." [ReprintedJ from Feather- 
stonhaugh Am. Monthly Journal of Geology, Dec. 1831. Pamphlet, p. 17. 
11 



162 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Having thrown such obstacles as were within their power against 
the French and English, the Kickapoos were ready to offer the 
same treatment to the Americans ; and, when Col. Rogers Clark 
was at Kaskaskia, in 177S, negotiating peace treaties with the west- 
ward Indians, his enemies found a party of young Kickapoos the 
willing instruments to undertake, for a reward promised, to kill him. 

As a military people, the Kickapoos were inferior to the Miamis, 
Delawares and Shawnees in movements requiring large bodies of 
men, but they were preeminent in predatory warfare. Parties con- 
sisting of from five to twenty persons were the usual number com- 
prising their war parties. These small forces would push out hun- 
dreds of miles from their villages, and swoop down upon a feeble 
settlement, or an isolated pioneer cabin, and burn the property, kill 
the cattle, steal the horses, capture the women and children, and be 
off again before an alarm could be given of their approach. From 
such incursions of the Kickapoos the people of Kentucky suffered 
severely."" 

A small war party of these Indians hovered upon the skirts of 
Gen. Harmer's army when he was conducting the campaign against 
the upper Wabash tribes, in 1790. They cut out a squad of ten 
regular soldiers of Gen. Harmer by decoying them into an ambuscade. 
Jackson Johonnot, the orderly sergeant in command of the regulars, 
gave an interesting account of their capture and the killing of his 
companions, after they were subjected to the severest hunger and 
fatigue on the march, and the running of the gauntlet on reaching 
the Indian villages, f 

The Kickapoos were noted for their fondness of horses and their 
skill and daring in stealing them. They were so addicted to this 
practice that Joseph Brant, having been sent westward to the Maumee 
River in 1788, in the interest of the United States, to bring about a 
reconciliation with the several tribes inhabiting the Maumee and 
Wabash, wrote back that, in his opinion, tl the Kickapoos, with the 
Shawnees and Miamis, were so much addicted to horse stealing that 
it would be difficult to break them of it, and as that kind of business 
was their best harvest, they would, of course, declare for war and 
decline giving up any of their country.";}: 

* One of the reasons urged to induce the building of a town at the falls of the 
Ohio was that it would afford a means of strength against, and be an object of terror 
to, "our savage enemies, the Kickapoo Indians." Letter of Col. Williams, January 
3, 1776, from Boonsborough, to the proprietors of the grant, found in Sketches of the 
West, by James Hall. 

t Sketches of Western Adventure, by M'Lung, contains a summarized account, 
taken from Johonnot's original narrative, published at Keene, New Hampshire, 1816. 

% Stone's Life of Joseph Brant, vol. 2, p. 278. 



KICKAPOOS DESTROY THE ILLINOIS. 111:! 

Between the years 1786 and 1796, the Kickapoo war parties, from 
their villages on the Wabash and Vermilion Rivers, kept the settle- 
ments in the vicinity of Kaskaskia in a state of continual alarm. 
Within the period named they killed and captured a number of 
men, women and children in that part of Illinois. Among their 
notable captures was that of William Biggs, whom they took across 
the prairies to their village on the west bank of the Wabash, above 
Attica, Indiana.* 

Subsequent to the close of the Pontiac war, the Kickapoos, as- 
sisted by the Pottawatomies, almost annihilated the Kaskaskias at a 
place since called Battle Ground Creek, on the road leading from 
Kaskaskia to Shawneetown, and about twenty-five miles from the 
former place, f The Kaskaskias were shut up in the villages of 
Kaskaskia and Cahokia, and the Kickapoos became the recognized 
proprietors of a large portion of the territory of the Kaskaskias on 
the west, and the hunting grounds of the Piankeshaw-Miamis on 
the east, of the dividing ridge between the Illinois and Wabash 
Rivers. The principal Kickapoo towns were on the left bank of the 
Illinois, near Peoria, and on the Vermilion, of the Wabash, and at 
several places on the west bank of the latter stream.;}: 

The Kickapoos of the prairie had villages west of Charleston, 
Illinois, about the head- waters of the Kaskaskia and in many of the 
groves scattered over the prairies between the Illinois and the Wa- 
bash and south of the Kankakee, notable among which were their 
towns at Elkhart Grove, on the Mackinaw, twelve miles north of 
Bloomington, and at Oliver's Grove, in Livingston county, Illinois. 

These people were much attached to the country along the Ver- 
milion River, and Gen. Harrison had great trouble in gaining their 
consent to cede it away. The Kickapoos valued it highly as a 
desirable home, and because of the minerals it was supposed to 
contain. In a letter, dated December 10, 1809, addressed to the 

* Biggs was a tall and handsome man. He had been one of Col. Clark's soldiers, 
and had settled near Bellefountaine. He was well versed in the Indians' ways and 
their language. The Kickapoos took a great fancy to him. They adopted him into their 
tribe, put him through a ridiculous ceremony which transformed him into a genuine 
Kickapoo, after which he was offered a handsome daughter of a Kickapoo brave for a 
wife. He declined all these flattering temptations, however, purchased his freedom 
through the agency of a Spanish trader at the Kickapoo village, and returned home to 
his family, going down the Wabash and Ohio and up the Mississippi in a canoe. His- 
torical Sketch of the Early Settlements in Illinois, etc., by John M. Peck, read before 
the Illinois State Lyceum, August 16, 1832. In 1826, shortly before his death, Mr. 
Biggs published a narrative of his experience " while he was a prisoner with the Kick- 
apoo Indians." It was published in pamphlet form, with poor type, and on very com- 
mon paper, and contains twenty-three pages. 

t J. M. Peck's Historical Address. 

X Reynolds' Pioneer History of Illinois, J. M. Peck's Address, and Gen. Harrison's 
Memoirs. 



164 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Secretary of War, by Gen. Harrison, the latter, — referring to the 
treaty at Fort Wayne in connection with his efforts at that treaty to 
induce the Kickapoos to release their title to the tract of country 
bounded on the east by the Wabash, on the south by the northern 
line of the so-called Harrison Purchase, extending from opposite the 
mouth of Raccoon Creek, northwest fifteen miles ; thence to a point 
on the Vermilion River, twenty-five miles in a direct line from its 
mouth; thence down the latter stream to its confluence, — says "he 
was extremely anxious that the extinguishment of title should extend 
as high up as the Vermilion River. This small tract [of about 
twenty miles square] is one of the most beautiful that can be con- 
ceived, and is, moreover, believed to contain a very rich copper 
mine. The Indians were so extremely jealous of any search being 
made for this mine that the traders were always cautioned not to 
approach the hills which were supposed to contain it."* 

In the desperate plans of Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, 
to unite all of the Indian tribes in a war of extermination against 
the whites, the Kickapoos took an active part. Gen. Harrison made 
extraordinary efforts to avert the troubles that culminated in the bat- 
tle of Tippecanoe. The Kickapoos were particularly uneasy ; and 
in 1S06 Gen. Harrison dispatched Capt. fin. Prince to the Yermil- 
ion towns with a speech addressed to all the chiefs and warriors of 
the Kickapoo tribe, giving Capt. Prince further instructions to pro- 
ceed to the villages in the prairies, if, after having delivered the 
speech at the Yermilion towns, he discovered that there would be no 
danger in proceeding beyond. The speech, which was full of good 
words, had little effect, and "shortly after the mission of Capt. 

* General Harrison's Official Letter: American State Papers of Indian Affairs, vol. 
1, p. 726. It was not copper, but a mineral having something like the appearance of 
silver, that the Indians so jealously guarded. Recent explorations among the bluffs on 
the Little Vermilion have resulted in the discovery of a number of ancient smelting 
furnaces, with the charred coals and slag remaining in and about them. The furnaces 
are crude, consisting of shallow excavations of irregular shape in the hillsides. These 
basins, averaging a few feet across the top, were lined with fire-clay. The bottoms of 
the pits were connected by ducts or troughs, also made of fire-clay, leading into reser- 
voirs a little distance lower down the hillside, into which the metal could flow, when 
reduced to a liquid state, in the furnaces above. The pits were carefully filled with 
earth, and every precaution was taken to prevent their discovery, a slight depression in 
the surface of the ground being the only indication of their presence. The mines are 
from every appearance entitled to a claim of considerable antiquity, and are probably 
"the silver mines on the Wabash " that figure in the works of Hutchins, Imlay, and 
other early writers, as the geological formation of the country precludes there being 
any of the metals as high up or above "Ouiatanon," in the vicinity of which those 
authors, as well as other writers, have located these mines. The most plausible ex- 
planation of the use to which the metal was put is given by a half-breed Indian, 
whose ancestors lived in the vicinity and were in the secret that, after being smelted, 
the metal was sent to Montreal, where it was used as an alloy with silver, and con- 
verted into brooches, wristbands, and other like jewelry, and brought back by the 
traders and disposed of to the Indians. 



PA-KOI-SHEE-CAN. 165 

Prince, the Prophet found means to bring the whole of the Kicka- 
poos entirely under his influence. He prevailed on the warriors to 
reduce their old chief, Joseph Renard's son, to a private man. He 
would have been put to death but for the insignificance of his char- 
acter. "* 

The Kickapoos fought in great numbers, and with frenzied cour- 
age, at the battle of Tippecanoe. They early sided with the British 
in the war that was declared between the United States and Great 
Britain the following June, and sent out numerous war parties that 
kept the settlements in Illinois and Indiana territories in constant 
peril, while other warriors represented their tribe in almost every 
battle fought; on the western frontier during this war. 

As the Pottawatomies and other tribes friendly to the English 
laid siege to Fort Wayne, the Kickapoos, assisted by the Winneba- 
goes, undertook the capture of Fort Harrison. They nearly suc- 
ceeded, and would have taken the fort but for one of the most he- 
roic and determined defenses under Capt. (afterward Gen.) Zachary 
Taylor. 

Capt. Taylor's official letter to Gen. Harrison, dated September 
10, 1812, contains a graphic account of the affair at Fort Harrison. 
The writer will here give the version of Pa-hoi-shee-can, whom the 
French called La Farine and the Americans The Flour, the Kicka- 
poo chief who planned the attack and personally executed the most 
■difficult part of the programme. f 

First, the Indians loitered about the fort, having a few of their 
women and children about them, to induce a belief that their pres- 
ence was of a friendly character, while the main body of warriors 
were secreted at some distance off, waiting for favorable develop- 
ments. Under the pretense of a want of provisions, the men and 

* Memoirs of Gen. Hamson, p. 85. A foot-note on the same page is as follows: 
1 ' Old Joseph Renard was a very different character, a great warrior and perfectly sav- 
age — delighting in blood. He once told some of the inhabitants of Vincennes that 
he used to be much diverted at the different exclamations of the Americans and the 
French while the Indians were scalping them, the one exclaiming Oh Lord! oh Lord! 
oh Lord! — the other Mon Dieu! mon Dieu! mon Dieit! " 

fThe account here given was narrated to the author by Mrs. Mary A. Baptiste, 
substantially as it was told to her by " Pa-koi-shee-can." This lady, with her hus- 
band, Christmas Dagney, was at Fort Harrison in 1821, where the latter was assisting 
in disbursing annuities to the assembled Indians. The business, and general spree 
which followed it, occupied two or three days. La Farine was present with his people 
to receive their share of annuities, and the old chief, having leisure, edified Mr. Dag- 
ney and his wife with a minute description of his attempt to capture the fort, pointing 
out the position of the attacking party and all the movements on the part of the 
Indians, La Farine was a large, fleshy man, well advanced in years and a thorough 
savage. As he related the story he warmed up and indulged in a great deal of pan- 
tomime, which gave force to, while it heightened the effect of, his narration. The 
particulars are given substantially as they were repeated to the author. The lady of 
whom he received it had never read an account of the engagement. 



166 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

women were permitted to approach the fort, and had a chance to 
inspect the fort and its defenses, an opportunity of which the men 
fully availed themselves. A dark night, giving the appearance of 
rain, favored a plan which was at once put into execution. The 
warriors were called to the front, and the women and children 
retired to a place of safety. La Farine, with a large butcher knife 
in each hand, extended himself at full length upon the ground. He 
drove one knife into the ground and drew his body up against it, 
then he reached forward, with the knife in the other hand, and driv- 
ing that into the ground drew himself along. In this way he ap- 
proached the lower block-house, stealthily through the grass. He 
could hear the sentinels on their rounds within the fortified enclo- 
sure. As they advanced toward that part of the works where the 
lower block-house was situated, La Farine would lie still upon the 
ground, and when the sentinels made the turn and were moving in 
the opposite direction, he would again crawl nearer.* In this manner 
La Farine reached the very walls of the block-house. There was a 
crack between the logs of the block-house, and through this opening 
the Kickapoo placed a quantity of dry grass, bits of wood, and 
other combustible material, brought in a blanket tied about his back, 
so as to form a sack. As the preparation for this incendiarism was 
in progress, the sentinels passed within a very few feet of the place, 
as they paced by on the opposite side of the block-house. Everything 
being in readiness, and the sentinels at the farther end of the works, 
La Farine struck a fire with his flint and thrust it between the logs, 
and threw his blanket quickly over the opening, to prevent the light 
from flashing outside, and giving the alarm before the building 
should be well ablaze. When assured that the fire was well under 
way, he fell back and gave the signal, when the attack was immedi- 
ately begun by the Indians at the other extremity of the fort. The 
lower block-house burned up in spite of all the efforts of the gar- 
rison to put out the fire, and for awhile the Indians were exultant in 
the belief of an assured and complete victory. Gen. Taylor con- 
structed a barricade out of material taken from another building, 
and by the time the block-house burned the Indians discovered a 
new line of defenses, closing up the breach by which they expected 
to effect an entrance, f 

* Capt. Taylor, being- suspicious of mischief, took the precaution to order sentinels 
to make the rounds within the inclosure, as appears from his official report. 

fThe Indians, exasperated by the failure of their attempt upon Fort Harrison, 
made an incursion to the Pigeon Roost Fork of White River, where they massacred 
twenty-one of the inhabitants, many of them women and children. The details of 
some of the barbarities committed on this incursion are too shocking to narrate. They 



TERRITORY OF THE KICKAPOOS. 167 

in 1819, at a treaty concluded at Edwardsville, Illinois, they 
ceded to the United States all of their lands. Their claim included 
the following territory: "Beginning on the Wabash River, at the 
upper point of their cession, made by the second article of their 
treaty at Vincennes on the 9th of December, 1809 ;* thence running 
northwestwardly! to the dividing line between the states of Illinois 
and Indiana ;;{: thence along said line to the Kankakee River ; thence 
with said river to the Illinois River; thence down the latter to its 
mouth ; thence in a direct line to the northwest corner of the Vin- 
cennes tract, § and thence (north by a little east) with the western 
and northern boundaries of the cessions heretofore made by the 
Kickapoo tribe of Indians, to the beginning. Of which tract of land 
the said Kickapoo tribe claim a large portion by descent from their 
ancestors, and the balance by conquest from the Illinois Nation and 
uninterrupted possession for more than half a century.'''' An exam- 
ination, extended through many volumes, leaves no doubt of the just 
claims of the Kickapoos to the territory described, or the length of 
time it had been in their possession. 

With the close of the war of 1812, the Kickapoos ceased their 
active hostilities upon the whites, and within a few years afterward 
disposed of their lands in Illinois and Indiana, and, with the excep- 
tion of a few bands, went westward of the Mississippi. "The 
Kickapoos," says ex-Go v. Reynolds, "disliked the United States so 
much that they decided, when they left Illinois that they would not 
reside within the limits of our government,' ' but would settle in 
Texas. || A large body of them did go to Texas, and when the 

are given by Capt. M'Affe in his History of the Late War in the Western Country, 
p. 155. The garrison at Fort Harrison was cut off from communication with Vincennes 
for several days, and reduced to great extremity for want of provisions. They were 
relieved by Col. Russell. After this officer had left the fort, on his return to Vincennes, 
he passed several wagons with provisions on their way up to the fort under an escort of 
thirteen men, commanded by Lieut. Fairbanks, of the regular army. This body of 
men were surprised and cut to pieces by the Indians, two or three only escaping, while 
the provisions and wagons fell into the hands of the savages. Vide M'Affe, p. 155. 

* At the mouth of Raccoon Creek, opposite Montezuma. 

t Following the northwestern line of the so-called Harrison Purchase. 

% The state line had not been run at this time, and when it was surveyed in 1821 
it was discovered to be several miles west of where it was generally supposed it would 
be. The territory of the Kickapoos extended nearly as far east as La Fayette, as is 
evident from the location of some of their villages. 

§ By the terms of the fourth article of the treaty of Greenville the United States 
reserved a tract of land on both sides of the Wabash, above and below Vincennes, to 
cover the rights of the inhabitants of that village who had received grants from the 
French and British governments. In 1803, for the purpose of settling the limits of 
this tract, General Harrison, on the 7th of June, 1803, at Fort Wayne, concluded a 
treaty with the Miamis, Kickapoos, Shawnees, Pottawatomies and Delawares. This 
cession of land became known as the Vincennes tract, and its northwest corner extends 
some twelve miles into Illinois, crossing the Wabash at Palestine. 

I Pioneer History of Illinois, p. 8. 



168 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Lone Star Republic became one of the United States the Kickapoos 
retired to New Mexico, and subsequently some of them went to Old 
Mexico. Here on these isolated borders the wild bands of Kicka- 
poos have for years maintained the reputation of their sires as a busy 
and turbulent people.* 

A mixed band of Kickapoos and Pottawatomies, who resided on 
the Vermilion River and its tributaries, became christianized under 
the instructions of Ka-en-ne-kuck. This remarkable man, once a 
drunkard himself, reformed and became an exemplary christian, 
and commanded such influence over his band that they, too, became 
christians, abstained entirely from whisky, which had brought them 
to the verge of destruction, and gave up many of the other vices to 
which they were previously addicted. Ka-en-ne-kuck had religious 
services every Sunday, and so conscientious were his people that 
they abstained from labor and all frivolous pastimes on that day.f 

Ka-en-ne-kuck' s discourses were replete with religious thought, 
and advice given in accordance with the precepts of the Bible, and 
are more interesting because they were the utterances of an unedu- 
cated Indian, who is believed to have done more, in his sphere of 
action, in the cause of temperance and other moral reforms, than 
any other person has been able to accomplish among the Indians, 
although armed with all the power that education and talent could 
confer. 

Ka-en-ne-kuck' s band, numbering about two hundred persons, 
migrated to Kansas, and settled upon a reservation within the pres- 
ent limits of Jackson and Brown counties, where the survivors, and 
the immediate descendants of those who have since died, are now 
residing upon their farms. Their well-cultivated fields and their 
uniform good conduct attest the lasting effect of Ka-en-ne-kuck' s 
teachings. 

The wild bands have always been troublesome upon the south- 
western borders, plundering upon all sides, making inroads into the 
settlements, killing stock and stealing horses. Every now and then 

* In 1854 a band of them were found by Col. Marcy, living near Fort Arbuckle. 
He says of them: "They are intelligent, active and brave; they frequently visit and 
traffic with the prairie Indians, and have no fear of meeting these people in battle, 
provided the odds are not more than six to one against them." Marcy 's Thirty Years 
of Army Life on the Border, p. 95. 

fOne of Ka-en-ne-kuck's sermons was delivered at Danville, Illinois, on the 17th 
of July, 1831, to his own tribe, and a large concourse of citizens who asked permission 
to be present. The sermon was delivered in the Kickapoo dialect, interpreted into 
Knglish, sentence at a time as spoken by the orator, by Gurdeon S. Hubbard, who spoke 
the Kickapoo as well as the Pottawatomie dialect with great fluency. The sermon was 
taken down in writing by Solomon Banta, a lawyer then living in Danville, and for- 
warded by him and Col. Hubbard to Judge James Hall, at Van d alia, Illinois, and pub- 
lished in the October number (1831) of his " Illinois Monthly Magazine." 



CHARACTERISTICS. 169 

their depredations form the subject of items for the current news- 
papers of the day. For years the government has failed in efforts 
to induce the wild band to remove to some point within the Indian 
Territory, where they might be restrained from annoying the border 
settlements of Texas and New Mexico. Some years ago a part of 
the semi-civilized Kickapoos in Kansas, preferring their old wild 
life to the ways of civilized society, left Kansas and joined the bands 
to the southwest. These last, after twelve years' roving in quest of 
plunder, were induced to return, and in 1875 they were settled in 
the Indian Territory and supplied with the necessary implements 
and provisions to enable them to go to work and earn an honest liv- 
ing. In this commendable effort at reform they are now making 
very satisfactory progress.* In 1875 the number of civilized Kick- 
apoos within the Kansas agency was three hundred and eight-five, 
while the wild or Mexican band numbered four hundred and twenty, 
as appears from the official report on Indian affairs for that year. 

As compared with other Indians, the Kickapoos were industrious, 
intelligent, and cleanly in their habits, and were better armed and 
clothed than the other tribes, t The men, as a rule, were tall, sin- 
ewy and active ; the women were lithe, and many of them by no 
means lacking in beauty. Their dialect was soft and liquid, as com- 
pared with the rough and guttural language of the Pottawatomies.:}: 
They kept aloof from the white people, as a rule, and in this way 
preserved their characteristics, and contracted fewer of the vices of 
the white man than other tribes. Their numbers were never great, 
as compared with the Miamis or Pottawatomies ; however, they 
made up for the deficiency in this respect by the energy of their 
movements. 

In language, manners and customs the Kickapoos bore a very 
close resemblance to the Sac and Fox Indians, whose allies they 
generally were, and with whom they have by some writers been 
confounded. 

* Report of Commissioner on Indian Affairs for the year 1875. 
t Reynolds' Pioneer History of Illinois. 
X Statement of Col. Hubbard to the writer. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE SHAWNEES AND DELA WARES. 

The Shawnees were a branch of the Algonquin family, and in 
manners and customs bore a strong resemblance to the Delawares. 
They were the Bedouins of the wilderness, and their wanderings 
form a notable instance in the history of the nomadic races of North 
America. Before the arrival of the Europeans the Shawnees lived 
on the shores of the great lakes eastward of Cleveland. At that 
time the principal Iroquois villages were on the northern side of the 
lakes, above Montreal, and this tribe was under a species of subjec- 
tion to the Adirondacks, the original tribe from whence the several 
Algonquin tribes are alleged to have sprung,* and made "the plant- 
ing of corn their business.'" 

" The Adirondacks, however, valued themselves as delighting in 
a more manly employment, and despised the Iroquois in following 
a business which they thought only fit for women. But it once hap- 
pened that game failed the Adirondacks, which made them desire 
some of the young men of the Iroquois to assist them in hunting. 
These young men soon became much more expert in hunting, and 
able to endure fatigues, than the Adirondacks expected or desired ; 
in short, they became jealous of them, and one night murdered all 
the young men they had with them." The chiefs of the Iroquois 
complained, but the Adirondacks treated their remonstrances with 
contempt, without being apprehensive of the resentment of the Iro- 
quois, "for they looked upon them as women/ 1 

The Iroquois determined on revenge, and the Adirondacks, hear- 
ing of it, declared war. The Iroquois made but feeble resistance, 
and were forced to leave their country and fly to the south shores of 
the lakes, where they ever afterward lived. "Their chiefs, in order 
to raise their people's spirits, turned them against the Satanas, a less 
warlike nation, who then lived on the shores of the lakes." The 
Iroquois soon subdued the Satanas, and drove them from their 
country, f 

* Adirondack is the Iroquois name for Algonquin. 

t < 'olden's History of the Five Nations, pp. 22, 23, The Shawnees were known to 
the Iroquois by the name of Satanas. Same authority. 

170 



WANDERINGS OF THE SHAWNEES. 171 

In 1632 the Shawnees were on the south side of the Delaware.* 
From this time the Iroquois pursued them, each year driving them 
farther southward. Forty years later they were on the Tennessee, 
and Father Marquette, in speaking of them, calls them Chaouanons, 
which was the Illinois word for southerners, or people from the 
south, so termed because they lived to the south of the Illinois cantons. 
The Iroquois still waged war upon the Shawnees, driving them to the 
extremities mentioned in the extracts quoted from Father Marquette's 
journal, f To escape further molestation from the Iroquois, the Shaw- 
nees continued a more southern course, and some of their bands 
penetrated the extreme southern states. The Suwanee River, in 
Florida, derived its name from the fact that the Shawnees once lived 
upon its banks. Black Hoof, the renowned chief of this tribe, was 
born in Florida, and informed Gen. Harrison, with whom for many 
years he was upon terms of intimacy, that he had often bathed in 
the sea. 

"It is well known that they were at a place which still bears 
their namej on the Ohio, a few miles below the mouth of the Wabash, 
some time before the commencement of the revolutionary war, where 
they remained before their removal to the Sciota, where they were 
found in the year 1774 by Gov. Dunmore. Their removal from 
Florida was a necessity, and their progress from thence a flight 
rather than a deliberate march. This is evident from their appear- 
ance when they presented themselves upon the Ohio and claimed 
protection of the Miamis. They are represented by the chiefs of the 
Miamis and Delawares as supplicants for protection, not against the 
Iroquois, but against the Creeks and Seminoles, or some other south- 
ern tribe, who had driven them from Florida, and they are said to 
have been literally sans prov ant et sans culottes [hungry and naked]. § 

After their dispersion by the Iroquois, remnants of the tribe were 
found in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania, but after the 
return of the main body from the south, they became once more 
united, the Pennsylvania band leaving that colony about the same 
time that the Delawares did. During the forty years following that 
period, the whole tribe was in a state of perpetual war with America, 
either as British colonies or as independent states. By the treaty of 

* De Laet. 

t Vide p. 49 of this work. 

X Shawneetown, Illinois. 

§Gen. Harrison's Historical Address, pp. 30, 31. This history of the Shawnees, 
says Gen. Harrison, was brought forward at a council at Vincennes in 1810, to resist 
the pretensions of Tecumseh to an interference with the Miamis in the disposal of their 
lands, and however galling the reference to these facts must have been to Tecumseh. 
he was unable to deny them. 



172 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Greenville, they lost nearly all the territory they had been permitted 
to occupy north of the Ohio.* 

In 1819 they were divided into four tribes, — the Pequa,+ the Me- 
quachake, the Chillicothe, and the Kiskapocoke. The latter tribe 
was the one to which Tecumseh belonged. They were always hos- 
tile to the United States, and joined every coalition against the gov- 
ernment. In 1806 they separated from the rest of the tribe, and 
took up their residence at Greenville. Soon afterward they removed 
to their former place of residence on Tippecanoe Creek, Indiana.^: 

At the close of Gen. Wayne's campaign, a large body of the 
Shawnees settled near Cape Girardeau, Missouri, upon a tract of 
land granted to them and the Delawares in 1793, bv Baron de Ca- 
rondelet, governor of the Spanish provinces west of the Mississippi. § 

From their towns in eastern Ohio, the Shawnees spread north and 
westward to the headwaters of the Big and Little Miamis, the St. 
Mary's, and the Au Glaize, and for quite a distance down the Mau- 
mee. They had extensive cultivated fields upon these streams, 
which, with their villages, were destroyed by Gen. Wayne on his 
return from the victorious engagement with the confederated tribes 
on the field of "fallen timbers." Gen. Harmer, in his letter to 
the Secretary of War, communicating the details of his campaign 
on the Maumee, in October, 1790, gives a fine description of the 
country, and the location of the Shawnee, Delaware and Miami vil- 
lages, in the neighborhood of Fort Wayne, as they appeared at that 
early day. We quote: "The savages and traders (who were, perhaps, 
the worst savages of the two) had evacuated their towns, and burnt 
the principal village called the Omee*l together with all the traders' 
houses. This village lay on a pleasant point, formed by the junc- 
tion of the rivers Omee and St. Joseph. It was situate on the east 

* Gallatin. 

t " In ancient times they had a large fire, which, being burned down, a great puffing 
and blowing was heard among the ashes; they looked, and behold a man stood up 
from the ashes! hence the name Piqua — a man coming out of the ashes, or made of 
ashes." 

\ Account of the Present State of the Indian Tribes Inhabiting Ohio : Archseologia 
Americana, vol. 1, pp. 274, 275. Mr. Johnson is in error in locating this band upon 
the Tippecanoe. The prophets' town was upon the west bank of the Wabash, near the 
mouth of the Tippecanoe. 

§ Treaties with the Several Indian Tribes, etc.: Government edition, 1837. The 
Shawnees and Delawares relinquished their title to their Spanish grant by a treaty 
concluded between them and the United States on the 26th of October, 1832. 

J "The army returned to this place [Fort Defiance] on the 27th, by easy marches, 
laying waste to the villages and corn-fields for about fifty miles on each side of the 
Miami [Maumee]. There remains yet a great number of villages and a great quantity 
of corn to be consumed or destroyed upon the Au Glaize and Miami above this place, 
which will be effected in a few days." Gen. Wayne to the Secretary of War: Ameri- 
can State Papers on Indian Affairs, vol. 1, p. 491. 

If The Miami village. 



COUNTRY OF THE SHAWNEES. 173 

bank of the latter, opposite the mouth of St. Mary, and had for a 
long time past been the rendezvous of a set of Indian desperadoes, 
who infested the settlements, and stained the Ohio and parts adjacent 
with the blood of defenseless inhabitants. This day we advanced 
nearly the same distance, and kept nearly the same course as yester- 
day ; we encamped within six miles of the object, and on Sunday, 
the 17th, entered the ruins of the Omee town, or French village, as 
part of it is called. Appearances confirmed accounts I had received 
of the consternation into which the savages and their trading allies 
had been thrown by the approach of the army. Many valuables of 
the traders were destroyed in the confusion, and vast quantities of 
corn and other grain and vegetables were secreted in holes dug in 
the earth, and other hiding places. Colonel Hardin rejoined the 
army." 

"Besides the town of Omee, there were several other villages situ- 
ate upon the banks of three rivers. One of them, belonging to 
the Omee Indians, called Kegaiogue,* was standing and contained 
thirty houses on the bank opposite the principal village. Two others, 
consisting together of about forty-five houses, lay a few miles up 
the St. Mary's, and were inhabited by Delawares. Thirty-six houses 
occupied by other savages of this tribe formed another but scattered 
town, on the east bank of the St. Joseph, two or three miles north 
from the French village. About the same distance down the Omee 
River, lay the Shawnee town of Chillicothe, consisting of fifty-eight 
houses, opposite which, on the other bank of the river, were sixteen 
more habitations, belonging to savages of the same nation. All 
these I ordered to be burnt during my stay there, together with 
great quantities of corn and vegetables hidden as at the principal 
village, in the earth and other places by the savages, who had aban- 
doned them. It is computed that there were no less than twenty 
thousand bushels of corn, in the ear, which the army either con- 
sumed or destroyed, "f 

The Shawnees also had a populous village within the present 
limits of Fountain county, Indiana, a few miles east of Attica. 
They gave their name to Shawnee Prairie and to a stream that dis- 
charges into the Wabash from the east, a short distance below "VVill- 
iamsport. 

* Ke-ki-ong-a. — "The name in English is said to signify a blackberry patch [more 
probably a blackberry bush] which, in its turn, passed among the Miamis as a symbol 
of antiquity." Brice's History of Fort Wayne, p. 23. 

fGen. Harmer's Official Letter. It will be observed that Gen. Harmer treats the 
French Omee or Miami village as a separate town from that of Ke-ki-ong-a. His de- 
scription is so minute, and his opportunities so favorable to know the facts, that there 
is scarcely a probability of his having been mistaken. 



174 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

In 1854 the Shawnees in Kansas numbered nine hundred persons, 
occupying a reservation of one million six hundred thousand acres. 
Their lands were divided into severalty. They have banished 
whisky, and many of them have fine farms under cultivation. Be- 
ing on the border of Missouri, they suffered from the rebel raids, 
and particularly that of Gen. Price in 1864. In 1865 they numbered 
eight hundred and forty-five persons. They furnished for the Union 
army one hundred and twenty-five men. The Shawnees have illus- 
trated by their own conduct the capability of an Indian tribe to 
become civilized.* 

The Delawares called themselves Lenno Lenape, which signifies 
"original" or "unmixed" men. They were divided into three 
clans : the Turtle, the Wolf and the Turkey. When first met with 
by the Europeans, they occupied a district of country bounded 
eastwardly by the Hudson River and the Atlantic ; on the west 
their territories extended to the ridge separating the flow of the 
Delaware from the other streams emptying into the Susquehanna 
River and Chesapeake Bay.f 

They, according to their own traditions, "many hundred years 
ago resided in the western part of the continent ; thence by slow 
emigration, they at length reached the Alleghany River, so called 
from a nation of giants, the Allegewi, against whom the Delawares 
and Iroquois (the latter also emigrants from the west) carried on 
successful war ; and still proceeding eastward, settled on the Dela- 
ware, Hudson, Susquehanna and Potomac rivers, making the Dela- 
ware the center of their possessions.^ 

By the other Algonquin tribes the Delawares were regarded with 
the utmost respect and veneration. They were called "'fathers," 
' ' grandfathers, ' 1 etc. 

" When William Penn landed in Pennsylvania the Delawares had 
been subjugated and made women by the Iroquois." They were 
prohibited from making war, placed under the sovereignty of the 
Iroquois, and even lost the right of dominion to the lands which 
they had occupied for so many generations. Gov. Penn, in his treaty 
with the Delawares, purchased from them the right of possession 
merely, and afterward obtained the relinquishment of the sovereignty 
from the Iroquois. § The Delawares accounted for their humiliating 
relation to the Iroquois by claiming that their assumption of the 
role of women, or mediators, was entirely voluntary on their part. 

* Gale's Upper Mississippi. \ Taylor's History of Ohio, p. 33. 

f Gallatin's Synopsis of the Indian Tribes, p. 44. ^Gallatin's Synopsis, etc. 



DELAWARES BECOME WOMEN. 175 

They said they became "peacemakers," not through compulsion, 
but in compliance with the intercession of different belligerent tribes, 
and that this position enabled their tribe to command the respect of 
all the Indians east of the Mississippi. While it is true that the 
Delawares were very generally recognized as mediators, they never 
in any war or treaty exerted an influence through the possession of 
this title. It was an empty honor, and no additional power or ben- 
efit ever accrued from it. That the degrading position of the Dela- 
wares was not voluntary is proven in a variety of ways. "We possess 
none of the details of the war waged against the Lenapes, but we 
know that it resulted in the entire submission of the latter, and that 
the Iroquois, to prevent any further interruption from the Delawares, 
adopted a plan to humble and degrade them, as novel as it was ef- 
fectual. Singular as it may seem, it is nevertheless true that the 
Lenapes, upon the dictation of the Iroquois, agreed to lay aside the 
character of warriors and assume that of women."* The Iroquois, 
while they were not present at the treaty of Greenville, took care to 
inform Gen. Wayne that the Delawares were their subjects — " that 
they had conquered them and put petticoats upon them." At a 
council held July 12, 1742, at the house of the lieutenant-governor 
of Pennsylvania, where the subject of previous grants of land was 
under discussion, an Iroquois orator turned to the Delawares who 
were present at the council, and holding a belt of waumpum, ad- 
dressed them thus: "Cousins, let this belt of waumpum serve to 
chastise you. You ought to be taken by the hair of your head and 
shaked severely, till you recover your senses and become sober. . . . 
But how came you to take upon yourself to sell land at all ? " refer- 
ring to lands on the Delaware River, which the Delawares had sold 
some fifty years before. "We conquered you ; we made women of 
you. You know you are women, and can no more sell land than 
women ; nor is it fit you should have the power of selling lands, 
since you would abuse it." The Iroquois orator continues his chas- 
tisement of the Delawares, indulging in the most opprobrious lan- 
guage, and closed his speech by telling the Delawares to remove 
immediately. "We don't give you the liberty to think about it. 
You may return to the other side of the Delaware, where you came 
from ; but we don't know, considering how you had demeaned your- 
selves, whether you will be permitted to live there. "f 

The Quakers who settled Pennsylvania treated the Delawares in 

* Discourse of Gen. Harrison. 

t Minutes of the Conference at Philadelphia, in Colden's History of the Five 
Nations. 



176 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

accordance with the rules of justice and equity. The result was that 
during a period of sixty years peace and the utmost harmony pre- 
vailed. This is the only instance in the settling of America by the 
English where uninterrupted friendship and good will existed be- 
tween the colonists and the aboriginal inhabitants. Gradually and 
by peaceable means the Quakers obtained possession of the greater 
portion of their territory, and the Delawares were in the same situa- 
tion as other tribes, — without lands, without means of subsistence. 
They were threatened with starvation. Induced by these motives, 
some of them, between the years 1740 and 1750, obtained from their 
uncles, the Wyandots, and with the assent of the Iroquois, a grant of 
land on the Muskingum, in Ohio. The greater part of the tribe re- 
mained in Pennsylvania, and becoming more and more dissatisfied 
with their lot, shook off the yoke of the Iroquois, joined the French 
and ravaged the frontiers of Pennsylvania. Peace was concluded at 
Easton in 1758, and ten years after the last remaining bands of the 
Delawares crossed the Alleghanies. Here, being removed from the 
influence of their dreaded masters, the Iroquois, the Delawares soon 
assumed their ancient independence. During the next four or five 
decades they were the most formidable of the western tribes. While 
the revolutionary war was in progress, as allies of the British, after 
its close, at the head of the northwestern confederacy of Indians, 
they fully regained their lost reputation. By their geographical 
position placed in the front of battle, they were, during those two 
wars, the most active and dangerous enemies of America.* 

The territory claimed by the Delawares subsequent to their being 
driven westward from their former possessions, is established in a 
paper addressed to congress May 10, 1779, from delegates assem- 
bled at Princeton, New Jersey. The boundaries of their country, 
as declared in the address, is as follows: "From the mouth of the 
Alleghany River, at Fort Pitt, to the Venango, and from thence up 
French Creek, and by Le Boeuf, f along the old road to Presque Isle, 
on the east. The Ohio River, including all the islands in it, from 
Fort Pitt to the Ouabache, on the south; thence up the River Oua- 
bache to that branch, Ope-co-mee-cah,\ and up the same to the head 
thereof; from thence to the headwaters and springs of the Great 
Miami, or Rocky River ; thence across to the headwaters and springs 
of the most northwestern branches of the Scioto River ; thence to 

* In the battle of Fallen Timbers there were three hundred Delawares out of seven 
hundred Indians who were in this engagement: Colonial History of Massachusetts, 
vol. 10. 

t A fort on the present site of Waterford, Pa. 

X This was the name given by the Delawares to White River, Indiana. 



MAKE PEACE. 177 

the westernmost springs of Sandusky River ; thence down said river, 
including the islands in it and in the little lake,'"" to Lake Erie, on the 
west and northwest, and Lake Erie on the north. These boundaries 
contain the cessions of lands made to the Delaware nation by the 
Wayandots and other nations J- and the country we have seated our 
grandchildren, the Shawnees, upon, in our laps ; and we promise to 
give to the United States of America such a part of the above 
described country as would be convenient to them and us, that they 
may have room for their children's children to set down upon. "J 

After "Wayne's victory the Delawares saw that further contests 
with the American colonies would be worse than useless. They 
submitted to the inevitable, acknowledged the supremacy of the 
Caucasian race, and desired to make peace with the victors. At the 
treaty of Greenville, in 1795, there were present three hundred and 
eighty-one Delawares, — a larger representation than that of any 
other Indian tribe. By this treaty they ceded to the United States 
the greater part of the lands allotted to them by the Wyandots and 
Iroquois. For this cession they received an annuity of $1, 000. § 

At the close of the treaty, Bu-kon-ge-he-las, a Delaware chief, 
spoke as follows: 

Father: | Your children all well understand the sense of the 
treaty which is now concluded. We experience daily proofs of your 
increasing kindness. I hope we may all have sense enough to enjoy 
our dawning happiness. Many of your people are yet among us. 
I trust they will be immediately restored. Last winter our king 
came forward to you with two; and when he returned with your 
speech to us, we immediately prepared to come forward with the 
remainder, which we delivered at Fort Defiance. All who know 
me know me to be a man and a warrior, and I now declare that I will 
for the future be as steady and true a friend to the United States as 
I have heretofore been an active enemy. "*[ 

This promise of the orator was faithfully kept by his people. 
They evaded all the efforts of the Shawnee prophet, Tecumseh, and 
the British who endeavored to induce them, by threats or bribes, to 
violate it.** 

* Sandusky Bay. 

fThe Hurons and Iroquois. 

% Pioneer History, by S. P. Hildreth, p. 137, where the paper setting forth the 
claims of the Delawares is copied. 

§ American State Papers: Indian Affairs, vol. 1. 

|| Gen. Wayne. 

"[ American State Papers: Indian Affairs, vol. 1, p. 582. 

** Bu-kon-ge-he-las was a warrior of great ability. He took a leading part in 
manceuvering the Indians at the dreadful battle known as St. Clair's defeat. He rose 
from a private warrior to the head of his tribe. Until after Gen. Wayne's great victory 
12 



178 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

The Delawares remained faithful to the United States during the 
war of 1S12, and, with the Shawnees, furnished some very able war- 
riors and scouts, who rendered valuable service to the United States 
during this war. 

After the treaty of Greenville, the great body of Delawares re- 
moved to their lands on White River, Indiana, whither some of 
their people had already preceded them. 

Their manner of obtaining possession of their lands on White 
River is thus related in Dawson's Life of Harrison: "The land in 
question had been granted to the Delawares about the year 1770, by 
the Piankeshaws, on condition of their settling "upon it and assist- 
ing them in a war with the Kickapoos. " These terms were complied 
with, and the Delawares remained in possession of the land. 

The title to the tract of land lying between the Ohio and White 
Rivers soon became a subject of dispute between the Piankeshaws 
and Delawares. A chief of the latter tribe, in 1803, at Tincennes, 
stated to Gen. Harrison that the land belonged to his tribe, "and 
that he had with him a chief who had been present at the transfer 
made by the Piankeshaws to the Delawares, of all the country be- 
tween the Ohio and White Rivers more than thirty years previous." 
This claim was disputed by the Piankeshaws. They admitted that 
while they had granted the Delawares the right of occupancy, vet 
they had never conveyed the right of sovereignty to the tract in 
question. 

Gov. Harrison, on the 19th and 27th of August, 1804, concluded 
treaties with the Delawares and Piankeshaws by which the United 
States acquired all that tine country between the Ohio and Wabash 
Rivers. Both of "these tribes laying claim to the land, it became 

in 1794, he had been a devoted partisan of the British and a mortal foe to the United 
States. He was the most distinguished warrior in the Indian Confederacy; and as it 
was the British interests which had induced the Indians to commence, as well as to con- 
tinue, the war, Buck-on-ge-he-las relied upon British support and protection. This 
support had been given so tar as relates to provisions, arms and ammunition; but 
at the end of the battle referred to, the gates of Fort Miamis, near which the action 
was fought, were shut, by the British within, against the wounded Indians after 
the battle. This opened the eyes of the Delaware warrior. He collected his braves 
in canoes, with the design of proceeding up the river, under a flag of truce, to Fort 
Wayne. On approaching the British fort he was requested to land. He did so, and 
addressing the British officer, said, " What have you to say to me?" The officer re- 
plied that the commandant wished to speak with him. "Then he may come here," 
was the chief's reply. " He will not do that," said the sub-officer; "and you will not 
be suffered to pass the fort if you do not comply." "What shall prevent me?" 
"These," said the officer, pointing to the cannon of the fort. "I fear not your 
cannon," replied the intrepid chief. "After suffering the Americans to insult and 
treat you with such contempt, without daring to fire upon them, you cannot expect to 
frighten me." Buck-on-ge-he-las then ordered his canoes to push off from the shore, 
and the fleet passed the fort without molestation. A note [No. 2]: Memoirs of Gen. 
Harrison. 



BECOME CITIZENS. 179 

necessary that both should be satisfied, in order to prevent disputes 
in the future. In this, however, the governor succeeded, on terms, 
perhaps, more favorable than if the title had been vested in only 
one of these tribes ; for, as both claimed the land, the value of each 
claim was considerably lowered in the estimation of both; and, 
therefore, by judicious management, the governor effected the pur- 
chase upon probably as low, if not lower, terms that if he had been 
obliged to treat with only one of them. For this tract the Pianke- 
shaws received $700 in goods and $200 per annum for ten years; 
the compensation of the Delawares was an annuity of $300 for ten 
years. 

The Delawares continued to reside upon White River and its 
branches until 1819, when most of them joined the band who had 
emigrated to Missouri upon the tract of land granted jointly to them 
and the Shawnees, in 1793, by the Spanish authorities. Others of 
their number who remained scattered themselves among the Miamis, 
Pottawatomies and Kickapoos ; while still others, including the Mo- 
ravian converts, went to Canada. At that time, 1819, the total num- 
ber of those residing in Indiana was computed to be eight hundred 
souls.* 

Iii 1829 the majority of the nation were settled on the Kansas 
and Missouri rivers. They numbered about 1,000, were brave, en- 
terprising hunters, cultivated lands and were friendly to the whites. 
In 1853 they sold to the government all the lands granted them, ex- 
cepting a reservation in Kansas. During the late Rebellion they 
sent to the United States army one hundred and seventy out of their 
two hundred able-bodied men. Like their ancestors they proved 
valiant and trustworthy soldiers. Of late years they have almost 
entirely lost their aboriginal customs and manners. They live in 
houses, have schools and churches, cultivate farms, and, in fact, bid 
fair to become useful and prominent citizens of the great Republic. 

* Their principal towns were on the branches of White River, within the present 
limits of Madison and Delaware counties, and the capital of the latter is named after 
the " Miincy" or " Mon-o-sia " band. Pipe Creek and Kill Bud- Creek, branches of 
White River, are also named after two distinguished Delaware chiefs. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE INDIANS: THEIR IMPLEMENTS, UTENSILS, FORTIFICATIONS, 
MOUNDS, AND THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

Before the arrival of the Europeans the use of iron was but little 
known to the North American Indians. Marquette, in speaking of 
the Illinois, states that they were entirely ignorant of the use of iron 
tools, their weapons being made of stone.* This was true of all the 
Indians who made their homes north of the Ohio, but south of that 
stream metal tools were occasionally met with. When Hernando 
De Soto, in 1539-43, was traversing the southern part of that terri- 
tory, now known as the United States, in his vain search for gold, 
some of his followers found the natives on the Savanna Eiver using 
hatchets made of copper. + It is evident that these hatchets were of 
native manufacture, for they were "said to have a mixture of gold." 

The southern Indians "had long bows, and their arrows were 
made of certain canes like reeds, very heavy, and so strong that a 
sharp cane passeth through a target. Some they arm in the point 
with a sharp bone of a fish, like a chisel, and in others they fasten 
certain stones like points of diamonds.":*: These bones or "scale 
of the armed fish" were neatly fastened to the head of the arrows 
with splits of cane and fish glue.§ The northern Indians used 
arrows with stone points. Father Rasles thus describes them : 
•'Arrows are the principal arms which they use in war and in the 
chase. They are pointed at the end with a stone, cut and sharpened 
in the shape of a serpent's tongue ; and, if no knife is at hand, they 
use them also to skin the animals they have killed."' "The bow- 
strings were prepared from the entrails of a stag, or of a stag's skin, 
which they know how to dress as well as any man in France, and 
with as many different colors. They head their arrows with the teeth 
of fishes and stone, which they work very finely and handsomely. ,, *| 

* Sparks' Life of Marquette, p. 281. 

t A Narrative of the Expedition of Hernando De Soto, by a Gentleman of Elvas; 
published at Evora in 1557, and afterward translated and published in the second 
volume of the Historical Collections of Louisiana, p. 149. \ Idem, p. 124. 

§ Du Pratz' History of Louisiana: English translation, vol. 2, pp. 223, 224. 

I Kip's Jesuit Missions, p. 39. 

II History of the First Attempt of the French to Colonize Florida, in 1562, by Rene' 
Laudonniere: published in Historical Collections of Louisiana and Florida, vol. 1, p. 170. 

180 



THEY USE STOXE IMPLEMENTS. 181 

Most of the hatchets and knives of the northern Indians were 
likewise made of sharpened stones, "which they fastened in a cleft 
piece of wood with leathern thongs."* Their tomahawks were con- 
structed from stone, the horn of a stag, or "from wood in the shape 
of a cutlass, and terminated by a large ball. 11 The tomahawk was 
held in one hand and a knife in the other. As soon as they dealt a 
blow on the head of an enemy, they immediately cut it round with 
the knife, and took off the scalp with extraordinary rapidity. I 

Du Pratz thus describes their method of felling trees with stone 
implements and with fire: "Cutting instruments are almost con- 
tinually wanted ; but as they had no iron, which of all metals is the 
most useful in human society, they were obliged, with infinite pains, 
t<> form hatchets out of large flints, by sharpening their thin edge, 
and making a hole through them for receiving the handle. To cut 
down trees with these axes would have been almost an impracticable 
work ; they were, therefore, obliged to light fires round the roots of 
them, and to cut away the charcoal as the fire eat into the tree. 11 ;}; 

Charlevoix makes a similar statement: "These people, before 
we provided them with hatchets and other instruments, were very 
much at a loss in felling their trees, and making them fit for such 
uses as they intended them for. They burned them near the root, 
and in order to split and cut them into proper lengths they made 
use of hatchets made of flint, which never broke, but which required 
a prodigious time to sharpen. In order to fix them in a shaft, they 
cut off the top of a young tree, making a slit in it, as if they were 
going to draft it, into which slit they inserted the head of the axe. 
The tree, growing together again in length of time, held the head 
of the hatchet so firm that it was impossible for it to get loose ; 
they then cut the tree at the length they deemed sufficient for the 
handle. 11 ^ 

When they were about to make wooden dishes, porringers or 
spoons, they cut the blocks of wood to the required shape with 
stone hatchets, hollowed them out with coals of fire, and polished 
them with beaver teeth, jj 

Early settlers in the neighborhood of Thorntown, Indiana, no- 
ticed that the Indians made their hominy-blocks in a similar manner. 
Round stones were heated and placed upon the blocks which were 
to be excavated. The charred wood was dug out with knives, and 

* Hennepin, vol. 2, p. 103. 

t Letter of Father Rasles in Kip's Jesuit Missions, p. 40. 

i Volume 2, p. 223. 

§ Narrative Journal, vol. 2, p. 126. 

1 Hennepin, vol. 2, p. 103. 



182 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

then the surface was polished with stone implements. These round 
stones were the common property of the tribe, and were used by 
individual families as occasion required.- 

"They dug their ground with an instrument of wood, which was 
fashioned like a broad mattock, wherewith they dig their vines as in 
France; they put two grains of maize together."! 

For boiling their victuals they made use of earthen kettles.^; The 
kettle was held up by two crotches and a stick of wood laid across. 
The pot ladle, called by them rnikoine, laid at the side.§ "In the 
north they often made use of wooden kettles, and made the water 
boil by throwing into it red hot pebbles. Our iron pots are esteemed 
by them as much more commodious than their own." 

That the North American Indians not only used, but actually 
manufactured, pottery for various culinary and religious purposes 
admits of no argument. Hennepin remarks: "Before the arrival 
of the Europeans in North America both the northern and southern 
savages made use of, and do to this day use, earthen pots, especially 
such as have no commerce with the Europeans, from whom they may 
procure kettles and other movables."^ M. Pouchot, who was ac- 
quainted with the manners and customs of the Canadian Indians, 
states "that they formerly had usages and utensils to which they 
are now scarcely accustomed. They made pottery and drew fire from 
wood." ** 

In 1700, Father Gravier, in speaking of the Yazoos, says: "You 
see there in their cabins neither clothes, nor sacks, nor kettles, nor 
guns ; they carry all with them, and have no riches hut earthen pots, 
quite well made, especially little glazed pitchers, as neat as you would 
see in France. 1 ' ft The Illinois also occasionally used glazed pitch- 
ers.^ The manufacturing of these earthen vessels was done by the 
women. §^ By the southern Indians the earthenware goods were 
used for religious as well as domestic purposes. Gravier noticed 
several in their temples, containing bones of departed warriors, 
ashes, etc. 

* Statements of early settlers. 

t Laudormiere. p. 174. 

X Hennepin, vol. 2, p. 105. 

§ Pouchot's Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 186. 

|| Charlevoix 1 Narrative Journal, vol. 2, pp. 123. 124. 

*T Volume 2, pp. 102, 103. This work was written in 1697. 

** Pouchot's Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 219. 

ffGravier's Journal, published in Shea's Early Voyages Up and Down the Missis- 
sippi, p 135. 

XX Vide P- 109 of this work. 

§§ Gravier 's Journal, published in Shea's Early Voyages Up and Down the Missis- 
sippi, p. 135; also, Du Pratz' History of Louisiana, vol. 2, p. 166. 



INDIAN FORTIFICATIONS. 183 

The American Indians, both northern and southern, had most of 
their villages fortified cither by wooden palisades, or earthen 
breastworks and palisades combined. De Soto, on the 19th of June, 
1541, entered the town of Paeaha," which was very great, walled, 
and beset with towers, and many loopholes were in the towers and 
wall.f Charlevoix said: " The Indians are more skillful in erect- 
ing their fortifications than in building their houses. Here you see 
villages surrounded with good palisades and with redoubts ; and 
they are very careful to lay in a proper provision of water and 
stones. These palisades are double, and even sometimes treble, 
and generally have battlements on the outer cireumvallation. The 
piles, of which they are composed, are interwoven with branches of 
trees, without any void space between them. This sort of fortifica- 
tion was sufficient to sustain a long siege whilst the Indians were 
ignorant of the use of fire-arms.' 1 ^: 

La Hontan thus describes these palisaded towns : ''Their villages 
are fortified with double palisadoes of very hardwood, which are 
as thick as one's thigh, and fifteen feet high, with little scpiares about 
the middle of courtines. 1, § 

These wooden fortifications were used to a comparatively late 
day. At the siege of Detroit, in 1712, the Foxes and Mascoutins 
resisted, in a wooden fort, for nineteen days, the attack of a much 
larger force of Frenchmen and Indians. In order to avoid the 
fire of the French, they dug holes four or five feet deep in the bot- 
tom of their fort, j 

The western Indians, in their fortifications, made use of both 
earth and wood. An early American author remarks: "The re- 
mains of Indian fortifications seen throughout the western country, 
have given rise to strange conjectures, and have been supposed to 
appertain to a period extremely remote; but it is a fact well known 
that in some of them the remains of palisadoes were found by the 
first settlers. ,,a j When Map Long's party, in 1823, passed through 
Fort Wayne, they inquired of Metea, a celebrated Pottawatomie chief 
well versed in the lore of his tribe, whether he had ever heard of any 
tradition accounting for the erection of those artificial mounds which 
are found scattered over the whole country. "He immediately 
replied that they had been constructed by the Indians as fortifica- 

* Probably in the limits of the present state of Arkansas. 

t Account by the Gentleman of Elvas, p. 172. 

I Narrative Journal, vol. 2, p. 128. 

§ Vol. 2. p. 6. 

|| Dubuisson's Official Report. 

IT Views of Louisiana: Brackenridge, p. 14. 



184 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

tions before the white man had come among them. He had always 
heard this origin ascribed to them, and knew three of those con- 
structions which were supposed to have been made by his nation. 
One is at the fork of the Kankakee and the Des Plaines Rivers, a 
second on the Ohio, which, from his description, was supposed to be 
at the mouth of the Muskingum. He visited it. but could not de- 
scribe the spot accurately, and a third, which he had also seen, he 
stated to be on the head-waters of the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan. 
This latter place is about forty miles northwest of Fort Wayne.'" 

One of the Miami chiefs, whom the traders named Le Gros, told 
Barron' :: ' that " he had heard that his father had fought with his tribe 
in one of the forts at Piqua, Ohio; that the fort had been erected 
by the Indians against the French, and that his father had been 
killed during one of the assaults made upon it."f 

While at Chicago, and "with a view to collect as much informa- 
tion as possible on the subject of Indian antiquities, we inquired of 
Robinson + whether any traditions on this subject were current 
among the Indians. He observed that these ancient fortifications 
were a frequent subject of conversation, and especially those in the 
nature of excavations made in the ground. He had heard of one 
made by the Kickapoos and Fox Indians on the Sangamo River, a 
stream running into the Illinois. This fortification is distinguished 
by the name of Etnataek. It is known to have served as an in- 
trenchment to the Kickapoos and Foxes, who were met there and 
defeated by the Pottawatomies, the Ottawas and Chippeways. No 
date was assigned to this transaction. We understood that the Et- 
nataek was near the Kickapoo village on the Sangamo. "§ 

Near the dividing line between sections 4 and 5, township 31 
north, of range 1 1 east, in Kankakee county, Illinois, on the prairie 
about a mile above the mouth of Rock Creek, are some ancient 
mounds. Ck One is very large, being about one hundred feet base in 
diameter and about twenty feet high, in a conic form, and is said to 
contain the remains of two hundred Indians who were killed in the 
celebrated battle between the Illinois and Chippeways, Delawares 
and Shawnees ; and about two chains to the northeast, and the same 

* An Indian interpreter. 

+ Long's Expedition to the Sources of the St. Peters, vol. 1, pp. 121, 122. 

X Robinson was a Pottawatomie half-breed, of superior intelligence, and his state- 
ments can be relied upon. He died, only a few years ago, on the Au Sable River. 

§ Long's Expedition, vol. 1, p. 121. This stream is laid down on Joliet's map, pub- 
lished in 1681, as the Pierres Sanguines. In the early gazetteers it is called Sangamo: 
vide Beck's Illinois and Missouri Gazetteer, p. 154. Its signification in the Pottawat- 
omie dialect is "a plenty to eat ": Early History of the West and Northwest, by S. R. 
Beggs, p. 157. This definition, however, is somewhat doubtful. 



INDIAN MOUNDS. 185 

distance to the northwest, are two other small mounds, which are 
said to contain the remains of the chiefs of the two parties.' 1 * 

Uncorroborated Indian traditions are not entitled to any high 
degree of credibility, and these quoted are introduced to refute the 
often repeated assertion that the Indians had no tradition concerning 
the origin of the mounds scattered through the western states, or 
that they supposed them to have been erected by a race who occu- 
pied the continent anterior to themselves. 

These mounds were seldom or never used for religious purposes 
by the Algonquins or Iroquois, but Penicault states that when he 
visited the Natchez Indians, in 1704, "the houses of the Sunsr are 
built on mounds, and are distinguished from each other by their size. 
The mound upon which the house of the Great Chief, or Sun, is 
built is larger than the rest, and its sides are steeper. The temple in 
the village of the Great Sun is about thirty feet high and forty -eight 
in circumference, with the walls eight feet thick and covered with a 
matting of canes, in which they keep up a perpetual fire.":}: 

De Soto found the houses of the chiefs built on mounds of differ- 
ent heights, according to their rank, and their villages fortified with 
palisades, or walls of earth, with gateways to go in and out. £ 

When Gravier, in 1700, visited the Yazoos, he noticed that their 
temple was raised on a mound of earth. !j He also, in speaking of 
the Ohio, states that "it is called by the Illinois and Oumiamis the 
river of the Akansea, because the Akansea formerly dwelt on it. "* 
The Akansea or Arkansas Indians possessed many traits and cus- 
toms in common with the Natchez, having temples, pottery, etc. 
A still more important fact is noticed by Du Pratz, who was inti- 
mately acquainted with the Great Sun. He says: "The temple is 
about thirty feet square, and stands on an artificial mound about 
eight feet high, by the side of a small river. The mound slopes 
insensibly from the main front, which is northward, but on the other 
sides it is somewhat steeper.'' 

According to their own traditions, the Natchez "were at one 

* Manuscript Kankakee Surveys, conducted by Dan W. Beckwith, deputy govern- 
ment surveyor, in 1834. Major Beckwith was intimately acquainted with the Potta- 
watoimes of the Kankakee, whose villages were in the neighborhood, and without 
doubt the account of these mounds incorporated in his Field Notes was communicated 
to him by them. 

t The chiefs of the Natches were so called because they were supposed to be the 
direct descendants of a man and woman, who, descending from the sun, were the first 
rulers of this people. 

X Annals of Louisiana: Historical Collections of Louisiana and Florida, new series, 
pp. 94, 95. 

§ Account by the Gentleman of Elvas. 

I Early Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi, p. 136. 

H Idem, p. '120. 



186 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

time the most powerful nation in all North America, and were 
looked upon by the other nations as their superiors, and were, on 
that account, respected by them. Their territory extended from 
the River Iberville, in Louisiana, to the Wabash.' 1 ''" They had over 
five hundred suns, and, consequently, nearly that many villages. 
Their decline and retreat to the south was owing not to the superi- 
ority in arms of the less civilized surrounding tribes, but was due to 
the pride of their own chiefs, who, to lend an imposing magnificence 
to their funeral rites, adopted the impolitic custom of having hun- 
dreds of their followers strangled at their pyre. Many of the 
mounds, scattered up and down valleys of the Wabash, Ohio and 
Mississippi, while being the only, may be the time-defying monu- 
ments of the departed power and grandeur of these two tribes. 

The Indian manner of making a fire is thus related by Hennepin : 
"Their way of making a fire, which is new and unknown to us, is 
thus : they take a triangular piece of cedar wood of a foot and a half 
in length, wherein they bore some holes half through ; then they 
take a switch, or another small piece of hard wood, and with both 
their hands rub the strongest upon the weakest in the hole, which is 
made in the cedar, and while they are thus rubbing they let fall a 
sort of dust or powder, which turns into fire. This white dust they 
roll up in a pellet of herbs, dried in autumn, and rubbing them all 
together, and then blowing upon the dust that is in the pellets, the 
fire kindles in a moment.'^ 

The food of the Indians consisted of all the varieties of game, 
fishes and wild fruits in the vicinity ; and they cultivated Indian 
corn, melons and squashes. From corn they made a preparation 
called sagamite. They pulverized the corn, mixed it with water, 
and added a small proportion of ground gourds or beans. 

The clothing of the northern Indians consisted only of the skins 
of wild animals, roughly prepared for that purpose. Their southern 
brethren were far in advance of them in this respect. "Many of the 
women wore cloaks of the bark of the mulberry tree, or of the 
feathers of swans, turkies or Indian ducks. The bark they take from 
young mulberry shoots that rise from the roots of trees that have 
been cut down. After it is dried in the sun they beat it to make all 
the woody parts fall off, and they give the threads that remain a 
second beating, after which they bleach them by exposing them to 
the tlew. When they are well whitened they spin them about the 
coarseness of pack-thread, and weave them in the following manner: 

* Du Pratz' History of Louisiana, vol. 2, p. 14G. f Ibid, vol. 2. p. 103. 






THEIR CANOES. 187 

They plant two stakes in the ground about a yard and a half asunder, 
and having stretched a cord from the one to the other, they fasten 
their threads of bark double to this cord, and then interweave them 
in a curious manner into a cloak of about a yard square, with a 
wrought border round the edges. 11 * 

The Indians had three varieties of canoes, elm-bark, birch-bark 
and pirogues. "Canoes of elm-bark were not used for long voyages, 
as they were very frail. When the Indians wish to make a canoe 
of elm-bark they select the trunk of a tree which is very smooth, at 
the time when the sap remains. They cut it around, above and 
below, about ten, twelve or fifteen feet apart, according to the num- 
ber of people which it is to carry. After having taken off the whole 
in one piece, they shave off the roughest of the bark, which they 
make the inside of the canoe. They make end ties of the thickness 
of a finger, and of sufficient length for the canoe, using young oak 
or any other flexible and strong wood, and fasten the two larger 
folds of the bark between these strips, spreading them apart with 
wooden bows, which are. fastened in about two feet apart. They sew 
up the two ends of the bark with strips drawn from. the inner bark 
of the elm, giving attention to raise up a little the two extremities, 
which they call pinces, making a swell in the middle and a curve on 
the sides, to resist the wind. If there are any chinks, they sew them 
together with thongs and cover them with chewing-gum, which they 
crowd by heating it with a coal of fire. The bark is fastened to the 
wooden bows by wooden thongs. They add a mast, made of a piece 
of wood and cross-piece to serve as a yard, and their blankets serve 
them as sails. These canoes will carry from three to nine persons 
and all their equipage. They sit upon their heels, without moving, 
as do also their children, when they are in, from fear of losing their 
balance, when the whole machine would upset. But this very seldom 
happened, unless struck by a flaw of wind. They use these vessels 
particularly in their war parties. 

"The canoes made of birch bark were much more solid and more 
artistically constructed. The frames of these canoes are made of 
strips of cedar wood, which is very flexible, and which they render 
as thin as a side of a sword-scabbard, and three or four inches wide. 
They all touch one another, and come up to a point between the 
two end strips. This frame is covered with the bark of the birch tree, 
sewed together like skins, secured between the end strips and tied 

* Du Pratz, vol. 2, p. 231; also, Gravier's Voyage, p. 134. The aboriginal method of 
procuring thread to sew together their garments made of skins has already been no- 
ticed in the description of the manners and customs of the Illinois. 



188 HISTORIC NOTES ON" THE NORTHWEST. 

along the ribs with the inner bark of the roots of the cedar, as we 
twist willows around the hoops of a cask. All these seams are cov- 
ered with gum,* as is done with canoes of elm bark. They then 
put in cross-bars to hold it and to serve as seats, and a long pole, 
which they lay on from fore to aft in rough weather to prevent it 
from being broken by the shocks occasioned by pitching. They 
have with them three, six, twelve and even twenty-four places, which 
are designated as so many seats. The French are almost the only 
people who use these canoes for their long voyages. They will carry 
as much as three thousand pounds. "f These were vessels in which 
the fur trade of the entire northwest has been carried on for so many 
years. They were very light, four men being able to carry the 
largest of them over portages. At night they were unloaded, drawn 
upon the shore, turned over and served the savages or traders as 
huts. They could endure gales of wind that would play havoc with 
vessels of European manufacture. In calm water, the canoe men, 
in a sitting posture, used paddles ; in stemming currents, rising from 
their seats, they substituted poles for paddles, and in shooting 
rapids, they rested on their knees. 

Pirogues were the trunks of trees hollowed out and pointed at 
the extremities. A fire was started on the trunk, out of which the 
pirogue was to be constructed. The fire was kept within the desired 
limits by the dripping of water upon the edges of the trunk. As a 
part became charred, it was dug out with stone hatchets and the tire 
rekindled. This kind of canoes was especially adapted for the navi- 
gation of the Mississippi and Missouri ; the current of these streams 
carrying down trees, which formed snags, rendered their navigation 
by bark canoes exceedingly hazardous. It was probably owing to 
this reason, as well as because there were no birch trees in their 
country, that the Illinois and Miamis were not, as the Jesuits re- 
marked, ''canoe nations;" they used the awkward, heavy pirogue 
instead. 

Each nation was divided into villages. The Indian village, when 
unfortified, had its cabins scattered along the banks of a river or the 

*"The small roots of the spruce tree afford the irattap with which the bark is 
sewed, and the gum of the pine tree supplies the place of tar and oakum. Bark, some 
spare wattap and gum are always carried in each canoe, for the repairs which fre- 
quently become necessary." Vide Henry's Travels, p. 14. 

t The above extracts are taken from the Memoir Upon the Late War in North Amer- 
ica Between the French and English, 1755-1760, by M. Pouchot; translated and edited 
by Franklin Hough, vol. 2, pp. 216, 217, 218. Pouchot was the commandant at Fort 
Niagara at the time of its surrender to the English. He was exceedingly well versed 
in all that pertained to Indian manners and customs, and his work received the indorse- 
ment of Marquis Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada. Of the translation, there were only 
two hundred copies printed. 






WIGWAMS. 189 

shores of a lake, and often extended for three or four miles. Each 
cabin held the head of the family, the children, grandchildren, and 
often the brothers and sisters, so that a single cabin not unfrequently 
contained as many as sixty persons. Some of their cabins were in 
the form of elongated squares, of which the sides were not more 
than five or six feet high. They were made of bark, and the roof 
was prepared from the same material, having an opening in the top 
for the passage of smoke. At both ends of the cabin there were 
entrances. The fire was built under the hole in the roof, and there 
were as many fires as there were families. 

The beds were upon planks on the floor of the cabin, or upon 
simple hides, which they called appic/timov, placed along the parti- 
tions. They slept upon these skins, wrapped in their blankets, 
which, during the day, served them for clothing. Each one had 
his particular place. The man and wife crouched together, her 
back being against his body, their blankets passed around their 
heads and feet, so that they looked like a plate of ducks. * These 
bark cabins were used by the Iroquois, and, indeed, by many Indian 
tribes who lived exclusively in the forests. 

The prairie Indians, who were unable to procure bark, generally 
made mats out of platted reeds or flags, and placed these niats around 
three or four poles tied together at the ends. They were, in form, 
round, and terminated in a cone. These mats were sewed together 
with so much skill that, when new, the rain could not penetrate 
them. This variety of cabins possessed the great advantage that, 
when they moved their place of residence, the mats of reeds were 
rolled up and carried along by the squaws. f 

"•The mistiness of these cabins alone, and that infection which 
was a necessary consequence of it, would have been to any one but 
an Indian a severe punishment. Having no windows, they were full 
of smoke, and in cold weather they were crowded with dogs. The 
Indians never changed their garments until they fell off by their 
very rottenness. Being never washed, they were fairly alive with 
vermin. In summer the savages bathed every day, but immediately 
afterward rubbed themselves with oil and grease of a very rank 
smell. " In winter they remained unwashed, and it was impossible 
to enter their cabins without being poisoned with the stench."' 

All their food was very ill-seasoned and insipid, "and there pre- 
vailed in all their repasts an uncleanliness which passed all concep- 

* Extract from Pouchot's Memoirs, pp. 185. 186. 

t Letter of Father Marest, Kip's Jesuit Missions, p. 199. 



190 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

tion. There were very few animals which did not feed cleaner."* 
They never washed their wooden or bark dishes, nor their porringers 
and spoons. t In this connection William Biggs states: "They:}: 
plucked off a few of the largest feathers, then threw the duck, — 
feathers, entrails and all, — into the soup-kettle, and cooked it in that 
manner. "§ 

The Indians were cannibals, though human flesh was only eaten 
at war feasts. It was often the case that after a prisoner had been 
tortured his body was thrown into "the war-kettle, 1 ' and his remains 
greedily devoured. This fact is uniformly asserted by the early 
French writers. Members of Major Long's party made especial 
inquiries at Fort Wayne concerning this subject, and were entirely 
convinced. They met persons who had attended the feasts, and saw 
Indians who acknowledged that they had participated in them. 
Joseph Barron saw the Pottawatomies with hands and limbs, both 
of white men and Cherokees, which they were about to devour. 
Among some tribes cannibalism was universal, but it appears that 
among the Pottawatomies and Miamis it was restricted to a frater- 
nity whose privilege and duty it was on all occasions to eat of the 
enemy's flesh; — at least one individual must be eaten. The flesh 
was sometimes dried and taken to the villages. |; 

The Indians had some peculiar funeral customs. Joutel thus 
records some of his observations: "They pay a respect to their 
dead, as appears by their special care of burying them, and even of 
putting into lofty coffins the bodies of such as are considerable 
among them, as their chiefs and others, which is also practiced 
among the Accanceas, but they. differ in this respect, that the Accan- 
ceas weep and make their complaints for some days, whereas the 
Shawnees and other people of the Illinois nation do just the con- 
trary, for when any of them die they wrap them up in skins and 
then put them into coffins made of the bark of trees, then sing and 
dance about them for twenty-tour hours. Those dancers take care 
to tie calabashes, or gourds, about their bodies, with some Indian 
corn in them, to rattle and make a noise, and some of them have a 
drum, made of a great earthen j'ot, on which they extend a wild 
goat's skin, and beat thereon with one stick, like our tabors. During 
that rejoicing they threw their presents on the coffin, as bracelets, 

* Charlevoix' Narrative Journal, vol. 2, pp. 132, 133. 

fFor a full account of their lack of neatness in the culinary department, vide Hen- 
nepin, vol. 2, p. 120. 
\ The Kickapoos. 

§ Narrative of William Biggs, p. 9. 
|| Long's Expedition to the sources of the St. Peters, vol. 1, pp. 103-106. 



BURIAL CEREMONIES. 191 

pendants or pieces of earthenware. When the ceremony was over 
they buried the body, with a part of the presents, making choice of 
such as may be most proper for it. They also bury with it some 
store of Indian wheat, with a jwt to boil it in, for fear the dead per- 
son should be hungry on his long journey, and they repeat the cere- 
mony at the year's end. A good number of presents still remaining, 
they divide them into several lots and play at a game called the stick 
to give them to the winner."* 

The Indian graves were made of a large size, and the whole of 
the inside lined with bark. On the bark was laid the corpse, accom- 
panied with axes, snow-shoes, kettle, common shoes, and, if a wo- 
man, carrying-belts and paddles. 

This was covered with bark, and at about two feet nearer the 
surface, logs were laid across, and these again covered with bark, so 
that the earth might by no means fall upon the corpse. \ If the 
deceased, before his death, had so expressed his wish, a tree was 
hollowed out and the corpse deposited within. After the body had 
become entirely decomposed, the bones were often collected and 
buried in the earth. Many of these wooden sepulchres were dis- 
covered by the early settlers in Iroquois county, Illinois. Doubt- 
less they were the remains of Pottawatomies, who at that time re- 
sided there. 

After a death they took care to visit every place near their cabins, 
striking incessantly with rods and raising the most hideous cries, in 
order to drive the souls to a distance, and to keep them from lurk- 
ing about their cabins. + 

The Indians believed that every animal contained a Manitou or 
God, and that these spirits could exert over them a beneficial <>r 
prejudicial influence. The rattlesnake was especially venerated by 
them. Henry relates an instance of this veneration. He saw a 
snake, and procured his gun, with the intention of dispatching it. 
The Indians begged him to desist, and, "with their pipes and to- 
bacco-pouches in their hands, approached the snake. They sur- 
rounded it. all addressing it by turns and calling it their grand- 
father, but yet kept at some distance. During this part of the cer- 
emony, they filled their pipes, and each blew the smoke toward the 
snake, which, as it appeared to me, really received it with pleasure. 
In a word, after remaining coiled and receiving incense for the space 
of half an hour, it stretched itself along the ground in visible good 

* Joutel's Journal: Historical Collections of Louisiana, vol. 1. pp. 187, 188. 

t Extract from Henry's Travels, p. 150. 

\ Charlevoix' Narrative Journal, vol. 2, p. 154. 



192 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

humor. The Indians followed it, and, still addressing it by the 
title of grandfather, beseeched it to take care of their families dur- 
ing their absence, and also to open the hearts of the English, that 
that they might till their (the Indians') canoes with ruin.* This 
reverence of the Indians for the rattlesnake will account for the vast 
number of these reptiles met with by early settlers in localities fa- 
vorable for their increase and security. The clefts in the rocky 
cliffs below Niagara Falls were so infested with rattlesnakes that 
the Indians removed their village to a place of greater security. 

The Indians had several games, some of which have been already 
noticed. McCoy mentions a singular occurrence of this nature : "A 
Miami Indian had been stabbed with a knife, who lingered, and of 
whose recovery there was doubt. On the 12th of May a party re- 
solved to decide by a game of moccasin whether the man should live 
or die. In this game the party seat themselves upon the earth 
opposite to each other, while one holds a moccasin on the ground 
with one hand, and holds in the other a small ball ; the ball he 
affects to conceal in the moccasin, and does either insert it or not, as 
he shall choose, and then leaves the opposite party to guess where 
the ball is. In order to deceive his antagonist, he incessantly utters 
a kind of a sing-song, which is repeated about thrice in a minute, 
and moving his hands in unison with the notes, brings one of them, 
at every repetition, to the mouth of the moccasin, as though he had 
that moment inserted the ball. One party played for the wounded 
man's recovery and the other for his death Two games were 
played, in both of which the side for recovery was triumphant, and 
so they concluded the man would not die of his wounds."! 

The Indians had a most excellent knowledge of the topography 
of their country, and they drew the most exact maps of the coun- 
tries they were acquainted with. They set down the true north 
according to the polar star ; the ports, harbors, rivers, creeks, and 
coasts of the lakes ; roads, mountains, woods, marshes and meadows. 
They counted the distances by journeys and half-journeys, allowing 
to every journey five leagues. These maps were drawn upon birch 
bark.:}: ''Previous to General Brock's crossing over to Detroit, he 
asked Tecumseh what sort of a country he should have to pass 
through in case of his preceding farther. Tecumseh took a roll of 
elm bark, and extending it on the ground, by means of four stones, 
drew forth his scalping knife, and, with the point, etched upon the 

* Alexander Henry's Travels, p. 176. 
t Baptist Missions, p. 98. 
iLaHontan, vol. 2, p. 13. 



MARRIAGE AND RELIGION. 193 

bark a plan of the country, its hills, woods, rivers, morasses, a plan 
which, if not as neat, was fully as accurate as if it had been made 
by a professional map-maker.* 

In marriage, they had no ceremony worth mentioning, the man 
and the woman agreeing that for so many bucks, beaver hides, or, 
in short, any valuables, she should be his wife. Of all the passions, 
the Indians were least influenced by love. Some authors claim that 
it had no existence, excepting, of course, mere lust, which is pos- 
sessed by all animals. "By women, beauty was commonly no mo- 
tive to marriage, the only inducement being the reward which she 
received. It was said that the women were purchased by the night, 
week, month or winter, so that they depended on fornication for a 
living ; nor was it thought either a crime or shame, none being 
esteemed as prostitutes but such as were licentious without a re- 
ward, "f Polygamy was common, but was seldom practiced except 
by the chiefs. On the smallest offense husband and wife parted, 
she taking the domestic utensils and the children of her sex. Chil- 
dren formed the only bond of affection between the two sexes ; and 
of them, to the credit of the Indian be it said, they were very fond. 
They never chastised them, the only punishment being to dash, by 
the hand, water into the face of the refractory child. Joutel noticed 
this method of correction among the Illinois, and nearly a hundred 
years later Jones mentions the same custom as existing among the 
Shawnees. % 

The Algonquin tribes, differing in this respect from the southern 
Indians, had no especial religion. They believed in good and bad 
spirits, and thought it was only necessary to appease the wicked 
spirits, for the good ones "were all right anyway." These bad 
spirits were thought to occupy the bodies of animals, fishes and rep- 
tiles, to dwell in high mountains, gloomy caverns, dangerous whirl- 
pools, and all large bodies of water. This will account for the 
offerings of tobacco and other valuables which they made when 
passing such places. No ideas of morals or metaphysics ever en- 
tered the head of the Indians ; they believed what was told them 
upon those subjects, without having more than a vague impression 
of their meaning. Some of the Canadian Indians, in all sincerity, 
compared the Holy Trinity to a piece of pork. There they found 
the lean meat, the fat and the rind, three distinct parts that form 

* James 1 Military Occurrences in the Late War Between Great Britain and the 
United States, vol. 1, pp. 291, 292. 

* Journal of Two Visits made to Some Nations West of the Ohio, by the Rev. 
David Jones: Sabin's reprint, p. 75. 

t Idem. 
13 



194 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

the same piece."" Their ideas of heaven was a place full of sen- 
sual enjoyments, and free from physical pains. Indeed, it is doubt- 
ful if, before their mythology was changed by the partial adoption 
of some of the doctrines of Christianity, they had any idea of spir- 
itual reward or punishment. 

Wampum, prior to and many years subsequent to the advent of 
the Europeans, was the circulating medium among the North Ameri- 
can Indians. It is made out of a marine shell, or periwinkle, some 
of which are white, others violet, verging toward black. They are 
perforated in the direction of the greater diameter, and are worked 
into two forms, strings and belts. The strings consist of cylinders 
strung without any order, one after another, on to a thread. The 
belts are wide sashes in which the white and purple beads are 
arranged in rows and tied by little leathern strings, making a very 
pretty tissue. Wampum belts are used in state affairs, and their 
length, width and color are in proportion to the importance of the 
affair being negotiated. They are wrought, sometimes, into figures 
of considerable beauty. 

These belts and strings of wampum are the universal agent with 
the Indians, not only as money, jewelry or ornaments, but as annals 
and for registers to perpetuate treaties and compacts between indi- 
viduals and nations. They are the inviolable and sacred pledges 
which guarantee messages, promises and treaties. As writing is 
not in use among them, they make a local memoir by means of 
these belts, each of which signify a particular affair or a circum- 
stance relating to it. The village chiefs are the custodians, and com- 
municate the affairs they perpetuate to the young people, who thus 
learn the history, treaties and engagements of their nation. + Belts 
are classified as message, road, peace or war belts. White signifies 
peace, as black does war. The color therefore at once indicates the 
intention of the person or tribe who sends or accepts a belt. So 
general was the importance of the belt, that the French and English, 
and the Americans, even down as late as the treaty of Greenville, 
in 1795, used it in treating with the Indians.;}: 

* Pouchot's Memoir, vol. 2, p. 223. 

t The account given above is taken from a note of the editor of the documents 
relative to the Colonial History of New York, etc., vol. 9. Paris Documents, p. 556. 

\ The explanation here given will assist the reader to an understanding of the 
grave significance attached to the giving or receiving of belts so frequently referred to 
in the course of this work. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



STONE IMPLEMENTS. 

The stone implements illustrated in this chapter are introduced 
as specimens of workmanship of the comparatively modern Indians, 
who lived and hunted in the localities where the specimens were 
found. The author is aware that similar implements have been 
illustrated and described in works which relate to an exclusively 
prehistoric race. Without entering into a discussion concerning the 
so-called ''Mound Builders," that being a subject foreign to the 
scope of this work, it may be stated that some theorists have placed 
the epoch of the "prehistoric race" quite too far within the bounda- 
ries of well-established historical mention, and have assigned to the 
"Mound Builders" remains and relics which were undoubtedly the 
handiwork of the modern American Indians.* 

Indeed many of the stone implements, also much of the pottery, 
and many of the so-called ancient mounds and excavations as well, 
found throughout the west, may be accounted for without going 
I>eyond the era of the Xorth American Indian in quest of an explana- 
tion. It is not at all intended here to question the fact of the exist- 
ence of the prehistoric race, or to deny that they have left more or 
less of their remains, but the line of demarkation between that race 

* Mr. H. N. Rust, of Chicago, in his extensive collection, has many implements 
similar to those attributed to prehistoric man, which he obtained from the Sioux Indi- 
ans of northwestern Dakota, with whom they were in daily use. Among his samples 
are large stone hammers with a groove around the head, and the handles nicely at- 
tached. The round stone, with flattened sides, generally regarded as a relic of a lost 
race, he found at the door of the lodges of the Sioux, with the little stone hammer, 
hooded with rawhide, to which the handle was fastened, with which bones, nuts and 
other hard substances were broken by the squaws or children as occasion required. 
The appearance of the larger disc, and the well-worn face of the hammer, indicate 
their long and constant use by this people. The round, egg-shaped stone, illustrated 
by Fig. 9, supposed to belong to the prehistoric age, Mr. Rust found in common use 
among this tribe. The manner of fastening the handle is illustrated in the cuts. Figs. 
9 and 36. The writer is indebted to Mr. Rust for favors conferred in the loan of imple- 
ments credited to his collection, as well, also, for his valuable aid in preparing the 
illustrated portion of this chapter. The other implements illustrated were selected 
from W. C. Beckwith's collection. The Indians informed Mr. Rust that these clubs 
(Figs. 8 and 9) were used to kill buffalo, or other animals that had been wounded; as 
implements of offense and defense in personal encounters ; as a walking-stick (the 
stone being used as a handle) by the dandies of the tribe; and they were carried as a 
mace or badge of authority in the rites and ceremonies of the societies established 
among these Indians, which were similar in some respects to our fraternities. 

105 



196 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

and the modern Indian cannot be traced with satisfaction until after 
large collections of the remains of both races shall have been secured 
and critically compared under all the light which a careful examina- 
tion of historical records will shed upon this new and interesting 
field of inquiry. 

Stone implements are by no means peculiar to North America; 
they have been found all over the inhabitable world. EurojDe is 
especially prolific in such remains. "While the material of which they 
are made varies according to the geological resources of the several 
countries in which they are found, there is a striking similarity in 
the shape, size and form of them all. At the present time like 
implements are in use among some of the South Sea Islanders, and 
by a few tribes of North American Indians living in remote sections, 
and enjojdng but a limited intercourse with the enlightened world. 

The stone age marks an important epoch in the progress of races 
of men from the early stages of their existence toward a higher civ- 
ilization. After they had passed the stone age, and learned how to 
manipulate iron and other metals, their advance, as a general rule, 
has been more rapid. 

The implements here illustrated are specimens of some of the 
more prominent types of the vast number which have been found 
throughout the valleys of the Maumee, Wabash and Illinois Rivers, 
and the sections of country drained by their tributaries. They are 
picked up about the sites of old Indian villages, in localities where 
game was pursued, on the hillsides and in the ravines where they 
have become exposed by the rains, and in 'the furrows turned up by 
the plowshare. They are the remains of the early occupants of the 
territory we have described, — testimonials alike of their necessities 
and their ingenuity, and were used by them until an acquaintance 
with the Europeans supplied them with weapons and utensils formed 
out of metals." 

It will be observed from extracts found in the preceding chapter 
that our Indians made and used implements of copper and stone, 
manufactured pottery, some of which was glazed, wove cloth of fiber 
and also of wool, erected fortifications of wooden palisades, or of 
palisades and earth combined, to protect their villages from their 
enemies, excavated holes in the ground, which were used for defen- 

* It may be well to state in this connection that the implements illustrated in this 
work, except the handled club, Figs. 9 and 36, were not found in mounds or in their 
vicinity, but werejgathered upon or in the immediate neighborhood of places known to 
the early settlers as the sites of Piankeshaw, Miami, Pottawatomie and Kickapoo vil- 
lages, and in the same localities where have been found red-stone pipes of Indian make, 
knives, hatchets, gun-barrels, buckles, flints for old-fashioned fusees, brooches, wrist- 
bands, kettles, and other articles of European manufacture. 



STONE IMPLEMENTS. 



197 



give purposes, and erected mounds of earth, some of which were 
used for religious rites, and others as depositories for their dead. 
All these facts are well attested by early Spanish, French and Amer- 
ican authors, who have recorded their observations while passing 
through the country. We have also seen in previous chapters that 
our "red men" cultivated corn and other products of the soil, and 
were as much an agricultural people as is claimed for the "Mound 
Builders." 

The specimens marked Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are samples of a lot of 
one hundred and sixteen pieces, found in 1878 in a "pocket" on 
Wm. Pogue's farm, a few miles southeast of Rossville, Vermilion 



Fig. 1=^. 




Vermilion county, 111. 



Vermilion county. 111. Vermilion county, 111. 



county, Illinois. Mr. Pogue had cleared off a piece of ground for- 
merly prairie, on which a growth of jack oak trees and underbrush 
had encroached since the early settlement of the county. This land 
had never been cultivated, and as it was being broken up, the plow- 
share ran into the "nest," and turned the implements to view. 
They were closely packed together, and buried about eight inches 
below the natural surface of the ground, which was level with the 
other parts of the field, and had no appearance of a mound, excava- 
tion, or any other artificial disturbance. Two of the implements, 
judging from their eroded fractures, were broken at the time they 



198 



HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



were deposited, and one other was broken in two by the plow. The 
material of which they are composed is white chert. The samples 
illustrated are taken as an average, in size and shape, of the whole 
lot, the largest of which is 3f inches wide by 7 inches long, and the 
smallest 2 inches wide by nearly 4 inches in length. Some of them 
are nearly oval, others long and pointed at both ends, in others the 
"shoulders' 1 are well denned, while, for the most part, they are 
broadly rounded at one end and pointed at the other. They are all 
in the rough, and no finished implement was found with or near them. 
Indeed the whole lot are apparently in an unfinished condition. 
With very little dressing they could be fashioned into perfect im- 
plements, such as the " neshers, " " scrapers, " " knives, " " spear ' ' 
and "arrow" heads described farther on. There are no quarries or 
deposits of flint of the kind known to exist within many miles of 
the locality where these implements were found. We can only con- 
jecture the uses for which they were designed. We can imagine the 
owner to have been a merchant or trader, who had dressed them 
down or procured them at the quarries in this condition, so they 
would be lighter to carry to the tribes on the prairies, where they 
could be perfected to suit the taste of the purchaser. We might 
further imagine that the implement merchant, threatened with some 
approaching danger, hid them where they were afterward found, and 
never returned. The eroded appearance of many of the "find" 
bear witness that the lot were buried a great many years ago.* 

Fig. 4 is an axe and hammer combined. 
The material is a fine-grained granite. The 
handle is attached with thongs of rawhide- 
passed around the groove, or with a split stick 
or forked branch wythed around, and either 
kind of fastening could be tightened by driv- 
ing a wedge between the attachment and the 
surface of the implement, which on the back 
is slightly concaved to hold the wedge in 
place. 

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are also axes; material, 
dark 
p>opular 
"fleshers," and were used in skinning animals, cutting up the flesh, 



Fig. 4 = ] 



Heretofore it has been the 
opinion that these instruments are 



granite 




Vermilion county, Til. 



*The writer has divided the "lot," sending samples to the Historical Societies of 
"Wisconsin and Chicago, and placed others in the collections of H. N. Rust, of Chicago; 
Prof. John Collett, of Indianapolis; Prof. A. H. Worthen, Springfield, Illinois; Jose- 
phus Collett, of Terre Haute, while the others remain in the collection of W. C. Beck- 
with, at Danville, Illinois. 



STONE IMPLEMENTS. 



199 



and for scraping hides when preparing them for tanning. The re- 
cent discoveries of remains of the ancient "Lake Dwellers," of 
Switzerland, have resulted in finding similar implements attached to 
handles, making them a very formidable battle-axe. 



Fig. 5=U 



Fig. 6=y 2 . 




Vermilion county, 111. 




Vermilion co., 111. (H. N. Rust's Collection.) 



From the implements obtained by Mr. Rust of the Sioux it can 
readily be seen how implements like Fig. 6, although tapering 
from the bit to the top, could be attached to handles by means of a 
rawhide band. Before fastening on the handle the rawhide would 
be soaked in water, and on drying would tighten to the roughened 
surface of the stone with a secure grip. A blow given with the cut- 
ting edge of this implement would tend to wedge it the more firmly 
into the handle." 



*In the Fifth Annual Report of the .Regents of the University of New York 
(Albany. 1852. page 105), Mr. L. H. Morgan illustrates the ga-ne-a-ga-o-dus-ha, or war 
club, used by " the Iroquois at the period of their discovery." The helve is a crooked 
piece of wood, with a chisel-shaped bit formed out of deer's horn — shaped like Fig. 
No. 7, on the next page — inserted at the elbow, near the larger end; and in many 
respects it resembles the clubs illustrated in Plate X, vol. 2, of Dr. Keller's work on 
the " Lake Dwellings of Switzerland and other parts of Europe." Mr. Morgan remarks 
that "in later times apiece of steel was substituted for the deer horn, thus making 
it a more deadly weapon than formerly." There is little doubt that the Indians 
used such implements as Figs. 5, 6 and 1 for splitting wood and various other pur- 
poses. The fact of their being used for splitting wood was mentioned by Father 
Charlevoix over a hundred and fifty years ago, as appears from extracts on page 181 of 
this book, quoted from his Narrative Journal. 



200 



HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



Fig. 7=M 



Fig. 1 is another style of axe. The mate- 
rial out of which it is composed is greenstone, 
admitting of a fine polish. There would be no 
difficulty at all in shrinking a rawhide band to 
its surface, and the somewhat polished condi- 
tion of its sides above the "bit" would indi- 
cate a long application of this kind of a fasten- 
ing. It could also be used as a chisel in exca- 
vating the charred surface of wood that was 
being fashioned into canoes, mortars for crack- 
ing corn, or in the construction of other domes- 
tic utensils. 

Fig. 8 is a club or hammer, or both. Its 
material is dark quartz. Some varieties of this 
implement have a groove cut around the cen- 
ter, like Fig. 9. The manner of handling it in- 
volves the use of rawhide, and, with some, is 
performed substantially in the same manner as 
in Figs. 5, 6 and T, except that the band of rawhide is broader, 
and extends some distance on either side of the lesser diameter 




Vermilion county, 111. 



Fig. 8=}{. 



Fig. 36. 





Vermilion countv. Til. 
(H. N. Rust's Collection.) 



Dakota. 
(H. N. Rust's Collection.) 



of the stone. In other instances they are secured in a hood of 
rawdiide that envelops nearly the whole implement, leaving the 
point or one end of the stone slightly exposed, as in Fig. 36." 

* Air. Rust has in his collection a number of such implements, some of them 
■weighing several pounds, which, along with the ones illustrated, were obtained by him 
ifromthe Sioux of northwest Dakota, and which are "hooded" in the manner here 
described. Mr. Wm. Gurley, of Danville, Illinois, while in southwestern Colorado in 
1876, saw many such clubs in use by the Ute Indians. They were entirely encased 
in rawhide, having short handles. The handles were encased in the rawhide that 
•extended continuously, enveloping both the handle and the stone. The TJtes used these 
in jlenients as hammers in crushing corn, etc., the rawhide covei'ing of some being 
\~votk. through from long use, and exposing the stone. 



IMPLEMENTS FOR DESTRUCTIVE PURPOSES. 



201 



Fig. 9 was obtained from the Sioux by Mr. Rust. The stone is 
-composed of semi-transparent quartz. Its uses have already been 
described. 



Fig. 9. 



Northwest Dakota (H. N. Rust's Collection). 




Fig. 10 



Figs. 10 and 11 were probably used as spear-heads, they are 
■certainly too large for arrow-heads, and too thick and roundish 
to answer the purpose of knives. The 
material is white chert. The edges of Fig. 11=%. 
both these implements are spiral, the 
"wind" of the opposite edges being 
quite uniform. Whether this was owing 
to the design of the maker or the twist 
in the grain of the chert, from which 
they are made, is a conjecture at best. 

Fig. 12 







Vermilion 
county, III. 



Vermilion county, 
111. 



Vermilion county, 111. 

Fig. 12 was probably a spear or knife. 
The material is dark flint. A piece of 
quartz is impacted in the upper half of 
the blade, the chipping through of which 
displays the skill of the person who made 
it. The shoulders of the implement are unequal, and the angle of 
its edges are not uniform. It is flatter upon one side than upon 
the other. These irregularities would throw it out of balance, and 
seemingly preclude its use as an arrow, while its strong shank and 
deep yokes above the shoulder would admit of its being firmly 
secured to a handle. 

Fig. 13 was probably intended for an arrow-head, and thrown 
aside because of a flaw on the surface opposite that shown in the cut. 



202 



HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



It is introduced to illustrate the manner in which the work Fig. 13=^. 
progresses in making such implements. From an exam- 
ination it would appear that the outline of the implement 
is first made. After this, one side is reduced to the re- 
quired form. Then work on the opposite side begins, the 
point and edges being first reduced. The flakes are 
chipped off from the edges upward toward the center of 
and against the part of the stone to be cut away. In this 
manner the delicate point and completed edges are pre- 
served while the implement is being perfected, leaving the shoulders, 
neck and shank the last to be finished. 

Fig. 14 is formed out of dark-colored, hard, fine-grained flint. Its 
edges are a uniform spiral, making nearly a half-turn from shoulder 




Fig. 14=^ 



Fig.15=^. 



Fig. 16=^. 






mnion county, 111. 



Vermilion county, 111. 
(H. N. Rust's Collection.) 



Vermilion county, 111. 



to point. It is neatly balanced, and if used as an arrow-head its wind 
or twist would, without doubt, give a rotary motion to the shaft in 
its flight. It is very ingeniously made, and its delicately chipped 
surface shows that the man who made the implement intentionally 
gave it the peculiar shape it possesses. 

Fig. 15 is made out of fine-grained blue flint. It is unusually long 
in proportion to its breadth. Its edges are neatly beveled from a 
line along its center, and are quite sharp. Its well defined shoulders 
and head, with the yoke deeply cut between to hold the thong, would 
indicate its use as an arrow-point. 



AKROW HEADS. 



203 



Fig. 16 is a perfect implement, and its surfaces are smoother than 
the. observer might infer from the illustration. Its edges are very 
sharp and smooth and parallel to the axis of the implement. Its 
head, unlike that of the other implements illustrated, is round and 
pointed, with cutting edges as carefully formed as any part of the 
blade. It has no yoked neck in which to bury a thong or thready 
and there seems to be no way of fastening it into a shaft or handle. 
It may be a perfect instrument without the addition of either. It is 
made out of blue flint. 

ARROW HEADS. 

Several different forms of implements (commonly recognized as 
arrow heads) are illustrated, to show some of the more common of 
the many varieties found everywhere over the country. Fig. 17 
has uniformly slanting edges, sharp barbs and a strong shank. The 
material from which it is made is white chert. For shooting fish or 
in pursuing game or an enemy, where it was intended that the im- 
plement could not be easily withdrawn from the flesh in which it 
might, be driven, the prominent barbs would secure a firm hold. 

Fig. 18 is composed of blue flint ; its outline is more rounded 
than the preceding specimen, while a spiral form is given to its deli- 
cate and sharp point. 




Fig. 18=}4. 



Fig. 20= i^. 




Fio. 19=}£ 





Vermilion county, 
111. 



Vermilion 
county, 111. 



Vermilion county, 
111. 



Vermilion 
county, 111. 



Fig. 19 is composed of white chert. Its surface is much smoother 
than the shadings in the cut would imply. Its shape is very much 
like a shield. Its barbs are prominent, and the instrument would 
make a wide incision in the body of an animal into which it might 
be forced. 

Fig. 20, like Fig. 17, has sharp and elongated barbs. It is fash- 
ioned out of white chert, and is a neat, smooth and well-balanced 
implement. 



204 



HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



Fig. 21 = i 



Fig. 21 is made from yellowish-brown quartz, semi-transparent 
and inclined to be impure. The surfaces are oval from edge to 
edge, while the edges themselves are beautifully serrated or notched, 
as is shown in the cut. It is, perhaps, a sample of the finest work- 
manship illustrated in this chapter. Indeed, among 
the many collections which the writer has had oppor- 
tunities to examine, he has never seen a specimen that 
was more skillfully made. 

Fig. 22 may be an arrow-point or a reamer. The 
material is white chert. Between the stem and the 
notches the implement is quite thick, tapering gradu- 
ally back to the head, giving great support to this part 
of the implement. 

Fig. 23 is an arrow-point, or would be so regarded. 
Its stem is roundish, and has a greater diameter than 
the cut would indicate to the eye. The material from 
which it is formed is white chert. 




Vermilion 
county, 111. 



Fig. 22= V 9 . * 



Fig. 23= U 





Fig. 24= U 



Fig. 25=M- 





Vermilion co., 111. Vermilion co., 111. Vermilion co., 111. 



Vermilion co., 111. 



Figs. 24 and 25 are specimens of the smaller variety of " points " 
with which arrows are tipped that are used in killing small game. 
Fig. 24 is made out of black "trap-rock," and Fig. 25 out of flesh- 
colored flint. 

Fig. 26 is displayed on account of its peculiar form ; the under 
surface is nearly flat, and the other side has quite a ridge or spine 
running the entire length from head to point. Besides this the head 



Fig. 26=3^. 




Vermilion county, 111. 



and point turn upward, giving a uniform 
curve to the implement. If used as an 
arrow-point, the shaft, in consequence of 
the shape of the stone, would describe a 
curved line when shot from the bow. It 
is made of white flint. No suggestions 



are offered as to its probable uses. 



VARIETIES OF IMPLEMENTS FOR DOMESTIC USES. 



205 



IMPLEMENTS FOR DOMESTIC USES. 




Fig. 27 is a pestle or pounder. It is made out of common gran- 
ite. There are many different styles of this 
implement, some varieties are more conical, 
while others are more bell-shaped than the 
one illustrated. They are used for crushing 
corn and other like purposes. The one illus- 
trated has a concave place near the center of 
the base ; this would the better adapt it to 
cracking nuts, as the hollow space would 
protect the kernel from being too severely 
crushed. In connection with this stone, the 
Indians sometimes used mortars, made either 
of wood or stone, into which the articles 
to be pulverized could be placed ; or the 
corn or beans could be done up in the folds Vermilion county, Illinois. 
of a skin, or inclosed in a leathern bag, and ( H - N - Rust ' s collection.) 
then crushed by blows struck with either the head or rim of the 
pestle. The stone mortars were usually flat discs, slightly hollowed 
out from the edges toward the center. 

Fig. 28 may be designated as a flesher or scraper. The specimen 
illustrated is made of white flint. It is very 
thin, considering the breadth and length of the 
implement, and has sharp cutting edges all the 
way around. It might be used as a knife, as 
well as for a variety of other purposes. It is 
an unusually smooth and highly finished tool. 
It and its mate, which is considerably broader, 
and proportioned more like p IG 29=%. 
Fig. 29, were found sticking 
perpendicular in the ground, 
with their points barely ex- 
posed above the surface, on 
the farm of "Wm. Foster, a 
few miles east of Danville, 
Illinois. Both of them will 



Fig. 28=1 




Vermilion county, 111. 



make as clean a cut through 




several folds of paper as the 
blade of a good pocket-knife. 

Fig. 29 is composed of an impure purplish flint, 
like Fig. 28, and was probably used for similar purposes. 



Vermilion co., 111. 
It is very much 



206 



HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 




Vermilion county, 111. 



Fig. 30= J^. Fig. 30, as the illustration shows, is rougher- 

edged than the two preceding ones. The side 
opposite the one shown has a more uneven sur- 
face than the other. A smooth, well-defined 
groove runs across the implement (as shown by 
the dark shading) as though it were intended to 
be fastened to a helve, although the groove 
would afford good support for the thumb, if 
the implement were used only with the hand. 
The material is a coarse, impure, grayish flint. 
Fig. 31 might be said to combine the qualities of a qo_iv 

knife, gimlet and bodkin. Its cutting edges extend all 
p IG< 31 _i/ around, and along the stem the edges are 
quite abrupt. The implement was origi- 
nally much longer, but it appears to have 
lost about an inch in length, its point hav- 
ing been broken off. The blade will cut 
cloth or paper very readily. The mate- 
rial is white flint. 

Fig. 32 may be classed with Fig. 31. 
The material is dark fine-grained flint, and 
the implement perfect. There is a per- 
ceptible wind to the edges of the stem, 
while the edges of the head are parallel 
with the plane of the implement, and so 
sharp that they will cut cloth, leather or 
paper. It was probably used to bore holes 
and cut out skins that were being manu- 
factured, into clothing and other articles. 

Fig. 33 may have been made for the same uses as 
Figs. 31 and 32. The blade is shaped like a spade, 
the stem representing the handle. It tapers from 
the bit of the blade where the stem joins the 
shoulder, which is the thickest part of the imple- 
ment, and from the shoulder it tapers to both ends. 
The bit is shaped like a gouge, and makes a circular 

incision. It is a smooth piece of workmanship, made 
Vermilion , _. x 

county, 111. out ot white flint. 




F 



Vermilion 
county. 111. 

FiG.33=^. 




Vermilion 
county, 111. 



STONE IMPLEMENTS. 



207 



Fig. 34 lias been designated as a "rimmer." The Fig. 34= J£ 
material of which it is made is flesh-colored flint. The 
stem is nearly round, and the implement could be used 
for piercing holes in leather or wood. Another use at- 
tributed to it is for drilling holes in pipes, gorgets, discs 
and other implements formed out of stone where the 
material was soft enough to admit of being perforated in 
this way. 

Fig. 35. By common consent this implement has 
received the name of "discoidal stone." The one illus- 

Fig 35=i/ trated is composed of fine dark-gray 

granite 

offered 

ment,— 

by the 

similar 





Vermilion 
county, 111. 



Several theories have been 
as to the uses of this imple- 



Vennilion county, 111. (H. N 
Collection.) 



Rust 1 



one that they are quoits used 
Indians in playing a game 
to that of "pitching horse- 
shoes 11 ; that they were employed in 
another game resembling "ten-pins," 
in which the stone would be grasped 
on its concave side by the thumb and 
second finger, while the fore-finger 
rested on the outer edge, or rim, and 
that by a peculiar motion of the arm in hurling the stone it would 
describe a convolute figure as it rolled along upon the ground. We 
may suggest that implements like this might be used as paint cups, as 
their convex surface would enable the warrior to grind his pigments 
and reduce them to powder, preparatory to decorating his person. 

The implements illustrated were, no doubt, put to many other 
uses besides those suggested. As the pioneer would make his house, 
furniture, plow, ox yokes, and clear his land with his axe, so the 
Indians, in the poverty of their supply, we may assume, were com- 
pelled to make a single tool serve as many purposes as their ingenu- 
ity could devise. 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE WAR FOR THE FUR TRADE. 

Formerly the great Northwest abounded in game and water-fowl. 
The small lakes and lesser water-courses were full of beaver, otter 
and muskrats. In the forests were found the marten, the raccoon, 
and other fur-bearing animals. The plains, partially submerged, 
and the rivers, whose current had a sluggish now, the shallow lakes, 
producing annual crops of wild rice, of nature's own sowing, teemed 
with wild geese, duck and other aquatic fowl bursting in their very 
fatness.* 

The turkey, in his glossy feathers, strutted the forests, some of 
them being of prodigious size, weighing thirty-six pounds, f 

The shy deer and the lordly elk, crowned with outspreading horns, 
grazed upon the plain and in the open woods, while the solitary moose 
browsed upon the buds in the thick copsewood that gave him food 
and a hiding place as well. The fleet-footed antelope nibbled at the 
tender grasses on the prairies, or bounded away over the ridges to 
hide in the valleys beyond, from the approach of the stealthy wolf 
or wily Indian. The belts of timber along the water-courses 

* "The plains and prairies (referring to the country on either side of the Illinois 
River) are all covered with buffaloes, roebucks, hinds, stags, and different kind of fallow 
deer. The feathered game is also here in the greatest abundance. We find, particu- 
larly, quantities of swan, geese and ducks. The wild oats, which grow naturally on 
the plains, fatten them to such a degree that they often die from being smothered in 
their own grease." — Father Marest's letter, written in 1712. We have already seen, 
from a description given on page 103, that water-fowl were equally abundant upon the 
Maumee. 

f In a letter of Father Rasles, dated October 12, 1723, there is a fine description of 
the game found in the Illinois country. It reads: " Of all the nations of Canada, there 
are none who live in so great abundance of everything as the Illinois. Their rivers 
are covered with swans, bustards, ducks and teals. One can scarcely travel a league 
without finding a prodigious multitude of turkeys, who keep together in flocks, often 
to the number of two hundred. They are much larger than those we see in France. 
I had the curiosity to weigh one, which I found to be thirty-six pounds. They have 
hanging from the neck a kind of tuft of hair half a foot in length. 

"Bears and stags are found there in very great numbers, and buffaloes and roebucks 
are also seen in vast herds. Not a year passes but they (the Indians) kill more than a 
thousand roebucks and more than two thousand buffaloes. From four to five thousand of 
the latter can often be seen at one view grazing on the prairies. They have a hump on 
the back and an exceedingly large head. The hair, except that on the head, is curled 
and soft as wool. The flesh has naturally a salt taste, and is so light that, although 
eaten entirely raw, it does not cause the least indigestion. When they have killed a 
buffalo, which appears 'to them too lean, they content themselves with taking the- 
tongue, and going in search of one which is fatter." Vide Kip's Jesuit Missions, pp. 
38, 39. 




the hunter's paradise. 209 

afforded lodgment for the bear, and were the trellises that supported 
the tangled wild grapevines, the fruit of which, to this animal, was 
an article of food. The bear had for his neighbor the panther, the 
wild cat and the lynx, whose carnivorous appetites were appeased in 
the destruction of other animals. 

Immense herds of buffalo roamed over 
the extensive area bounded on the east by 
the Alleghanies and on the north by the 
lakes, embracing the states of Ohio, Indi- 
ana, Illinois, Wisconsin and the southern 
half of Michigan. Their trails checkered 
the prairies of Indiana and Illinois in 
every direction, the marks of which, deep 
worn in the turf, remained for many years 
after the disappearance of the animals that made them.* Their 
numbers when the country was first known to Europeans were 
immense, and beyond computation. In their migrations southward 
in the fall, and on their return from the blue-grass regions of Ken- 
tucky in the spring, the Ohio Kiver was obstructed for miles during 
the time occupied by the vast herds in crossing it. Indeed, the 
French called the buffalo the "Illinois ox," on account of their 
numbers found in "the country of the Illinois," using that expres- 
sion in its wider sense, as explained on a preceding page. So great 
importance was attached to the supposed commercial value of the 
buffalo for its wool that when Monst Iberville, in 1698, was engaged 
to undertake the colonization of Louisiana, the king instructed him 
to look after the buffalo wool as one of the most important of his 
duties; and Father Charlevoix, while traveling through "The 
Illinois," observed that he was surprised that the buffalo had been 
so long neglected. f Among the favorite haunts of the buffalo 
were the marshes of the Upper Kankakee, the low lands about the 
lakes of northern Indiana, where the oozy soil furnished early as. 
well as late pasturage, the briny earth upon the Au Glaize, and the 
Salt Licks upon the Wabash and Illinois rivers were tempting places 
of resort. From the summit of the high hill at Ouiatanon, over- 
looking the Wea plains to the east and the Grand Prairie to the west, 

* " Nothing," says Father Charlevoix, writing of the country about the confluence of 
the Fox with the Illinois River, " is to be seen in this course but immense prairies, inter- 
spersed with small groves which seem to have been planted by the hands of men. The 
grass is so very high that a man would be almost lost in it, and through which paths 
are to be found everywhere, as well trodden as they could have been in the most popu- 
lated countries, although nothing passes over them but buffaloes, and from time to 
time a herd of deer or a few roebuck ": Charlevoix' Narrative Journal, vol. 2, p. 200. 

t Brackenridge's Views of Louisiana. 
14 



210 HISTORIC NOTES ON" THE NORTHWEST. 

as far as the eye could reach in either direction, the plains were seen 
covered with groups, grazing together, or, in long files, stretching 
away in the distance, their dark forms, contrasting with the green- 
sward upon which they fed or strolled, and inspiring the enthusiasm 
of the Frenchman, who gave the description quoted on page 104. 
Still later, when passing through the prairies of Illinois, on his way 
from Vincennes to Ouiatanon, — more a prisoner than an ambassa- 
dor, — George Croghan makes the following entry in his daily jour- 
nal : "18th and 19th of June, 1765. — We traveled through a pro- 
digious large meadow, called the Pyankeshaws' hunting ground. 
Here is no wood to be seen, and the country appears like an ocean. 
The ground is exceedingly rich and partially overgrown with wild 
hemp.* The land is well watered and full of buffalo, deer, bears, 
and all kinds of wild game. 20th and 21st. — We passed through 
some very large meadows, part of which belonged to the Pyanke- 
shaws on the Vermilion River. The country and soil were much the 
same as that we traveled over for these three days past. Wild hemp 
grows here in abundance. The game is very plenty. At any time 
in a half hour we could kill as much as we wanted, "f 

Gen. Clark, in the postscript of his letter dated November, 1779, 
narrating his campaign in the Illinois country, says, concerning the 
prairies between Kaskaskia and Vincennes, that "there are large 
meadows extending beyond the reach of the eye, variegated with 
groves of trees appearing like islands in the seas, covered with 
buffaloes and other game. In many places, with a good glass, you 
may see all that are upon their feet in a half million acres. -^ It is 
not known at what time the buffalo was last seen east of the Mis- 
sissippi. The Indians had a tradition that the cold winter of 17 — , 
— called by them "the great cold,'''' on account of its severity, — 
destroyed them. " The snow was so deep, and lay upon the ground 
for such a length of time, that the buffalo became poor and too 
weak to resist the inclemency of the weather;" great numbers of 
them perished, singly and in groups, and their bones, either as iso- 
lated skeletons or in bleaching piles, remained and were found over 
the country for many years afterwards. § 

* Further on in his Journal Col. Croghan again refers to " wild hemp, growing in 
the prairies, ten or twelve feet high, which if properly cultivated would prove as good 
and answer all the purposes of the hemp we cultivate." Other writers also mention 
the wild hemp upon the prairies, and it seems to have been supplanted by other grasses 
that have followed in the changes of vegetable growth. 

t Croghan' s Journal. 

i Clark's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 92. 

§ On the 4th of October, 1786, one day's march on the road from Vincennes to the 
Ohio Falls, Captains Zigler's and Sti-ong's companies of regulars came across five buffalo. 
The animals tried to force a passage through the column, when the commanding officer 



THE DESTRUCTION OF THE GAME. 211 

Before the coming of the Europeans the Indians hunted the game 
for the purpose of supplying themselves with the necessary food and 
clothing. The scattered tribes (whose numbers early writers greatly 
exaggerated) were few, when compared with the area of the coun- 
try they occupied, and the wild animals were so abundant that enough 
to supply their wants could be captured near at hand with such rude 
weapons as their ingenuity fashioned out of wood and stone. With 
the Europeans came a change. The fur of many of the animals 
possessed a commercial value in the marts of Europe, where they 
were bought and used as ornaments and dress by the aristocracy, 
whose wealth and taste fashioned them into garments of extraordi- 
nary richness. Canada was originally settled with a view to the fur 
trade, and this trade was, to her people, of the first importance — the 
chief motor of her growth and prosperity. The Indians were sup- 
plied with guns, knives and hatchets by the Europeans, in place of 
their former inferior weapons. Thus encouraged and equipped, and 
accompanied by the coureur des hois, the remotest regions were pen- 
etrated, and the fur trade extended to the most distant tribes. Stim- 
ulated with a desire for blankets, cotton goods and trinkets, the In- 
dians now began a war upon the wild animals in earnest ; and their 
wanton destruction for their skins and furs alone from that period 
forward was so enormous that within the next two or three genera- 
tions the improvident Indians in many localities could scarcely find 
enough game for their own subsistence. 

The coureur des hois were a class that had much to do with the 
development of trade and with giving a knowledge of the geogra- 
phy of the country. They became extremely useful to the mer- 
chants engaged in the fur trade, and were often a source of great 
annoyance to the colonial authorities. Three or four of these peo- 
ple, having obtained goods upon credit, would join their stock, put 
their property into a birch bark canoe, which they worked them- 
selves, and accompany the Indians in their excursions or go directly 

ordered the men to fire upon them. The discharge killed three and wounded the 
others: Joseph Buell's Narrative Journal, published in S. P. Hildreth's Pioneer History. 
Thirteen years later, in December, 1799, Gov. St. Clair and Judge Jacob Burnett, on their 
way overland from Cincinnati to Vincennes, camped out over night, at the close of one 
of their days' journeys, not a great ways east of where the old road from Louisville to 
Vincennes crosses White River. The next day they encountered a severe snow-storm, 
during which they surprised eight or ten buffalo, sheltering themselves from the storm 
behind a beech-tree full of dead leaves which had fallen beside of the trace and hid 
the travelers from their view. The tree and the noise of the wind among its leaves 
prevented the buffalo from discovering the parties until the latter had approached 
within two rods of the place where they stood. They then took to their heels and 
were soon out of sight. One of the company drew a pistol and fired, but without 
effect: Burnett's Notes on the Northwest Territory, p. 72. 



212 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

into the country where they knew they were to hunt.* These 
voyages were extended twelve or fifteen months (sometimes longer) 
before the traders would return laden with rich cargoes of fur, and 
often followed by great numbers of the natives. During the short 
time required to settle their accounts with the merchants and pro- 
cure credit for a new stock, the traders would contrive to squander 
their gains before they returned to their favorite mode of life among 
the savages, their labor being rewarded by indulging themselves in 
one month's dissipation for fifteen of exposure and hardship. "We 
may not be able to explain the cause, but experience proves that it 
requires much less time for a civilized people to degenerate into the 
ways of savage life than is required for the savage to rise into a state 
of civilization. The indifference about amassing property, and the 
pleasure of living free from all restraint, soon introduced a licen- 
tiousness among the coureur des bois that did not escape the eye of 
the missionaries, who complained, with good reason, that they were 
a disgrace to the Christian religion, "f 

" The food of the coureur des bois when on their long expeditions 
was Indian corn, prepared for use by boiling it in strong lye to re- 
move the hull, after which it was mashed and dried. In this state 
it is soft and friable like rice. The allowance for each man on the 
voyage, was one quart per day ; and a bushel, with two pounds of 
prepared fat, is reckoned a month's subsistence. No other allow- 
ance is made of any kind, not even of salt, and bread is never 
thought of; nevertheless the men are healthy on this diet, and ca- 
pable of performing great labor. This mode of victualing was es- 
sential to the trade, which was extended *to great distances, and in 
canoes so small as not to admit of the use of any other food. If 
the men were supplied with bread and pork, the canoes would not 
carry six months' rations, while the ordinary duration of the voyage 
was not less than fourteen. No other men would be reconciled to 
such fare except the Canadians, and this fact enabled their employ- 
ers to secure a monopoly of the fur trade. "^ 

"The old voyageurs derisively called new hands at the business 
mcmgeurs de lard (pork eaters), as, on leaving Montreal, and while 
en route to Mackinaw, their rations were pork, hard bread and pea 

*The merchandise was neatly tied into bundles weighing 1 sixty or seventy pounds; 
the furs received in exchange were compressed into packets of about the same weight, 
so that they could be conveniently carried, strapped upon the back of the voi/ageur, 
around the portages and other places where the loaded canoes could effect no passage. 

fSir Alexander Mackenzie's Voyages, etc., and An Account of the Fur Trade, etc. 

t Henry's Travels, p. 52. 



THE COUREUR DES BOIS. 213 

soup, while the old voyageurs in the Indian country ate corn soup 
and such other food as could be conveniently procured."* 

" The eoureur des bois were men of easy virtue. They would 
eat, riot, drink and play as long as their furs held out," says La 
Hontan, "and when these were gone they would sell their embroi- 
dery, their laces and their clothes. The proceeds of these exhausted, 
they were forced to go upon new voyages for subsistence.' 'f 

They did not scruple to intermarry with the Indians, among 
whom they spent the greater part of their lives. They made excel- 
lent soldiers, and in bush fighting and border warfare they were 
more than a match for the British regulars. "Their merits were 
hardihood and skill in woodcraft; their chief faults were insubor- 
dination and lawlessness.";}: 

Such were the characteristics of the French traders or eoureur des 
hois. They penetrated the remotest parts, voyaged upon all of our 
# western rivers, and traveled many of the insignificant streams that 
afforded hardly water enough to float a canoe. Their influence over 
the Indians (to whose mode 1 of life they readily adapted themselves) 
was almost supreme. They were efficient in the service of their 
king, and materially assisted in staying the downfall of French rule 
in America. 

There is no data from which to ascertain the value of the fur 
trade, as there were no regular accounts kept. The value of the 
trade to the French, in 17<>3, was estimated at two millions of livres, 
and this could have been from only a partial return, as a large per 
cent of the trade was carried on clandestinely through Albany and 
New York, of which the French authorities in Canada could have 
no knowledge. With the loss of Canada, and the west to France, 
and owing to the dislike of the Indians toward the English, and the 
want of experience by the latter, the fur trade, controlled at Montreal, 
fell into decay, and the Hudson Bay Company secured the advan- 
tages of its downfall. During the winter of 1783-4 some merchants 

*Vol. 2 Wisconsin Historical Collection, p. 110. Judge Lockwood gives a very 
fine sketch of the eoureur des bois and the manner of their employment, in the paper 
from which we have quoted. 

fLa Hontan, vol. 1, pp. 20 and 21. 

X Parkman's Count Frontenac and New France, p. 209. Judge Lockwood, in the 
paper referred to, speaking of the eoureur des bois as their relations existed to the fur 
trade in 1817, thus describes them: " These men engaged in Canada, generally for five 
years, for Mackinaw and its dependencies, transferrable like cattle, to any one who 
wanted them, at generally about 500 livres a year, or, in our currency, about $83.33, 
furnished with a yearly equipment or outfit of two cotton shirts, one three-point or 
triangular blanket, a portage collar and one pair of shoes. They were obliged to pur- 
chase their moccasins, tobacco and pipes at any price the trader saw fit to charge for 
them. At the end of five years the voyageurs were in debt from $50 to $150, and 
could not leave the country until they paid their indebtedness." 



214 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

of Canada united their trade under the name of the k ; Northwest 
Company "; they did not get successfully to work until 1787. Dur- 
ing that year the venture did not exceed forty thousand pounds, but 
by exertion and the enterprise of the proprietors it was brought, in 
eleven years, to more than triple that amount (equal to six hundred 
thousand dollars), yielding proportionate profits, and surpassing any- 
thing then known in America.* 

The fur trade was conducted by the English, and subsequently 
by the Americans, substantially upon the system originally estab- 
lished by the French, with this distinction, that the monopoly was 
controlled by French officers and favorites, to whom the trade for 
particular districts was assigned, while the English and Americans 
controlled it through companies operating either under charters or 
pei'mits from the government. 

Goods for Indian trade were guns, ammunition, steel for striking 
fire, gun-flints, and other supplies to repair fire-arms; knives, hatchets, 
kettles, beads, men's shirts, blue and red cloths for blankets and 
petticoats ; vermilion, red, yellow, green and blue ribbons, gener- 
ally of English manufacture ; needles, thread and awls ; looking- 
glasses, children's toys, woolen blankets, razors for shaving the 
head, paints of all colors, tobacco, and, more than all, spirituous 
liquors. For these articles the Indians gave in exchange the skins 
of deer, bear, otter, squirrel, marten, lynx, fox, wolf, buffalo, 
moose, and particularly the beaver, the highest prized of them all. 
Such was the value attached to the skins and fur of the last that 
it. became the standard of value. All other values were measured 
by the beaver, the same as w r e now use gold, in adjusting com- 
mercial transactions. All differences in exchanges of property or 
in payment for labor were first reduced in value to the beaver skin. 
Money was rarely received or paid at any of the trading-posts, the 
only circulating medium were furs and peltries. In this exchange a 
pound of beaver skin was reckoned at thirty sous, an otter skin at 
six livres, and marten skins at thirty sous each. This was only about 
half of the real value of the furs, and it was therefore always agreed 
to pay either in furs at their equivalent cash value at the fort or 
double the amount reckoned at current fur value, f 

When the French controlled the fur trade, the posts in the interior 
of the country were assigned to officers who were in fayor at head- 
quarters. As they had no money, the merchants of Quebec and 
Montreal supplied them on credit with the necessary goods, which 

* Mackenzie's Voyages, Fur Trade, etc. 
t Henry's Travels and Pouchot's Memoirs. 






THE FUR TRADE. 215 

were to be paid for in peltries at a price agreed upon, thus being 
required to earn profits for themselves and the merchant. These 
officers were often employed to negotiate for the king with the tribes 
near their trading-posts and give them goods as presents, the price 
for the latter being paid by the intendant upon the approval of the 
governor. This occasioned many hypothecated accounts, which were 
turned to the profit of the commandants, particularly in time of 
war. The commandants as well as private traders were obliged to 
take out a license from the governor at a cost of four or five hundred 
livres, in order to carry their goods to the posts, and to charge some 
effects to the king's account. The most distant posts in the north- 
west were prized the greatest, because of the abundance and low 
price of peltries and the high price of goods at these remote estab- 
lishments. 

Another kind of trade was carried on by the couretirs des bois, 
who, sharing the license with the officer at the post, with their canoes 
laden with goods, went to the villages of the Indians, and followed 
them on their hunting expeditions, to return after a season's trading 
with their canoes well loaded. If the coureurs des bois were in a 
condition to purchase their goods of first hands a quick fortune was 
assured them, although to obtain it they had to lead a most danger- 
ous and fatiguing life. Some of these traders would return to France 
after a few years 1 venture with wealth amounting to two million five 
hundred thousand Iivres." :: " 

The French were not permitted to exclusively enjoy the enormous 
profits of the fur trade. We have seen, in treating of the Miami 
Indians, that at an early day the English and the American colonists 
were determined to share it, and had become sharp competitors. We 
have seen (page 112) that to extend their trade the English had set 
their allies, the Iroquois, upon the Illinois. So formidable were the 
inroads made by the English upon the fur trade of the French, by 
means of the conquests to which they had incited the Iroquois to 
gain over other tribes that were friendly to the French, that the 
latter became "of the opinion that if the Iroquois were allowed to 
proceed they would not only subdue the Illinois, but become masters 
of all the Ottawa tribes, t and divert the trade to the English, so that 
it was absolutely necessary that the French should either make the 
Iroquois their friends or destroy them.\ You perceive, my Lord, 

* Pouchot's Memoirs. 

f Whose territories embraced all the country west of Lake Huron and north of 
Illinois, — one of the most prolific beaver grounds in the country. 

% Memoir of M. Du Chesneau, the Intendant, to the King, September 9, 1681, before 
quoted. 



216 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

that the subject which we have discussed [referring to the efforts of 
the English of New York and Albany to gain the beaver trade] is to 
determine who will be master of the heaver trade of the south and 
southwest."* 

In the struggle to determine who should be masters of the fur 
trade, the French cared as little, — perhaps less, — for their Indian 
allies than the British and Americans did for theirs. The blood that 
was shed in the English and French colonies north of the Ohio 
River, for a period of over three-quarters of a century prior to 1763, 
might well be said to have been spilled in a war tor the fur trade, f 

In the strife between the rivals, — the French endeavoring to hold 
their former possessions, and the English to extend theirs, — the 
strait of Detroit was an object of concern to both. Its strategical 
position was such that it would give the party possessing it a decided 
advantage. M. Du Lute, or L'Hut, under orders from Gov. De 
^Nonville, left Mackinaw with some fifty odd coureurs des hois in 
1688, sailed down Lake Huron and threw up a small stockade fort 
on the west bank of the lake, where it discharges into the Eiver St. 
Clair. The following year Capt. McGregory,— Major Patrick Ma- 
gregore, as his name is spelled in the commission he had in his 
pocket over the signature of Gov. Dongan, — with sixty Englishmen 
and some Indians, with their merchandise loaded in thirty-two 
canoes, went up Lake Erie on a trading expedition among the In- 
dians at Detroit and Mackinaw. They were encountered and cap- 
tured by a body of troops under Tonty, La Forest and other omcers, 
who, with coureur de hois and Indians from the upper country, 
were on their way to join the French forces of Canada in a campaign 
against the Iroquois villages in Xew York.;}: The prisoners were 
sent to Quebec, and the plunder distributed among the captors. Du 
Lute's stockade was called Fort St. Joseph. In L688 the fort was 
placed in command of Baron LaHontan.§ 

Fort St. Joseph served the purposes for which it was constructed, 
and a few years later, in 1701, Mons. Cadillac established Fort Pont- 
chartrain on the present site of the city of Detroit, for no other pur- 

* M. De La Barre to the Minister of the Marine, November 4, 1683: Paris Docu- 
ments, vol. 9, p. 210, 

t War was not formally declared between France and England, on account of 
colonial difficulties, until May, 175\>, but the discursory broils between their colonies in 
America had been going 1 on from the time of their establishment. 

% Tonty's Memoir, and Paris Documents, vol. 9. pp. 363 and 866. 

§ Fort Du Luth. or St. Joseph, as it was afterward called, was ordered to be erected 
in 1686, '" in order to fortify the pass leading to Mackinaw against the English." Du 
Luth, who erected it, was in command of fifty men. Several parties of English were 
either captured or sent back from this post within avearor two from its establishment. 
Vide Paris Documents, vol. 9, pp. 300, 302, 306, 383. 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TRADERS. 217 

pose than to check the English in the prosecution of the fur trade in 
that country. "' 

The French interests were soon threatened from another direc- 
tion. Traders from Pennsylvania found their way westward over the 
mountains, where they engaged in traffic with the Indians in the 
valleys of eastern Ohio, and they soon established commercial rela- 
tions with the Wabash tribes. + It appears from a previous chapter 
that the Miamis were trading at Albany in 1708. To avert this 
danger the French were compelled at last to erect military posts at 
Fort Wayne, on the Maumee (called Fort Miamis), at Ouiatanon and 
Yincennes, upon the Wabash. J Prior to 1750 Sieur de Ligneris 
was commanding at Fort Ouiatanon, and St. Ange was in charge at 
Yincennes. 

As soon as the English settlements reached the eastern slope of 
the Alleghanies, their traders passed over the ridge, and they found 
it exceedingly profitable to trade with the western Indians. They 
could sell the same quality of goods for a third or a half of what the 
French usually charged, and still make a handsome profit. This 
new and rich field was soon overrun by eager adventurers. In the 
meantime a number of gentlemen, mostly from Yirginia, procured 
an act of parliament constituting kk The Ohio Company," and grant- 
ing them six hundred thousand acres of land on or near the Ohio 
River. The objects of this company were to till the soil and to open 
up a trade with the Indians west of the Alleghanies and south of the 
Ohio. 

The French, being well aware that the English could offer their 
goods to the Indians at greatly reduced rates, feared that they would 
lose the entire Indian trade. At first they protested "against this 
invasion of the rights of His Most Christian Majesty" to the gov- 
ernor of the English colonies. This did not produce the desired 
effect. Their demands were met with equivocations and delays. 
At last the French determined on summary measures. An order 

* Statement of Mons. Cadillac of his reasons for establishing a fort on the Detroit 
River, copied in Sheldon's Early History of Michigan, pp. 85-90. 

t An Englishman by the name of Crawford had been trading on the Wabash prior 
to 1749. Vide Irving's Life of Washington, vol. 1, p. 48. 

JThe date of the establishment of these forts is a matter of conjecture, owing to 
the absence of reliable data. A " Miamis " is referred to in 1719, and in the same year 
Sieur Duboisson was selected as a suitable person to take command at Ouiatanon, and 
in 1735 M. de Vincenne is alluded to, in a letter written from Kaskaskia, as com- 
mandant of the Post on the Wabash. However, owing to the successive migrations of 
the Miami Indians, the "Miamis" mentioned in such documents, in 1719, may have 
referred to the Miami and Wea villages upon the Kalamazoo and St. Joseph rivers, in 
the state of Michigan. The post at Vincennes, it may be safely assumed, was garri- 
soned as early as 1735, and Ouiatanon, below La Fayette, and Miamis, at Fort Wayne, 
some years before, in the order of time. 



218 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

was issued to the commandants of their various posts on Lake Erie,, 
the Ohio and the Wabash, to seize all English traders found west of 
the Alleghanies. In pursuance of this order, in 1751, four English 
traders were captured on the Vermilion of the Wabash and sent to 
Canada.'- Other traders, dealing with the Indians in other locali- 
ties, were captured and taken to Presque Isle,f and from thence to 
Canada. 

The contest between the rival colonies still went on, increasing 
in the extent of its line of operations and intensifying in the ani- 
mosity of the feeling with which it was conducted. We quote from 
a memoir prepared early in 1752, by M. de Longueuil, commandant 
at Detroit, showing the state of affairs at a previous date in the 
Wabash country. It appears, from the letters of the commandants 
at the several posts named, from which the memoir is compiled, 
that the Indian tribes upon the Maumee and Wabash, through the 
successful efforts of the English, had become very much disaffected 
toward their old friends and masters. M. de Ligneris, commandant 
at the Ouyatanons, says the memoir, believes that great reliance is 
not to be placed on the Maskoutins, and that their remaining neutral 
is all that is to be expected from them and the Ivickapous. He even 
adds that "we are not to reckon on the nations which appear in our 
interests ; no Wea chief has appeared at this post for a long time. 
M. de Yilliers, commandant at the Miamis, — Ft. Wayne, — has been 
disappointed in his expectation of bringing the Miamis back from the 
White River, — part of whom had been to see him, — the small-pox 
having put the whole of them to rout. Coldfoot and his son have 
died of it, as well as a large portion of our most trusty Indians. 
Le GriSj chief of the Tepicons,$ and his mother are likewise dead; 
they arc a loss, because they were well disposed toward the French." 
The memoir continues: ' w The nations of the River St. Joseph, 
who were to join those of Detroit, have said they would be ready to 
perform their promise as soon as Ononontio§ would have sent the 
necessary number of Frenchmen. The commandant of this post 
writes, on the 15th of January, that all the nations appear to take 

* Paris Documents, vol. 10, p. 248. 

f Near Erie, Pennsylvania. 

X This is the first reference we have to Tippecanoe. Antoine Gamelin, the French 
merchant at Vincennes, — whom Major Hamtramck sent, in 1790, to the Wabash towns 
with peace messages, — calls the village, then upon this river, Qtii-ie-pi-cow-nae. The 
name of the Tippecanoe is derived from the Algonquin word Ke-non-ge, or Ke-no-zha 
— from Kenose, long, the name of the long-billed pike, a fish very abundant in this 
stream, vide Mackenzie's and James' Vocabularies. Timothy Flint, in his Geography 
and History of the Western States, first edition, published at Cincinnati, 1828, vol. 2, 
p. 125, says: " The Tippecanoe received its name from a kind of pike called Pic-ca-nau 
by the savages." The termination is evidently Frenchified. 

§ The name by which the Indians called the governor of Canada. 



FRENCH TRADERS KILLED. 219 

sides against us ; that he would not be responsible for the good 
dispositions these Indians seem to entertain, inasmuch as the 
Miamis are their near relatives. On the one hand, Mr. de Jon- 
caire* repeats that the Indians of the beautiful riverf are all English, 
for whom alone they work ; that all are resolved to sustain each 
other ; and that not a party of Indians go to the beautiful river but 
leave some [of their numbers] there to increase the rebel forces. 
On the other hand, "Mr. de St. Ange, commandant of the post of 
Vincennes, writes to M. des Ligneris [at Ouiatanon] to use all 
means to protect himself from the storm which is ready to burst on 
the French ; that he is busy securing himself against the fury of our 
enemies." 

"The Pianguiehias, who are at war with the Chaouanons, ac- 
. cording to the report rendered by Mr. St. Clin, have declared entirely 
against us. They killed on Christmas Jive Frenchmen at the Ver- 
milion. Mr. des Ligneris, who was aware of this attack, sent off a 
detachment to secure the effects of the Frenchmen from being plun- 
dered ; but when this detachment arrived at the Vermilion, the 
Piankashaws had decamped. The bodies of the Frenchmen were 
found on the ice.^; 

"M. des Ligneris was assured that the Piankashaws had commit- 
ted this act because four men of their nation, had been killed by the 
French at the Illinois, and four others had been taken and put in 
irons. It is said that these eight men were going to fight the Chick- 
asaws, and had, without distrusting anything, entered the quarters 
of the French, who killed them. It is also reported that the French- 
men had recourse to this extreme measure because a Frenchman and 

* A French half-breed having great influence over the Indians, and whom the 
French authorities had sent into Ohio to conciliate the Indians. 

t The Ohio. 

% Col. Croghan's Journal, before quoted, gives the key to the aboriginal name of 
this stream. On the 22d of June, 1765, he makes the following entry: " We passed 
through a part of the same meadow mentioned yesterday; then came to a high wood- 
land and arrived at Vermilion River, so called from a fine red earth found there by the 
Indians, with which they paint themselves. About a half a mile from where we crossed 
this river there is a village of Piankashaws, distinguished by the addition of the name 
of the river" (that is, the Piankashaws of the Vermilion, or the Vermilions, as they 
were sometimes called). The red earth or red chalk, known under the provincial name 
of red keel, is abundant everywhere along the bluffs of the Vermilion, in the shales 
that overlay the outcropping coal. The annual fires frequently ignited the coal thus 
exposed, and would burn the shale above, turn it red and render it friable. Carpen- 
ters used it to chalk their lines, and the successive generation of boys have gathered it 
by the pocketful. Those acquainted with the passion of the Indian for paint, particu- 
larly red, will understand the importance which the Indians would attach to it. Hence, 
as noted by Croghan, they called the river after the name of this red earth. Vermilion 
is the French word conveying the same idea, and it is a coincidence merely that Ver- 
milion in French has the same meaning as this word in English On the map in 
"Volney's View of the Soil and Climate of the United States," Phila. ed. 1804, it is 
called Red River. The Miami Indian name of the Vermilion was Piankashaiv. as ap- 
pears from Gen. Putnam's manuscript Journal of the treaty at Vincennes in 1792 



220 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

two slaves had been killed a few days before by another party of 
Piankashaws, and that the Indians in question had no knowledge of 
that circumstance. The capture of four English traders by M. de 
Celoron's order last year has not prevented other Englishmen going 
to trade at the Yermilion River, where the Rev. Father la Richardie 
wintered."* 

The memoir continues: "On the 19th of October the Pianka- 
shaws had killed two more Frenchmen, who were constructing 
pirogues lower down than the Post of Vincenne. Two days after- 
ward the Piankashaws killed two slaves in sight of Fort Vincenne. 
The murder of these nine Frenchmen and these two slaves is but 
too certain. A squaw, the widow of one of the Frenchmen who had 
been killed at the Yermilion, has reported that the Pianguichias, 

Illinois and Osages were to assemble at the prairies of , the 

place where Messrs. de Yilliers and de Noyelle attacked the Foxes 
about twenty years ago, and when they had built a fort to secure 
their families, they were to make a general attack on all the French. 

"The Miamis of Rock Rivei-f have scalped two soldiers belong- 
ing to Mr. Yilliers' fort. ^ This blow was struck last fall. Finally, 
the English have paid the Miamis for the scalps of the two soldiers 
belonging to Mr. de Yilliers' garrison. To add to the misfortunes, 
M. des Ligneris has learned that the commandant of the Illinois at 
Fort Charters would not permit Sieurs Delisle and Fonblanche, 
who had contracted with the king to supply the Miamis, Ouyaton- 
ons, and even Detroit with provisions from the Illinois, to purchase 
any provisions for the subsistence of the garrisons of those posts, on 
the ground that an increased arrival of troops and families would 
consume the stock at the Illinois. Famine is not the sole scourge 
we experience ; the smallpox commits ravages ; it begins to reach 
Detroit. It were desirable that it should break out and spread gen- 
erally throughout the localities inhabited by our rebels. It would 
be fully as good as an army." 

The Piankashaws, now completely estranged from the French, 
withdrew, almost in a body, from the Wabash, and retired to the 
Big Miami, whither a number of Miamis and other Indians had, 

* Father Justinian de la Richardie came to Canada (according to the Lisfe Crono- 
logique, No. 429) in 1716. He served many years in the Huron country, and also in 
the Illinois, and died in Fehruary, 1758. Biographical note of the editor of Paris 
Documents : Col. Hist, of New York, vol. 9, p. 88. The time when and the place at 
which this missionary was stationed on the Vermilion River is not given. The date 
was before 1750, as is evident from the text. The place was probably at the large 
Piankashaw town where the traders were killed. 

fThe Big Miami River of Ohio, on which stream, near the mouth of Loramies 
Creek, the Miamis had an extensive vdlage, hereafter referred to. 

J Ft. Wayne, where Mr. Vilhers was then stationed in charge of Fort Miamis. 



PICKAW1LLANY. 221 

some years previous, established a village, to be nearer the English 
traders. The village was called Pickawillany, or Piektown. To 
the English and Iroquois it was known as the Tawixtwi Town, or 
Miamitown. It was located at the mouth of what has since been 
called Loramie's creek. The stream derived this name from the fact 
that a Frenchman of that name, subsequent to the events here nar- 
rated, had a trading-house at this place. The town was visited in 
1751 by Christopher Gist, who gives the following description of it:* 
"The Twightee town is situated on the northwest side of the Big 
Min e ami River, about one hundred and fifty miles from its mouth. 
It consists of four hundred families, and is daily increasing. It is 
accounted one of the strongest Indian towns in this part of the con- 
tinent. The Twightees are a very numerous people, consisting of 
many different tribes under the same form of government. Each 
tribe has a particular chief, or king, one of which is chosen indiffer- 
ently out of any tribe to rule the whole nation, and is vested with 
greater authority than any of the others. They have but lately 
traded with the English. They formerly lived on the farther side of 
the "Wabash, and were in the French interests, who supplied them 
with some few trifles at a most exorbitant price. They have now 
revolted from them and left their former habitations for the sake of 
trading with the English, and notwithstanding all the artifices the 
French have used, they have not been able to recall them." George 
Croghan and Mr. Montour, agents in the English interests, were in 
the town at the time of Gist's visit, doing what they could to inten- 
sify the animosity of the inhabitants against the French. Speeches 
were made and presents exchanged to cement the friendship with 
the English. While these conferences were going on, a deputation 
of Indians in the French interests arrived, with soft words and valu- 
able presents, marching into the village under French colors. The 
deputation was admitted to the council-house, that they might make 
the object of their visit known. The Piankashaw chief, or king, 
"Old Britton," as he was called, on account of his attachment 
for the English, had both the British and French flags hoisted from 
the council-house. The old chief refused the brandy, tobacco and 
other presents sent to him from the French king. In reply to the 
speeches of the French ambassadors he said that the road to the 
French had been made foul and bloody by them ; that he had 
cleared a road to our brothers, the English, and that the French had 
made that bad. The French flag was taken down, and the emissaries 

* Christopher Gist's Journal. 



222 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

of that people, with their presents, returned to the French post from 
whence they came. 

When negotiations failed to win the Miamis back to French 
authority, force was resorted to. On the 21st of June, 1752, a party 
of two hundred and forty French and Indians appeared before Pick- 
awillany, surprised the Indians in their corn-fields, approaching so 
suddenly that the white men who were in their houses had great 
difficulty in reaching the fort. They killed one Englishman and 
fourteen Miamis, captured the stockade fort, killed the old Pianka- 
shaw king, and put his body in a kettle, boiled it and ate it up in 
retaliation for his people having killed the French traders on the 
Vermilion River and at Vincennes.* "Thus," says the eloquent 
historian, George Bancroft, "on the alluvial lands of western Ohio 
began the contest that was to scatter death broadcast through the 
world, "f 

* The account of the affair at Pickawillany is summarized from the Journal of Capt. 
Wm. Trent and other papers contained in a valuable book edited by A. T. Goodman, 
secretary of the Western Reserve Historical Society, and published by Robert Clarke 
• & Co., 1871, entitled "Journal of Captain Trent." 

f Old Britton's successor was his son, a young man, whose name was Mu-she- 
gu-a-nock-que, or "The Turtle." The English, and Indians in their interests, had a 
very high esteem for the young Piankashaw king. It is said by some writers, and 
there is much probability of the correctness of their opinion, that the great Miami 
chief, Little Turtle, was none other than the person here referred to. His age would 
correspond very well with that of the Piankashaw, and members of one band of the 
Miami nation frequently took up their abode with other bands or families of their kin- 
dred. 



CHAPTER XXL 



THE WAR FOR THE EMPIRE. ITS LOSS TO THE FRENCH. 

Tiik English not only disputed the right of the French to the 
fur trade, but denied their title to the valley of the Mississippi, 
which lay west of their American colonies on the Atlantic coast. 
The grants from the British crown conveyed to the chartered pro- 
prietors all of the country lying between certain parallels of latitude, 
according to the location of the several grants, and extending west- 
ward to the South Sea, as the Pacific was then called. Seeing the 
weakness of such a claim to vast tracts of country, upon which no 
Englishman had ever set his foot, they obtained deeds of cession 
from the Iroquois Indians, — the dominant tribe east of the Mississip- 
pi, — who claimed all of the country between the Alleghanies and the 
Mississippi by conquest from the several Algonquin tribes, who occu- 
pied it. On the 13th of July, 1701, the sachems of the Five Nations 
conveyed to William III, King of Great Britain, "their beaver- 
hunting grounds northwest and west from Albany," including a 
broad strip on the south side of Lake Erie, all of the present states 
of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, and Illinois as far west as the Illi- 
nois River, claiming "that their ancestors did, more than fourscore 
years before, totally conquer, subdue and drive the former occupants 
out of that country, and had peaceable and quiet possession of the 
same, to hunt beavers in, it being the only chief place for hunting 
in that part of the world," etc.* The Iroquois, for themselves and 
heirs, granted the English crown "the whole soil, the lakes, the 

*The deed is found in London Documents, vol. 4, p. 908. The boundaries of the 
grant are indefinite in many respects. Its westward limit, says the deed, " abutts 
upon the Twichtwichs [Miamis], and is bounded on the right hand by a place called 
Quadoge." On Eman Bowen's map, which is certainly the most authentic from the 
British standpoint, is a " pecked line " extending from the mouth of the Illinois river, 
up that stream, to the Desplaines, thence across the prairies to Lake Michigan at 
Quadoge or Quadaghe, which is located on the map some distance southeast of Chicago, 
which is also shown in its correct place, and at or near the mouth of the stream that 
forms the harbor at Michigan City, formerly known by the French as Riviere du Cke- 
min, or " Trail River," because the great trail from Chicago to Detroit and Ft. Wayne 
left the lake shore at this place. The "pecked line," — as Mr. Bowen calls the dotted 
line which he traces as the boundary of the Iroquois deed of cession, — extends from 
Michigan City northward through the entire length of Lake Michigan, the Straits of 
Mackinaw and between the Manitou-lin islands and the main shore in Lake Huron; 
thence into Canada around the north shore of Lake Nipissing; and thence down the 
Ottawa River to its confluence with the St. Lawrence. 

223 



224 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

rivers, and all things pertaining to said tract of land, with power 
to erect forts and castles there," only reserving to the grantors and 
"their descendants forever the right of hunting upon the same," in 
which privilege the grantee "was expected to protect them." The 
grant of the Iroquois was confirmed to the British crown by deeds 
of renewal in 1726 and 1744. The reader will have observed, from 
what has been said in the preceding chapters upon the Illinois and 
Miamis and Pottawatomies relative to the pretended conquests of 
the Iroquois, how little merit there was in the claim they set up to 
the territory in question. Their war parties only raided upon the 
country, — they never occupied it; their war parties, after doing as 
much mischief as they could, returned to their own country as 
rapidly as they came. Still, their several deeds to the English crown 
were a "color of title" on which the latter laid great stress, and 
paraded at every treaty with other powers, where questions involv- 
ing the right to this territory were a subject of discussion. " x " 

The war for the fur trade expanded into a struggle fo« empire 
that convulsed both continents of America and Europe. The limit 
assigned this work forbids a notice of the principal occurrences in 
the progress of the French-Colonial War, as most of the military 
movements in that contest were outside of the territory we are con- 
sidering. There were, however, two campaigns conducted by troops 
recruited in the northwest, and these engagements will be noticed. 
We believe they have not heretofore been compiled as fully as their 
importance would seem to demand. 

In 1758 Gen. Forbes, with about six thousand troops, advanced 
against Fort Du Quesne. f In mid-September the British troops had 
only reached Loyal-hannon, J where they raised a fort. "Intelli- 
gence had been received that Fort Du Quesne was defended by but 
eight hundred men, of whom three hundred were Indians, "§ and 
Major Grant, commanding eight hundred Highlanders and a com- 
pany of Virginians, was sent toward the French fort. On the third 

* The Iroquois themselves, — as appears from an English memoir on the Indian 
trade, and contained among the London Documents, vol. 7, p. 18, — never supposed 
they had actually conveyed their right of dominion to these lands. Indeed, it appears 
that the Indians generally could not comprehend the purport of a deed or grant in the 
sense that the Europeans attach to these formidable instruments. The idea of an 
absolute, fee-simple right of an individual, or of a body of persons, to exclusively own 
real estate against the right of others even to enter upon it, to hunt or cut a shrub, 
was beyond the power of an Indian to comprehend. From long habit and the owner- 
ship (not only of land but many articles of domestic use) by the tribe or village of 
property in common, they could not understand how it could be held otherwise. 

t At the present site of Pittsburgh, Pa. 

X Loyal-hannon, afterward Fort Ligonier, was situated on the east side of Loyal- 
hannon Creek, Westmoreland county, Pa., and was about forty-five miles from Fort 
Du Quesne; vide Pennsylvania Archives, XII, 389. 

§ Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 311. 






DEFEAT OF THE ENGLISH. 225 

day's march Grant had arrived within two miles of Fort Du Quesne. 
Leaving his baggage there, he took position on a hill, a quarter of a 
mile from the fort, and encamped." 

Grant, who was not aware that the garrison had been reinforced 
by the arrival of Mons. Aubry, commandant at Fort Chartes, with 
four hundred men from the Illinois country, determined on an am- 
buscade. At break of day Major Lewis was sent, with four hundred 
men, to lie in ambush a mile and a half from the main body, on the 
path on which they left their baggage, imagining the French would 
send a force to attack the baggage guard and seize it. Four hundred 
men were posted along the hill facing the fort to cover the retreat of 
MacDonald's company, which marched w.ith drums beating toward 
the fort, in order to draw a party out of it, as Major Grant had rea- 
son to believe there were, including Indians, only two hundred men 
within it. -f 

M. de Ligneris, commandant at Fort Du Quesne, at once assem- 
bled seven or eight hundred men, and gave the command to M. 
Aubry. ^ The French sallied out of the fort, and the Indians, who 
had crossed the river to keep out of the way of the British, returned 
and made a flank movement. Aubry, by a rapid movement, attacked 
the different divisions of the English, and completely routed and 
dispersed them. The force under Major Lewis was compelled to 
give way. Being flanked, a number were driven into the river, 
most of whom were drowned. The English lost two hundred and 
seventy killed, forty-two wounded, and several prisoners ; among the 
latter was Grant. 

On the 22d of September M. Aubry left Fort Du Quesne, with a 
force of six hundred French and Indians, intending to reconnoitre 
the position of the English at Loyal-hannon. 

"He found a little camp in front of some intrenchments which 
would cover a body of two thousand men. The advance guard of 
the French detachment having been discovered, the English sent a 
captain and fifty men to reconnoitre, who fell in with the detach- 
ment and were entirely defeated. In following the fugitives the 
French fell upon this camp, and surprised and dispersed it. 

"The fugitives scarcely gained the principal intrenchment, which 
M. Aubry held in blockade two days. He killed two hundred horses 
and cattle." The French returned to Fort Du Quesne mounted. § 
"The English lost in the engagement one hundred and fifty men, 

*The hill has ever since borne Grant's name, 
t Craig's History of Pittsburgh, p. 74. 

JGarneau's History of Canada, Bell's translation, vol. 2, p. 214. 
§ Pouchot's Memoir, p. 130. 
15 



226 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

killed, wounded and missing. The French loss was two killed and 
seven wounded." 

The Louisiana detachment, which took the principal part in both 
of these battles, was recruited from the French posts in "The Illi- 
nois." and consisted of soldiers taken from the garrison in that terri- 
tory, and the roureurs des l>oi*, traders and settlers in their respective 
neighborhoods. It was the "first battalion ever raised within the 
limits of the present states of Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. After 
the action of Loyal-hannon, "the Louisiana detachment, as well as 
those from Detroit, returned home."* 

Soon after their departure, and on the 24th of November, the 
French abandoned Fort Dn Quesne. Pouchot says: "It came to 
pass that by blundering at Fort Du Quesne the French were obliged 
to abandon it for want of provisions." This may have been the 
true reason for the abandonment, but doubtless the near approach of 
a large English army, commanded by Gen. Forbes, had no small 
influence in accelerating their movements. The fort was a mere 
stockade, of small dimensions, and not suited to resist the attacks of 
artillery.! 

Having burnt the stockade and storehouses, the garrison sepa- 
rated. One hundred retired to Presque Isle, by land. Two hundred, 
by way of the Alleghany, went to Venango. The remaining hun- 
dred descended the Ohio. About forty miles above its confluence 
with the Mississippi, and on a beautiful eminence on the north bank 
of the river, they erected a fort and named it Fort Massac, in honor 
of the commander, M. Massac, who superintended its construction. 
This was the last fort erected by the French on the Ohio, and it was 
occupied by a garrison of French troops until the evacuation of the 
country under the stipulations of the treaty of Paris. Such was the 
origin of Fort Massac, divested of the romance which fable has 
thrown around its name.";}; 

* Letter of Marquis Montcalm: Paris Documents, vol. 10, p. 901. 

t Hildreth's Pioneer History, p. 42. 

X Monette's Valley of the Mississippi, vol. 1, p. 317. Gov. Reynolds, who visited 
the remains of Fort Massac in 1855, thus describes its l-emains: " The outside walls 
were one hundred and thirty-five feet square, and at each angle strong bastions were 
erected. The walls were palisades, with earth between the wood. A large well was 
sunk in the fortress, and the whole appeared to have been strong and substantial in its 
day. Three or four acres of gravel walks were made on the north of the fort, on which 
the soldiers paraded. The walks were made in exact angles, and beautifully graveled 
with pebbles from the river. The site is one of the most beautiful on La Belle Rivere, 
and commands a view of the Ohio that is charming and lovely. French genius for the 
selection of sites for forts is eminently sustained in their choice of Fort Massacre." The 
Governor states that the fort was first established in 1711, and "was enlarged and 
made a respectable fortress in 1756." Vide Reynolds 1 Life and Times, pp. 28, 29. This 
is, probably, a mistake. There are no records in the French official documents of any 
military post in that vicinity until the so-called French and Indian war. 



CHANGE OP WAR-PLAN. 227 

On the dav following the evacuation, the English took peaceable 
possession of the smoking ruins of Fort Du Quesne. They erected 
a temporary fortification, named it Fort Pitt, in honor of the great 
English statesman of that name, and leaving two hundred men as a 
garrison, retired over the mountains. 

On the 5th of December, 1758, Thomas Pownall, governor of 
Massachusetts Bay Province, addressed a memorial to the British 
Ministry, suggesting that there should be an entire change in the 
method of carrying on the war. Pownall stated that the French 
were superior in battles fought in the wilderness ; that Canada never 
could be conquered by land campaigns ; that the proper way to 
succeed in the reduction of Canada would be to make an attack on 
Quebec by sea, and thus, by cutting off supplies from the home gov- 
ernment, Canada would be starved out.*. 

Pitt, if he did not act on the recommendations of Gov. Pownall, 
at least had similar views, and the next year (1759), in accordance 
with this plan, Gen. Wolfe made a successful assault on Quebec, and 
from that time, the supplies and reinforcements from the home gov- 
ernment being cut off, the cause of the French in Canada became 
almost hopeless. 

During this year the French made every effort to stir up the 
Indians north of the Ohio to take the tomahawk and scalping-knife 
in hand, and make one more attempt to preserve the northwest 
for the joint occupancy of the Gallic and American races. Emissa- 
ries were sent to Lake Erie, Detroit, Mackinaw, Ouiatanon, Vincennes, 
Kaskaskia and Fort Chartes, loaded with presents and ammunition, 
for the purpose of collecting all those stragglers who had not enter- 
prise enough to go voluntarily to the seat of war. Canada was hard 
pressed for soldiers; the English navy cut off most of the rein- 

* Pownall's Administration of the Colonies, Appendix, p. 57. Thomas Pownall, 
born in England in 1720, came to America in 1753; was governor of Massachusetts 
Bay, and subsequently was appointed governor of South Carolina. He was highly edu- 
cated, and possessed a thorough knowledge of the geography, history and policy of 
both the French and English colonies in America. His work on the "Administration 
of the American Colonies " passed through many editions. In 1756 he addressed a 
memorial to His Highness the Duke of Cumberland, on the conduct of the colonial war, 
in which he recommended a plan for its further prosecution. The paper is a very 
able one. Much of it compiled from the official letters of Marquis Vaudreuil, Governor- 
General of Canada, written between the years 1743 and 1752, showing the policy of the 
French, and giving a minute description of their settlements, military establishments 
in the west, their manner of dealing with the Indians, and a description of the river 
communications of the French between their possessions in Canada and Louisiana. In 
1776 he revised Evans' celebrated map of the " Middle British Provinces in America." 
After his return to England he devoted himself to scientific pursuits. He was a warm 
friend of the American colonists in the contest with the mother country, and de- 
nounced the measures of parliament concerning the colonies as harsh and wholly 
unwarranted, and predicted the result that followed. He died in 1805. 



228 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

forcements from France, while the English, on the contrary, were 
constantly receiving troops from the mother country. 

Mons. de Aubry, commandant at Fort Chartes, persuaded four 
hundred men from the "Illinois country" to follow him eastward. 
Taking with him two hundred thousand pounds of flour, he em- 
barked his heterogeneous force in bateaux and canoes. The route 
by way of the Ohio was closed ; the English were in possession of 
its headwaters. He went down the Mississippi, thence up the Ohio 
to the mouth of the Wabash. Having ascended the latter stream 
to the Miami villages, near the present site of Fort Wayne, his fol- 
lowers made the portage, passed down the Maumee, and entered 
Lake Erie. 

During the whole course of their journey they were being con- 
stantly reinforced by bands of different tribes of Indians, and by 
Canadian militia as they passed the several posts, until the army 
was augmented to sixteen hundred men, of whom there were six 
hundred French and one thousand Indians. An eye-witness, in 
speaking of the appearance of the force, said : " When they passed 
the little rapid at the outlet of Lake Erie (at Buffalo) the flotilla ap- 
peared like a floating island, as the river was covered with their 
bateaux and canoes."'" 

Aubry was compelled to leave his flour and provisions at the 
Miami portage. He afterward requested M. de Port-neuf, com- 
mandant at Presque Isle, to take charge of the portage, and to send 
it constantly in his bateaux, f 

Before Aubry reached Presque Isle he was joined by other bodies 
of Indians and Canadians from the region of the upper lakes. They 
were under the command of French traders and commandants of 
interior posts. At Fort Machaultj: he was joined by M. de Lignery ; 
the latter had assembled the Ohio Indians at Presque Isle. § It was 
the original intention of Aubry to recapture Fort Du Quesne from 
the English. On the 12th of July a grand council was held at Fort 
Machault, in which the commandant thanked the Indians for their 
attendance, threw down the war belt, and told them he would set 
out the next day for Fort Du Quesne. Soon after messengers arrived 
with a packet of letters for the officers. After reading them Aubry 
told the Indians: "Children, I have received bad news; the Eng- 
lish are gone against Niagara. We must give over thoughts of going 
down the river to Fort Du Quesne till we have cleared that place of 

*Pouchot's Memoirs, vol. 1, pp. 186, 187 

fldem, p. 152. 

\ Located at the mouth of French Creek, Pennsylvania. 

§ Idem, 187. 



aubky's campaign. 229 

the enemy. If it should be taken, our road to you is stopped, and 
you must become poor." Orders were immediately given to pro- 
ceed with the artillery, provisions, etc., up French Creek, and the 
Indians prepared to follow.* 

These letters were from M. Pouchot, commandant at Niagara, f 
and stated that he was besieged by a much superior force of English 
and Indians, who were under the command of Gen. Predeaux and 
Sir William Johnson. Aubry answered these letters on the next day, 
and said he thought they might fight the enemy successfully, and 
compel them to raise the siege. The Indians who brought these mes- 
sages to Pouchot informed him that they, on the part of the Indians 
with Aubry and Lignery, had offered the Iroquois and other Indian 
allies of the English five war belts if they would retire. These prom- 
ised that they would not mingle in the quarrel. "We will here recall 
the fact that Pouchot, by his letter of the 10th, had notified Lignery 
and Aubry that the enemy might be four or five thousand* strong 
without the Indians, and if they could put themselves in condition 
to attack so large a force, he should pass Chenondac to come to 
Niagara by the other side of the river, where. he would be in con- 
dition to drive the English, who were only two hundred strong on 
that side, and could not easily be reinforced. This done, they could 
easily come to him, because after the defeat of this body they could 
send bateaux to bring them to the fort." 

M. Pouchot now recalled his previous request, and informed 
Aubry that the enemy were in three positions, in one of which 
there were three thousand nine hundred Indians. He added, could 
Aubry succeed in driving the enemy from any of these positions, 
he had no doubt they would be forced to raise the siege. ^ 

Aubry 1 s route was up French Creek to its head-waters, thence 
making the portage to Presque Isle and sailing along the shores of 
Lake Erie until he reached Niagara. Arriving at the foot of Lake 
Erie he left one hundred and fifty men in charge of his canoes, and 
with the remainder advanced toward Niagara. Sir William John- 
son was informed, on the evening of the 23d, of this advance of the 
French, and ordered his light infantry and pickets to take post on 
the left, on the road between Niagara Falls and the fort; antl these, 
after reinforcing them with grenadiers and parts of the 46th and 44th 
regiments, were so arranged as to effectually support the guard left 

* Extract from a letter dated July 17, 1759, of Col. Mercer, commandant at Fort 
Pitt, published in Craig's Olden Time, vol. 1, p. 194. 

t Fort Niagara was one of the earliest French military posts, and situated on the 
right, or American shore of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of Niagara River. It has 
figured conspicuously in all of the wars on the lake frontier. 

X Pouchot's Memoirs, vol. 1, pp. 186, 187, 188. 



230 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

in the trenches. Most of his men were concealed either in the 
trenches or by trees. 

On the morning of the 24th the French made their appearance. 
They were marching along a path about eight feet wide, and ''were 
in readiness to fight in close order and without ranks or files." On 
their right were thirty Indians, who formed a front on the enemy's 
left. The Indians of the English army advanced to speak to those 
of the French. Seeing the Iroquois in the latter' s company, the 
French Indians refused to advance, under pretext that they were at 
peace with the first named. Though thus abandoned by their chief 
force, Aubry and Lignery still proceeded on their way, thinking 
that the few savages they saw were isolated men, till they reached 
a narrow pathway, when they discovered great numbers beyond. 
The English Indians then gave the war-whoop and the action com- 
menced. The English regulars attacked the French in front, while 
the Indians poured in on their flank. Thus surprised by an am- 
buscade, and deserted by their savage allies, the French proved easy 
victims to the prowess of far superior numbers. They were assailed 
in front and rear by two thousand men. The rear of the column, 
unable to resist, gave way, and left the head exposed to the enemy's 
fire, which crushed it entirely. An Indian massacre followed, and 
the pursuit of the victors continued until they were compelled to 
desist by sheer fatigue. Almost all the French officers were killed, 
wounded or taken prisoners. Among the latter was Aubry. Those 
who escaped joined M. Rocheblave, and with his detachment re- 
treated to Detroit and other western lake posts.* 

This defeat on the shores of Lake Erie was very severe on the 
struggling western settlements. Most all of the able-bodied men 
had gone with Aubry, many never to return. In 1760 M. de Mac- 
( Jarty, commandant at Fort Chartes, in a letter to Marquis Yaudreuil, 
stated that "the garrison was weaker than ever before, the check at 
Niagara having cost him the elite of his men. "f 

It is apparent, from the desertion of Aubry by his savage allies, 
that they perceived that the English were certain to conquer in the 
end. They felt no particular desire to prop a falling cause, and 
tli ns de^rted Mons. Aubry at the crisis when their assistance was 
most needed. Thus was defeated the greatest French-Indian force 
ever collected in the northwest.;}: 

* The account of this action has been compiled from Mante, p. 226; Pouchot, vol. l r 
p. 192; and Garneau's History of Canada, vol. 2, pp. 250, 251, Bell's translation. 

t Paris Documents, vol. 10, p. 1093. 

\ Aubry returned to Louisiana and remained there until after the peace of 1763. 
In 1765 he was appointed governor of Louisiana, and surrendered the colony, in March, 



THE DOWNFALL OF FRENCH RULE. 231 

The next day after Aubry's defeat, near Fort Niagara, the fortress 
surrendered. 

After the surrender of Niagara and Fort Du Quesne, the Indian 
allies of France retired to the deep recesses of the western forests, 
and the English frontiers suffered no more from their depredations. 
Settlements were gradually formed on the western side of the Alle- 
ghanies, and they remained secure from Indian invasions. 

In the meantime many Canadians, becoming satisfied that the 
conquest of Canada was only a mere question of time, determined, 
before that event took place, to remove to the French settlements 
on the lower Mississippi. "Many of them accordingly departed 
from Canada by way of the lakes, and thence through the Illinois 
and Wabash Rivers to the Mississippi.' 1 * 

After the surrender of Quebec, in 1759, Montreal became the 
headquarters of the French in Canada, and in the spring of 1760 
Mons. Levi, the French commander-in-chief, besieged Quebec. The 
arrival of an English fleet compelled him to relinquish his designs. 
Amherst and Johnson formed a junction, and advanced against 
Montreal. The French governor of Canada, Marquis Vaudreil, 
believing that further resistance was impossible, surrendered all 
Canada to the English. This included the western posts of Detroit, 
Mackinaw, Fort Miami, Ouiatanon, Yincennes, Fort St. Joseph, 
etc. 

After this war ceased to be waged in America, though the treaty 
of Paris was not concluded until February, 1763, the most essential 
parts of which are contained in the following extracts : 

"In order to establish peace on solid and durable foundations, 
and to remove forever all subjects of dispute with regard to the 
limits of the British and French territories on the continent of 
America, it is agreed that for the future the confines between the 
dominions of his Britannic Majesty and those of His Most Christian 
Majesty in that part of the world, shall be fixed irrevocably by a 
line drawn along the middle of the River Mississippi from its source 
to the River Iberville, and from thence by a line drawn along the 
middle of this river and the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to 
the sea ; and for this purpose the most Christian King cedes, in full 
right, and guarantees to his Britannic Majesty, the river and port of 
Mobile, and everything which he possesses, or ought to possess, on 
the left side of the Mississippi, with the exception of the town of 

1766, to the Spanish governor, Ulloa. After the expulsion of Ulloa, he held the 
government until relieved by O'Reilly, in July, 1769. He soon afterward sailed for 
France. The vessel was lost, and Aubry perished in the depths of the sea. 
* Monette's Valley of the Mississippi, vol. 1, p. 305. 



232 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

New Orleans and of the island on which it is situated ; it being well 
understood that the navigation of the Mississippi shall be equally 
free, as well to the subjects of Great Britain as to those of France, 
in its whole length and breadth, from its source to the sea."* 

Thus Gallic rule came to an end in North America. Its downfall 
was the result of natural causes, and was owing largely to the differ- 
ence between the Frenchmen and the Englishmen. The former, as 
a rule, gave no attention to agriculture, but found occupation in 
hunting and trading with the Indians, acquiring nomadic habits that 
unfitted them for the cultivation of the soil ; their families dwelt in 
villages separated by wide stretches of wilderness. AYhile the able 
men were hunting and trading, the old men, women and children 
produced scanty crops sown in " common fields, 11 or inclosures of a 
piece of ground which were portioned off among the families of the 
village. The Englishman, on the other hand, loved to own land, 
and pushed his improvements from the coast line up through all the 
valleys extending westward. Reaching the summit of the Allegha- 
nies, the tide of emigration flowed into the valleys beyond. Every 
cabin was a fort, every advancing farm a new line of intrenchrnent. 
The distinguishing characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon is consistency 
and firmness in his designs, and, more than all, his love for a home. 
In the trials and hardships necessarily connected with the opening 
up of the wilderness these traits come prominently into play. The 
result was, that the English colonies prospered in a degree hitherto 
unknown in the annals of the world's progress. And by way of con- 
trast, how little did the French have to show in the way of lasting 
improvements in the northwest after it had been in their possession 
for nearly a century! 

However, the very traits that disqualified the Gaul as a successful 
colonist gave him a preeminent advantage over the Anglo-Saxon in 
the influence he exerted upon the Indian. He did not want their 

*"0n the 3d day of the previous November, France, by a secret treaty ceded 
to Spain all her possessions west of the Mississippi. His Most Christian Majesty 
made known to the inhabitants of Louisiana the fact of the cession by a letter, dated 
April 21, 1764. Don Ulloa, the New Spanish governor, arrived at New Orleans 
in 1766. The French inhabitants objected to the transfer of Louisiana to Spain, and, 
resorting to arms, compelled Ulloa to return to Havana. In 1769, O'Reilly, with a 
Spanish force, arrived and took possession. He killed six of the ringleaders and sent 
others to Cuba. Spain remained in possession of Louisiana until March, 1801, when 
Louisiana was retroceded to the French republic. The French made preparations to 
occupy Lousiana, and an army of twenty-five thousand men was designed for that 
territory, but the fleet and army were suddenly blockaded in one of the ports of Hol- 
land by an English squadron. This occurrence, together with the gloomy aspect of 
affairs in Europe, induced Napoleon, who was then at the head of the French republic, 
to cede Louisiana to the United States. The tneaty was dated April 30, 1803. The 
actual transfer occurred in December of the same year." Vide Stoddard's Sketches of 
Louisiana, pp. 71, 102. 



FRENCH WAYS WITH THE INDIANS. 233 

lands ; he fraternized with them, adopted their ways, and nattered 
and pleased them. The Anglo-Saxon wanted their lands. From 
the start he was clamorous for deeds and cessions of territory, and 
at once began crowding the Indian out of the country. "The Iro- 
quois told Sir Wm. Johnson that they believed soon they should not 
be able to hunt a bear into a hole in a tree but some Englishman 
would claim a right to the property of it, as being found in his 
tree. 1 '* 

The happiness which the Indians enjoyed from their intercourse 
with the French was their perpetual theme ; it was their golden age. 
"Those who are old enough to remember it speak of it with rap- 
ture, and teach their children to venerate it, as the ancients did the 
reign of Saturn. 'You call us your children,' said an aged chief to 
Gen. Harrison, ' why do you not make us happy, as our fathers the 
French did? They never took from us our lands, which, indeed, 
were in common between us. They planted where they pleased, 
and cut wood where they pleased, and so did we ; but now, if a poor 
Indian attempts to take a little bark from a tree to cover him from 
the rain, up comes a white man and threatens to shoot him, claim- 
ing the tree as his own.'' "f 

*Pownall's Administration of the Colonies. 
t Memoirs of Gen. Harrison, p. 134. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

PONTIAC'S WAR TO RECOVER THE NORTHWEST FROM THE ENGLISH. 

After the surrender of Canada to the English by the Marquis 
Vaudreuil, Sir Jeffery Amherst, commander-in-chief of His Majesty's 
forces in North America, ordered Major Robert Rogers to ascend 
the lakes and take possession of the western forts. On the 13th of 
September Rogers, with two hundred of his rangers, left Montreal. 
After weeks of weary traveling, they reached the mouth of Cuyahoga 
River, the present site of Cleveland, on the 7th of November. Here 
they were met by Pontiac, a celebrated Ottawa chieftain, who asked 
Rogers what his intentions were, and how he dared enter that coun- 
try without his permission. Rogers replied that the French had 
been defeated ; that Canada was surrendered into the hands of the 
British ; and that he was on his way to take possession of Detroit, 
Mackinaw, Miamis and Ouitanon. He also proposed to restore a 
general peace to white men and Indians alike. "Pontiac listened 
with attention, but only replied that he should stand in the path of 
the English until morning." In the morning he returned, and 
allowed the English to advance. He said there would be no trouble 
so long as they treated him with deference and respect. 

Embarking on the 12th of November, they arrived in a few days 
at Maumee Bay, at the western end of Lake Erie. The western 
Indians, to the number of four hundred, had collected at the mouth 
of Detroit River. They were determined to massacre the entire party 
under Rogers. It afterward appeared that they were acting under 
the influence of the Trench commandant at Detroit. Rogers pre- 
vailed upon Pontiac to use his influence to induce the warlike 
Indians to disband. After some parleying, Pontiac succeeded, and 
the road was open to Detroit. 

Before his arrival at Detroit Rogers had sent in advance Lieuten- 
ant Brehm with a letter to Captain Beletre, the commandant, inform- 
ing the latter that his garrison was included in the surrender of 
Canada. Beletre wholly disregarded the letter. He declared he 
thought it was a trick of the English, and that they intended to 
obtain possession of his fortress by treachery. He made use of 
every endeavor to excite the Indians against the English. "He 

234 



DETROIT SURRENDERED. 235 

displayed upon a pole, before the yelling multitude, the effigy of a 
crow pecking a man's head, the crow representing himself, and the 
head, observes Rogers, 'being meant for my own.' "* 

Rogers then sent forward Captain Campbell kt with a copy of the 
capitulation and a letter from the Marquis Yaudreuil, directing that 
the place should be given up in accordance with the articles agreed 
upon between him and General Amherst." The French command- 
ant could hold out no longer, and, much against his will, was com- 
pelled to deliver the fortress to the English. The lilies of France 
were lowered from the flagstaff, and their place was taken by the 
cross of St. George. Seven hundred Indian warriors and their 
families, all of whom had aided the French by murdering innocent 
women and children on the frontiers of Pennsylvania and New York, 
greeted the change with demoniacal yells of apparent pleasure ; but 
concealed in their breasts was a natural dislike for the English. 
Dissembling for the present, they kept their hatred to themselves, 
for the late successes of British arms had awed them into silence. 

It was on the 29th of November, 1700, that Detroit was given 
over to the English. The garrison, as prisoners of war. were taken 
to Philadelphia. 

Rogers sent an officer up the Maumee, and from thence down the 
Wabash, to take possession of the posts at the portage and at Oui- 
atanon. Both of these objects were attained without any difficulty. 

On account of the lateness of the season the detachment which 
had started for Mackinaw returned to Detroit, and all efforts against 
the posts on the upper lakes were laid aside until the following sea- 
son. In that year the English took possession of Mackinaw, Green 
Bay and St. Joseph. The French still retained possession of Vin- 
cennes and Fort Chartes.f 

It always was the characteristic policy of the French to render 
the savages dependent upon them, and with that design in view they 
had earnestly endeavored to cultivate among the Indians a desire for 
European goods. By prevailing upon the Indians to throw aside 
hides and skins of wild beasts for clothing of European manufacture, 
to discontinue the use of their pottery for cooking utensils of iron, 
to exchange the bow and arrow and stone weapons for the gun, the 
knife and hatchet of French manufacture, it was thought that in the 
course of one or two generations they would become dependent upon 
their French neighbors for the common necessaries of life. When 

* Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac, p. 150. 

t This account of the delivery of the western forts to Rogers has been collated from 
his Journal and from. Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac. 



236 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

this change in their customs had taken place, by simply withholding 
the supply of ammunition they could coerce the savages to adopt any 
measures that the French government saw fit to propose. The pol- 
icy of the French was not to force, but to lead, the savages into sub- 
jection. They told the barbarians that they were the children of the 
great king, who had sent his people among them to preserve them 
from their implacable enemies, the English. Flattering them, asking 
their advice, bestowing upon them presents, and, above all, showing 
them respect and deference, the French gained the good will of the 
savages in a degree that no other European nation ever equaled. 
After the surrender of the western posts all this was changed. The 
accustomed presents formerly bestowed upon them were withheld. 
English traders robbed, bullied and cheated them. English officers 
treated them with rudeness and contempt. But, most of all, the 
steady advance of the English colonists over the mountains, occupy- 
ing their lands, driving away their game, and forcing them to retire 
farther west, alarmed and exasperated the aborigines to the limit of 
endurance. "The wrongs and neglect the Indians felt were inflamed 
by the French coureurs de hois and traders. They had every motive 
to excite the tribes against the English, such as their national rancor, 
their religious antipathies, and most especially the fear'of losing the 
profitable Indian trade." Every effort was made to excite and in- 
flame the slumbering passions of the tribes of the Northwest. Secret 
councils were held, and different plans for obtaining possession of 
the western fortresses were discussed. The year after Rogers ob- 
tained Detroit there was, in the summer, an outbreak, but it was 
easily quelled, being only local. The next year, also, there was 
another disturbance, but it, like the former, did not spreads 

During these two years one Indian alone, — Pontiac, — compre- 
hended the situation. He read correctly the signs and portents of 
the times. He well knew that English supremacy on the North 
American continent meant the destruction of his race. He saw the 
great difference between the English and the French. The former 
were settlers, the latter traders. The French came to the far west 
for their beaver skins and peltries, while the English would only be 
satisfied with their lands. Pontiac soon arrived at the conclusion 
that unless the ceaseless flow of English immigration was stopped, 
it would not be many decades before the Indian race would be 
driven from the face of the earth. Well has time justified this opin- 
ion of the able Indian chieftain! 

To accomplish his designs, Pontiac was well aware that he must 
induce all the tribes of the northwest to join him. Even then he 



PONTIAC'S WAR. 1>:!7 

had doubts of final success. To encourage him, the French traders 
informed him " that the English had stolen Canada while their com- 
mon father was asleep at Versailles ; that he would soon awaken and 
again wrest his domains from the intruders ; that even now large 
French armies were on their way up the St. Lawrence and Missis- 
sippi rivers." Pontiac believed these tales, for let it be borne in 
mind that this was previous to the treaty of Paris, and late in the 
autumn of 1762 he sent emissaries with black wampum and the red 
tomahawk to the villages of the Ottawas, Pottawatomies, Sacs, 
Foxes, Menominees, Illinois, Miamis, Shawnees, Delawares, Wyan- 
dots, Kickapoos and Senecas. These emissaries were instructed to 
inform the various tribes that the English had determined to exter- 
minate the northwestern Indians ; to accomplish this they intended 
to erect numerous fortifications in the territory named ; and also 
that the English had induced the southern Indians to aid them.* To 
avert these inimical designs of the English, the messengers of Pon- 
tiac proposed that on a certain day all the tribes, by concerted action, 
should seize all the English posts and then attack the whole English 
border. 

Pontiac' s plan was contrived and developed with wonderful 
secrecy, and all of a sudden the conspiracy burst its fury simultane- 
ously over all the forts held by the British west of the Alleghanies. 
By stratagem or forcible assault every garrison west of Pittsburgh, 
excepting Detroit, was captured. 

Fort St. Joseph, on the river of that name, in the present state of 
Michigan, was captured by the Pottawatomies. These emissaries of 
Pontiac collected about the fort on the 23d of May, 1763, and under 
the guise of friendship effected an entrance within the palisades, 
when they suddenly turned upon and massacred the whole garrison, 
except the commandant, Ensign Slussee and three soldiers, whom 
they made prisoners and sent to Detroit. 

The Ojibbeways effected an entry within the defenses of Fort 
Mackinaw, the gate being left open while the Indians were amusing 
the officer and soldiers with a game of ball. In the play the ball 
was knocked over within the palisade. The players, hurrying 
through the gates, seemingly intent on regaining the ball, seized 
their knives and guns from beneath the blankets of their squaws, 
where they had been purposely concealed, and commenced an indis- 
criminate massacre, f 

* The Chickasaws and Cherokees were at that time, though on their own responsi- 
bility, waging war aginst some of the tribes of the northwest. 

fA detailed account of this most horrible massacre is given by the fur-trader Alex- 



238 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Ensign Holmes, who was in command at Fort Miami,* learned 
that to the Miamis in the vicinity of his post was allotted the de- 
struction of his garrison. Holmes collected the Indians in an 
assembly, and charged them with forming a conspiracy against his 
post. They confessed ; said that they were influenced by hostile 
Indians, and promised to relinquish their designs. The village of 
Pontiac was within a short distance of the post, and some of his im- 
mediate followers doubtless attended the assembly. Holmes sup- 
posed he had partially allayed their irritation, as appears from a 
letter written ftom him to Major Gladwyn.f 

On the 27th of May a young Indian squaw, who was the mistress 
of Holmes, requested him to visit a sick Indian woman who lived in 
a wigwam near at hand. " Having confidence in the girl. Holmes 
followed her out of the fort." Two Indians, who were concealed 
behind the hut, as he approached it, fired and ''stretched him life- 
less on the ground." The sergeant rushed outside of the palisade 
to learn the cause of the firing. He was immediately seized by the 
Indians. The garrison, who by this time had become thoroughly 
alarmed, and had climbed upon the palisades, was ordered to surren- 
der by one Godefroy, a Canadian. They were informed, if they 
submitted their lives would be spared, otherwise they all would be 
massacred. Having lost their officers and being in great terror, they 
threw open the gate and gave themselves up as prisoners. Accord- 
ing to tradition, the garrison was afterward massacred.;*: 

Fort Ouiatanon was under the command of Lieut. Jenkins, who 
had no suspicion of any Indian troubles, and on the 1st of June, 
when he was requested by some of the Indians to visit them in their 
cabins near by, he unhesitatingly complied with the request. Upon 
his entering the hut he was immediately seized by the Indian war- 
riors. Through various other stratagems of a similar nature several 
of the soldiers were also taken. Jenkins was then told to have the 
soldiers m the fort surrender. "For," said the Indians, "should 
your men kill one of our braves, we shall put you all to death." 

ander Henry, an eye-witness and one of the few survivors, in his interesting Book of 
Travels and Adventures, p. 85. 

* Now Fort Wayne. 

Fort Miamis, March 30th, 1763. 

f Since my Last Letter to You, wherein I Acquainted You of the Bloody Belt being 
in this Village, I have made all the search I could about it, and have found it not to be 
True; Whereon I Assembled all the chiefs of this Nation, & after a long and trouble- 
some Spell with them, I Obtained the Belt, with a Speech, as You will Receive En- 
closed; This affair is very timely Stopt, and I hope the News of a Peace will put a 
Stop to any further Troubles with these Indians, who are the Principal Ones of Setting 
Mischief on Foot. I send you the Belt, with this Packet, which I hope You will For- 
ward to the General. 

\ Brice's History of Fort Wayne. 






PONTIAC'S FAILURE. 239 

Jenkins thinking that resistance would be useless, ordered the re- 
maining soldiers to deliver the fort to the Indians. During the 
night the Indians resolved to break their plighted word, and mas- 
sacre all their prisoners. Two of the French residents, M. M. Mai- 
gonville and Lorain, gave the Indians valuable presents, including 
wampum, brandy, etc., and thus preserved the lives of the English 
captives. Jenkms, in his letter to Major Gladwyn, commandant at 
Detroit, states that the Weas were not favorably inclined toward 
Pontiac's designs ; but being coerced by the surrounding tribes, they 
undertook to carry out their part of the programme. Well did they 
succeed. Lieut. Jenkins, with the other prisoners, were, within a 
few days afterward, sent across the prairies of Illinois to Fort Char- 
tres. 

Detroit held out, though regularly besieged by Pontiac in person, 
for more than fifteen months, when, at last, the suffering garrison 
was relieved by the approach of troops under Gen. Bradstreet. In 
the meantime Pontiac confederates, wearied and disheartened by the 
protracted struggle, longed for peace. Several tribes abandoned the 
declining fortune of Pontiac ; and finally the latter gave up the con- 
test, and retired to the neighborhood of Fort Miamis.- Here he 
remained for several months, when he went westward, down the 
Wabash and across the prairies to Fort Chartres. The latter fort 
remained in possession of a French officer, not having been as yet 
surrendered to the English, the hostility of the Indians preventing 
its delivery ; and by agreements of the two governments, France 
and England, it was left in charge of the veteran St. Ange. 

The English having acquired the territory herein considered, by 
conquest and treaty, from France, renewed their efforts to reclaim 
authority over it from its aboriginal inhabitants. To effect this 
object, they now resort to conciliation and diplomacy. They sent 
westward George Croghan."' 

After closing a treaty with the Indians at Fort Pitt, Croghan 
started on his mission on the 15th of May 1765, going down the 
Ohio in two bateaux. His movements were known to the hostile 

* Croghan was an old trader who had spent his life among the Indians, and was 
versed in their language, ways and habits of thought, and who well knew how to flat- 
ter and cajole them. Besides this. Croghan enjoyed the advantage of a personal ac- 
quaintance with many of the chiefs and principal men of the Wabash tribes, who had 
met him while trading at Pickawillany and other places where he had trading estab- 
lishments. Among the Miami, Wea and Piankashaw bands Croghan had many Indian 
friends whose attachments toward him were very warm. He was a veteran, up to all 
the arts of the Indian council house, and had in years gone by conducted many impor- 
tant treaties between the authorities of New York and Pennsylvania with the Iroquois, 
Delawares and Shawnees. In the war for the fur trade Croghan suffered severely; the 
French captured his traders, confiscated his goods, and bankrupted his fortune. 



240 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

tribes. A war party of eighty Kickapoos and Mascoutins, '"spirited 
up " to the act by the French traders at Ouiatanon, as Croghan says 
in his Journal, left the latter place, and captured Croghan and his 
party at daybreak on the 8th of June, in the manner narrated in a 
previous chapter.* He was carried to Vincennes, his captors con- 
ducting him a devious course through marshes, tangled forests and 
small prairie, to the latter place. f 

After Croghan had procured wearing apparel ^his captors had 
stripped him well-nigh naked) and purchased some horses he 
crossed the Wabash, and soon entered the great prairie which he 
describes in extracts we have already taken from his journal. His 
route was up through Crawford, Edgar and Yermilion counties, fol- 
lowing the old traveled trail running along the divide between the 
Embarrass and the Wabash, and which was a part of the great high- 
way leading from Detroit to Kaskaskia;:}: crossed the Yermilion 
River near Danville, thence along the trail through Warren county, 
Indiana. Croghan, still a prisoner in charge of his captors, reached 
Ouiatonon on the afternoon of the 23d of June.§ Here the Weas, 

*P. 161. 

f Croghan, in his Journal, says: " I found Vincennes a village of eighty or ninety 
French families, settled on the east side of the river, being one of the finest situations 
that can be found. The French inhabitants hereabouts are an idle, lazy people, a 
parcel of renegadoes from Canada, and are much worse than the Indians. They took 
secret pleasure at our misfortune, and the moment we arrived they came to the Indians, 
exchanging trifles for their valuable plunder. Here is likewise an Indian village of 
Piankashaws, who were much displeased with the party that took me, telling them 
that ' our and your chiefs are gone to make peace, and you have begun war, for which 
our women and children will have reason to cry.' Port Vincent is a place of great 
consequence for trade, being a fine hunting country all along the Wabash." 

% That part of the route from Kaskaskia east, from the earliest settlement of Illi- 
nois and Indiana, was called "the old Vincennes trace." "This trace," says Gov. 
Reynolds, in his Pioneer History of Illinois, p. 79, "was celebrated in Illinois. The 
Indians laid it out more than one hundred and fifty years ago. It commenced at 
Detroit, thence to Ouiatonon, on the Wabash, thence to Vincennes and thence to Kas- 
kaskia. It was the Appian way of Illinois in ancient times. It is yet (in 1852) visible 
in many places between Kaskaskia and Vincennes." It was also visible for years after 
the white settlements began, between the last place, the Vermilion and Ouiatonon, on 
the route described. — [Author. 

§ Croghan says of Ouiatonon that there were " about fourteen French families liv- 
ing in the fort, which stands on the north side of the river; that the Kickapoos and 
Mascoutins, whose warriors had taken us, live nigh the fort, on the same side of the 
river, where they have two villages, and the Ouicatonons or Wawcottonans [as Croghan 
variously spells the name of the WeasJ have a village on the south side of the river." 
"On the south side of the Wabash runs a. high bank, in which are several very fine 
coal mines, and behind this bank is a very large meadow, clear for several miles." The 
printer made a mistake in setting up Croghan 's manuscript, or else Croghan himself 
committed an unintentional error in his diary in substituting the word south for north 
in describing the side of the river on which the appearances of coal banks are found. The 
only locality on the banks of the Wabash, above the Vermilion, where the carbonifer- 
ous shales resembling coal are exposed is on the west, or north bank, of the river, about 
four miles above Independence, at a place known as "Black Rock" which, says Prof. 
Collett, in his report on the geology of Warren county, Indiana, published in the Geolog- 
ical Survey of Indiana for 1873, pp. 224-5, " is a notable and romantic feature in the river 
scenery." "A precipitous or overhanging cliff exhibits an almost sheer descent of a 



SUCCESS OF CROGHAN'S MISSION. 241 

from the opposite side of the river, took great interest in Mr. 
Croghan, and were deeply "concerned at what had happened. 
They charged the Kiekapoos and Mascoutins to take the greatest 
care of him, and the Indians and white men captured with him, until 
their chiefs should arrive from Fort Chartres, whither they had gone, 
some time before, to meet him, and who were necessarily ignorant of 
his being captured on his way to the same place." From the 1th to 
the sth of July Croghan held conferences with the Weas, Pianke- 
shaws, Kiekapoos and Mascoutins, in which, he says, "I was lucky 
enough to reconcile those nations to His Majesty's interests, and ob- 
tained their consent to take possession of the posts in their country 
which the French formerly possessed, and they offered their services 
should any nation oppose our taking such possession, all of which they 
confirmed by four large pipes."* On the 11th a messenger arrived 
from Fort Chartres requesting the Indians to take Croghan and his 
party thither ; and as Fort Chartres was the place to which he had 
originally designed going, he desired the chiefs to get ready to set 
out with him for that place as soon as possible. On the 13th the 
chiefs from "the Miamis " came in and renewed their "ancient 
friendship with His Majesty." On the 18th Croghan, with his party 
and the chiefs of the Miami and other tribes we have mentioned, 
forming an imposing procession, started off across the country 
toward Fort Chartres. On the way (neither Croghan' s official report 
or his private journal show the place) they met the great "Pontiac 
himself, together with the deputies of the Iroquois, Delawares and 
Shawnees,! who had gone on around to Fort Chartres with Capt. 

hundred and forty feet to the Wabash, at its foot. The top is composed of yellow, red, 
brown or black conglomerate sandrock, highly ferruginous, and in part pebbly. At the 
base of the sandrock, where it joins upon the underlying carbonaceous, and pyritous 
shales are 'pot 1 or 'rock-houses,' which so constantly accompany this formation in 
southern Indiana. Some of these, of no great height, have been tunneled back under 
the cliff to a distance, of thirty or forty feet by force of the ancient river once flowing 
at this level. 1 ' The position, in many respects, is like Starved Rock, on the Illinois, 
where La Salle built Fort St. Louis, and commands a fine view of the Wea plains, 
across the river eastward, and, before the recent growth of timber, of an arm of the 
Grand Prairie to the westward. The stockade fort and trading-post of Ouiatonon has 
often been confounded with the Wea villages, which were strung for several miles along 
the margin of the prairie, near the river, between Attica and La Fayette, on the south 
or east side of the river; and some writers have mistaken it for the village of Keth- 
tip-e-ca-nuk, situated on the north bank of the Wabash River, near the mouth of the 
Tippecanoe. The fort was abandoned as a military post after its capture from the 
British by the Indians. It was always a place of considerable trade to the English, as 
well as the French. Thomas Hutchins, in his Historical and Topographical Atlas, pub- 
lished in 1778, estimates "the annual amount of skins and furs obtained at Ouiatonon 
at forty thousand dollars." 

* Croghan's official report to Sir Wm. Johnson: London Documents, vol. 7, p. 780. 

t These last-named Indian deputies, with Mr. Frazer, had gone down the Ohio with 
Croghan, and thence on to Fort Chartres. Not hearing anything from Croghan, or 
knowing what had become of him, Pontiac and these Indian deputies, on learning that 
Croghan was at Ouiatanon, set out for that place to meet him. 
16 



242 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Frazer. The whole party, with deputies from the Illinois Indians, 
now returned to Ouiatanon, and there held another conference, in 
which were settled all matters with the Illinois Indians. " Pontiac 
and the Illinois deputies agreed to everything which the other tribes 
had conceded in the previous conferences at Ouiatanon, all of which 
was ratified with a solemn formality of pipes and belts.""* 

Here, then, upon the banks of the Wabash at Ouiatonon, did the 
Indian tribes, with the sanction of Pontiac, solemnly surrender pos- 
session of the northwest territory to the accredited agent of Great 
Britain, f Croghan and his party, now swollen to a large body by 
the accession of the principal chiefs of the several nations, set out 
"for the Miamis, and traveled the whole way through a fine rich 
bottom, alongside the Ouabache, arriving at Eel River on the 27th. 
About six miles up this river they found a small village of the 
Twightwee, situated on a very delightful spot of ground on the bank 
of the river.";}: Croghan's private journal continues: "July 28th, 
29th, 30th and 31st we traveled still alongside the Eel River, passing 
through line clear woods and some good meadows, though not so 
large as those we passed some days before. The country is more 
overgrown with woods, the soil is sufficiently rich, and well watered 
with springs." 

On the 1st of August they "arrived at the carrying place be- 
tween the River Miamis and the Ouabache, which is about nine miles 
long in dry seasons, but not above half that length in freshets.'' 1 
"Within a mile of the Twightwee village," says Croghan, "I was 
met by the chiefs of that nation, who received us very kindly. Most 
part of these Indians knew me, and conducted me to their village, 
where they immediately hoisted an English flag that / had formerly 
given them at Fort Pitt. The next day they held a council, after 
which they gave me up all the English prisoners they had, and ex- 
pressed the pleasure it gave them to see [that] the unhappy differ- 
ences which had embroiled the several nations in a war with their 
brethren, the English, were now so near a happy conclusion, and 
that peace was established in their country. "§ 

* Croghan's official report, already quoted. 

f It is true that Pontiac, with deputies of all the westward tribes, followed Croghan 
to Detroit, where another conference took place; but this was only a more formal rati- 
fication of the surrender which the Indians declared they had already made of the 
country at Ouiatonon. 

^The Miami Indian name of this village was Ke-na-pa-com-a-qua. Its French 
name was A l'Anguille, or Eel River town. The Miami name of Eel River was Kin- 
na-peei-kuoh Sepe, or Water Snake (the Indians call the eel a water-snake fish) River. 
The village was situated on the north bank of Eel River, about six miles from Logans- 
port. It was scattered along the l-iver for some three miles. 

§The following is Mr. Croghan's description of the "Miamis," as it appeared in 



PONTIAC'S TRAGIC DEATH. 24:5 

From the Miamis the party proceeded down the Maumee in 
canoes. "About ninety miles, continues the journal, from the Miamis 
or Twightwee we came to where a large river, that heads in a large 
'lick^ falls into the Miami River; this they call 'The Forks.' 
The Ottawas claim this country and hunt here.* This nation for- 
merly lived at Detroit, but are now settled here on account of the 
richness of the country, where game is always to be found in plenty.' 1 

From Defiance Croghan's party were obliged to drag their canoes 
several miles, "on account of the rifts which interrupt the naviga- 
tion," at the end of which they came to a village of Wyandottes, who 
received them kindly. From thence they proceeded in their canoes 
to the mouth of the Maumee. Passing several large bays and a 
number of rivers, they reached the Detroit River on the 16th of 
August, and Detroit on the following morning, f 

As for Pontiac, his fate was tragical. He was fond of the French, 
and often visited the Spanish post at St. Louis, whither many of his 
old friends had gone from the Illinois side of the river. One day in 
1767, as is supposed, he came to Mr. St. Ange (this veteran soldier 
of France still remained in the country), and said he was going over 
to Cahokia to visit the Kaskaskia Indians. St. Ange endeavored to 
dissuade him from it, reminding him of the little friendship existing 
between him and the British. Pontiac' s answer was : "Captain, I 
am a man. I know how to fight. I have always fought openly. 
They will not murder me, and if any one attacks me as a brave man, 

1765: "The Twightwee village is situated on both sides of a river called St. Joseph's. 
This river, where it falls into the Miami River, about a quarter of a mile from this 
place, is one hundred yards wide, on the east side of which stands a stockade fort some- 
what ruinous." The Indian village consists of about forty or fifty cabins, besides nine 
•or ten French houses, a runaway colony from Detroit during the late Indian war; they 
were concerned in it, and being afraid of punishment came to this post, where they 
.have ever since spirited up the Indians against the English. All the French residing 
.here are a lazy, indolent people, fond of breeding mischief, and they should not be 
suffered to remain. The country is pleasant, the soil rich and well watered." 

*The place referred to is the mouth of the Auglaize, often designated as "The 
Forks " in many of the early accounts of the country. It may be noted that Croghan, 
like nearly all other early travelers, overestimates distances. 

f Croghan describes Detroit as a large stockade "inclosing about eighty houses. It 
stands on the north side of the river on a high bank, and commands a very pleasant 
prospect for nine miles above and below the fort. The country is thick settled with 
French. Their plantations are generally laid out about three or four acres in breadth 
on the river, and eighty acres in depth; the soil is good, producing plenty of grain. 
All the people here are generally poor wretches, and consist of three or four hundred 
French families, a lazy, idle people, depending chiefly on the savages for their subsist- 
ence. Though the land, with little labor, produces plenty of grain, they scarcely raise as 
much as will supply their wants, in imitation of Indians, whose manners and customs 
they have entirely adopted, and cannot subsist without them. The men, women and 
children speak the Indian tongue perfectly well." At the conclusion of the lengthy 
conferences with the Indians, in which all matters were " settled to their satisfaction," 
Croghan set out from Detroit for Niagara, coasting along the north shore of Lake Erie 
in a birch canoe, arriving at the latter place on the 8th of October. 



244 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

I am his match." Pontiac went over the river, was feasted, got 
drunk, and retired to the woods to sing medicine songs. In the 
meanwhile, an English merchant named Williamson bribed a Kas- 
kaskia Indian with a barrel of rum and promises of a greater reward 
if he would take Pontiac' s life. Pontiac was struck with a pa-ka- 
ma-gon — tomahawk, and his skull fractured, causing death. This 
murder aroused the vengeance of all the Indian tribes friendly to 
Pontiac, and brought about the war resulting in the almost total ex- 
termination of the Illinois nation. He was a remarkably fine-looking 
man, neat in his person, and tasty in dress and in the arrangement 
of his ornaments. His complexion is said to have approached that 
of the whites. " St. Ange, hearing of Pontiac' s death, kindly took 
charge of the body, and gave it a decent burial near the fort, the 
site of which is now covered by the city of St. Louis. "Neither 
mound nor tablet," says Francis Parkman, "marked the burial- 
place of Pontiac. For a mausoleum a city has arisen above the for- 
est hue, and the race whom he hated with such burning rancor tram- 
ple with unceasing footsteps over his forgotten grave." 

*I. N. Nicollet's Report, etc., p. 81. Mr. Nicollet received his information con- 
cerning Pontiac from Col. Pierre Chouteau, of St. Louis, and Col. Pierre Menard, of 
Kaskaskia, who were personally acquainted with the facts. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



GEN. CLARK'S CONQUEST OF "THE ILLINOIS." 

After the Indians had submitted to English rule the west en- 
joyed a period of quiet. When the American colonists, long com- 
plaining against the oppressive acts of the mother country, broke 
out into open revolt, and the war of the revolution fairly began, 
the English, from the westward posts of Detroit, Vincennes and 
Kaskaskia, incited the Indians 
against the frontier settlements, 
and from these depots supplied 
their war parties with guns and 
ammunition. The depredations 
of the Indians in Kentucky were 
so severe that in the fall of 1777 
George Rogers Clark conceived, 
and next year executed, an expe- 
dition against the French settle- 
ments of Kaskaskia and Vin- 
cennes, which not only relieved 
Kentucky from the incursions 
of the savages, but at the same 
time resulted in consequences 
which are without parallel in the 
annals of the Northwest.* 




6EN. CLARK. 



* Gen. Clark was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, on the 19th of November, 
1752, and died and was buried at Locust Grove, near Louisville, Kentucky, in February, 
1818. He came to Kentucky in the spring of 1775, and became early identified as a 
conspicuous leader in the border wars of that country. The border settlers of Kentucky 
could not successfully contend against the numerous and active war parties from the 
Wabash who were continually lurking in their neighborhoods, coming, as Indians do, 
stealthily, striking a blow where least expected, and escaping before assistance could 
relieve the localities which they devastated, killing women and children, destroying 
live stock and burning the pioneers' cabins. Clark conceived the idea of capturing 
Vincennes and Kaskaskia. Keeping his plans to himself, he proceeded to Williams- 
burg and laid them before Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia, who promptly 
aided in their execution. From Gov. Henry Clark received two sets of instructions, 
one, to enlist seven companies of men, ostensibly for the protection of the people of 
Kentucky, which at that time was a county of Virginia, the other, a secret order, to 
attack the British post of Kaskaskia! The result of his achievements was overshad- 
owed by the stirring events of the revolution eastward of the Alleghanies, where other 
heroes were winning a glory that dazzled while it drew public attention exclusively to 

•245 



246 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

The account here given of Clark^s campaign in "The Illinois" is 
taken from a manuscript memoir composed by Clark himself, at the 
joint request of Presidents Jefferson and Madison.* We prefer 
giving the account in Gen. Clark's own words, as far as practicable. 

The memoir of Gen. Clark proceeds: " On the (24th) of June, 
1778, we left our little island, f and run about a mile up the river in 
order to gain the main channel, and shot the falls at the very mo- 
ment of the sun being in a great eclipse, which caused various con- 
jectures among the superstitious. As I knew that spies were kept 
on the river below the towns of the Illinois, I had resolved to march 
part of the way by land, and of course left the whole of our bag- 
gage, except as much as would equip us in the Indian mode. The 
whole of our force, after leaving such as was judged not competent 
to [endure] the expected fatigue, consisted only of four companies, 
commanded by Captains John Montgomery, Joseph Bowman, 
Leonard Helms and William Harrod. My force being so small to 
what I expected, owing to the various circumstances already men- 
tioned, I found it necessary to alter my plans of operation. 

" I had fully acquainted myself that the French inhabitants in 
those western settlements had great influence among the Indians in 
general, and were more beloved by them than any other Europeans ; 
that their commercial intercourse was universal throughout the west- 
ern and northwestern countries, and that the governing interest on 
the lakes was mostly in the hands of the English, who were not 
much beloved by them. These, and many other ideas similar 
thereto, caused me to resolve, if possible, to strengthen myself by 
such train of conduct as might probably attach the French inhabit- 
ants to our interest, and give us influence in the country we were 
aiming for. These were the principles that influenced my future 
conduct, and, fortunately, I had just received a letter from Col. 

them. The west was a wilderness, — excepting the isolated French settlements about 
Kaskaskia, and at Vincennes and Detroit, — and occupied only by savages and wild 
animals. It was not until after the great Northwest began to be settled, and its capa- 
bilities to sustain the empire, — since seated in its lap, — was realized, that the magni- 
tude of the conquest forced itself into notice. The several states of Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, carved out of the territory which he so gloriously 
won, — nay, the whole nation, — owe to the memory of George Rogers Clark a debt of 
gratitude that cannot be repaid in a mere expression of words. An account of his life 
and eminent services, worthy of the man, yet remains to be written. 

*.Iudge John B. Dillon, when preparing his first history of Indiana, in 1843, had 
access to Clark's original manuscript memoir, and copied copious extracts in the vol- 
ume named, and it is from this source that the extracts appearing in this work were 
taken. This book of Judge Dillon is not to be confounded with a History of Indiana, 
prepared and published by him in 1859. His first book, although somewhat crude, is 
exceedingly valuable for the historical matter it contains relating to the whole North- 
west, while the latter is a better digested history of the state of which he was an emi- 
nent citizen. 

t At Louisville. 



clark's campaign. 247 

Campbell, dated Pittsburgh, informing me of the contents of the 
treaties* between France and America. As I intended to leave the 
Ohio at Fort Massac, three leagues below the Tennessee, I landed 
on a small island in the mouth of that river, in order to prepare for 
the march. In a few hours after, one John Duff and a party of 
hunters coming down the river were brought to by our boats. They 
were men formerly from the states, and assured us of their happiness 
in the adventure. . . . They had been but lately from Kaskaskia, 
and were able to give us all the intelligence we wished. They said 
that Gov. Abbot had lately left Port Yincennes, and gone to Detroit 
on business of importance ; that Mr. Eochblave commanded at Kas- 
kaskia, etc.; that the militia was kept in good order, and spies on 
the Mississippi, and that all hunters, both Indians and others, were 
ordered to keep a good look-out for the rebels ; that the fort was kept 
in good order as an asylum, etc., but they believed the whole to 
proceed more from the fondness for parade than the expectation of 
a visit ; that if they received timely notice of us. they would collect 
and give us a warm reception, as they were taught to harbor a most 
horrid idea of the rebels, especially the Virginians ; but that if we 
could surprise the place, which they were in hopes we might, they 
made no doubt of our being able to do as we pleased ; that they 
hoped to be received as partakers in the enterprise, and wished us 
to put full confidence in them, and they would assist the guides in 
conducting the party. This was agreed to, and they proved valua- 
ble men. 

ki The acquisition to us was great, as I had no intelligence from 
those posts since the spies I sent twelve months past. But no part 
of their information pleased me more than that of the inhabitants 
viewing us as more savage than their neighbors, the Indians. I was 
determined to improve upon this if I was fortunate enough to get 
them into my possession, as I conceived the greater the shock I 
could give them at first the more sensibly would they feel my lenity, 
and become more valuable friends. This I conceived to be agree- 
able to human nature, as I had observed it in many instances. 
Having everything prepared, we moved down to a little gullv a 
small distance above Massac, in which we concealed our boats, and 
set out a northwest course. The weather was favorable. In some 
parts water was scarce, as well as game. Of course we suffered 
drought and hunger, but not to excess. On the third day John 

*The timely information received of the alliance between the United States and 
France was made use of by Gen. Clark with his usual tact and with great success, as 
will be seen farther on. 



248 HISTORIC NOTES OX THE NORTHWEST. 

Saunders, our principal guide, appeared confused, and we soon dis- 
covered that lie was totally lost, without there was some other cause 
of his present conduct. 

" I asked him various questions, and from his answers I could 
scarcely determine what to think of him, — whether or not that he 
was lost, or that he wished to deceive us. . . . The cry of the whole 
detachment was that he was a traitor. He begged that he might be 
suffered to go some distance into a plain that was in full view, to try 
to make some discovery whether or not he was right. I told him he 
might go, but that I was suspicious of him, from his conduct ; that 
from the first day of his being employed he always said he knew the 
way well ; that there was now a different appearance ; that I saw the 
nature of the country was such that a person once acquainted with 
it could not in a short time forget it ; that a few men should go with 
him to prevent his escape, and that if he did not discover and take 
us into the hunter's road that led from the east into Kaskaskia, 
which he had frequently described, I would have him immediately 
put to death, which I was determined to have done. But after a 
search of an hour or two he came to a place that he knew perfectly, 
and we discovered that the poor fellow had been, as they call it, 
bewildered. 

" On the fourth of July, in the evening, we got within a few miles 
of the town, where we lay until near dark, keeping spies ahead, after 
which we commenced our march, and took possession of a house 
wherein a large family lived, on the bank of the Kaskaskia River, 
about three-quarters of a mile above the town. Here we were in- 
formed that the people a few days before were under arms, but had 
concluded that the cause of the alarm was without foundation, and 
that at that time there was a great number of men in town, but that 
the Indians had generally left it, and at present all was quiet. We 
soon procured a sufficiency of vessels, the more in ease to convey us 
across the river. 

"With one of the divisions I marched to the fort, and ordered the 
other two into different quarters of the town. If I met with no resist- 
ance, at a certain signal a general shout was to be given and certain 
parts were to be immediately possessed, and men of each detach- 
ment, who could speak the French language, were to run through 
every street and proclaim what had happened, and inform the inhab- 
itants that every person that appeared in the streets would be shot 
down. This disposition had its desired effect. In a very little time 
we had complete possession, and every avenue was guarded to prevent 
any escape to give the alarm to the other villages in case of opposi- 



clark's conquest. 249 

tion. Various orders had been issued not worth mentioning. I don't 
suppose greater silence ever reigned among the inhabitants of a 
place than did at this at present ; not a person to be seen, not a word 
to be heard by them, for some time, but, designedly, the greatest 
noise kept up by our troops through every quarter of the town, and 
patrols continually the whole night around it, as intercepting any 
information was a capital object, and in about two hours the whole 
of the inhabitants were disarmed, and informed that if one was taken 
attempting to make his escape he should be immediately put to 
death." 

When Col. Clark, by the use of various bloodless means, had 
raised the terror of the French inhabitants to a painful height, he 
surprised them, and won their confidence and friendship, by perform- 
ing, unexpectedly, several acts of justice and generosity. On the 
morning of the 5th of July a few of the principal men were arrested 
and put in irons. Soon afterward M. Gibault, the priest of the vil- 
lage, accompanied by five or six aged citizens, waited on Col. Clark, 
and said that the inhabitants expected to be separated, perhaps never 
to meet again, and they begged to be permitted to assemble in their 
church, and there to take leave of each other. Col. Clark mildly 
told the priest that he had nothing to say against his religion ; that 
it was a matter which Americans left for every man to settle with his 
God ; that the people might assemble in their church, if they would, 
but that they must not venture out of town. 

Nearly the whole French population assembled at the church. 
The houses were deserted by all who could leave them, and Col. 
Clark gave orders to prevent any soldiers from entering the vacant 
buildings. After the close of the meeting at the church a deputation, 
consisting of M. Guibault and several other persons, waited on Col. 
Clark, and said "that their present situation was the fate of war, and 
that they could submit to the loss of their property, but they solic- 
ited that they might not be separated from their wives and children, 
and that some clothes and provisions might be allow r ed for their 
support." Clark feigned surprise at this request, and abruptly 
exclaimed, "Do you mistake us for savages '. I am almost cer- 
tain you do from your language ! Do you think that Americans 
intend to strip women and children, or take the bread out of their 
mouths? My countrymen, " said Clark, "disdain to make war 
upon helpless innocence. It was to prevent the horrors of Indian 
butchery upon our own wives and children that we have taken arms 
and penetrated into this remote stronghold of British and Indian 
barbarity, and not the despicable prospect of plunder; that now the 



250 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

king of France had united his powerful arms with those of America, 
the war would not, in all probability, continue long, but the inhabit- 
ants of Kaskaskia were at liberty to take which side they pleased, 
without the least danger to either their property or families. Nor 
would their religion be any source of disagreement, as all religions 
were regarded with equal respect in the eye of the American law, 
and that any insult offered to it would be immediately punished." 

"And now," Clark continues, "to prove my sincerity, you will 
please inform your fellow-citizens that they are quite at liberty to 
conduct themselves as usual, without the least apprehension. I am 
now convinced, from what I have learned since my arrival among 
you, that you have been misinformed and prejudiced against us by 
British officers, and your friends who are in confinement shall imme- 
diately be released."* In a few minutes after the delivery of this 
speech the gloom that rested on the minds of the inhabitants of 
Kaskaskia had passed away. The news of the treaty of alliance 
between France and the United States, and the influence of the mag- 
nanimous conduct of Clark, induced the French villagers to take the 
oath of allegiance to the state of Virginia. Their arms were restored 
to them, and a volunteer company of French militia joined a detach- 
ment under Capt. Bowman, when that officer was dispatched to take 
possession of Cahokia. The inhabitants of this small village, on 
hearing what had taken place at Kaskaskia, readily took the oath of 
allegiance to Virginia. 

The memoir of Clark proceeds: " Post Vincennes never being 
out of my mind, and from some things that I had learned I suspected 
that Mr. Gibault, the priest, was inclined to the American interest 
previous to our arrival in the country. He had great influence over 
the people at this period, and Post Vincennes was under his juris- 
diction. I made no doubt of his integrity to us. I sent for him, 
and had a lone; conference with him on the subject of Post Vincennes. 
In answer to all my queries he informed me that he did not think it 
worth my while to cause any military preparation to be made at the 
Falls of the Ohio for the attack of Post Vincennes, although the place 
was strong and a great number of Indians in its neighborhood, who, 
to his knowledge, were generally at war; that the governor had, a 
few weeks before, left the place on some business to Detroit ; that 
he expected that when the inhabitants were fully acquainted with 
what had passed at the Illinois, and the present happiness of their 
friends, and made fully acquainted with the nature of the war, their 
sentiments would greatly change; that he knew 7 that his appearance 

* Clark's Memoir. 



SECURES VINCENNES. 251 

there would have great weight, even among the savages ; that if 
it was agreeable to me he would take this business on himself, and 
had no doubt of his being able to bring that place over to the Amer- 
ican interest without my being at the trouble of marching against it ; 
that the business being altogether spiritual, he wished that another 
person might be charged with the temporal part of the embassy, but 
that he would privately direct the whole, and he named Dr. Lafont 
as his associate. 

"This was perfectly agreeable to what I had been secretly aim- 
ing at for some days. The plan was immediately settled, and the 
two doctors, with their intended retinue, among whom I had a spy, 
set about preparing for their journey, and set out on the 14th of July, 
with an address to the inhabitants of Post Vincennes, authorizing 
them to garrison their own town themselves, which would convince 
them of the great confidence we put in them, etc. All this had its 
desired effect. Mr. Gibault and his party arrived safe, and after 
their spending a day or two in explaining matters to the people, 
they universally acceded to the proposal (except a few emissaries 
left by Mr. Abbot, who immediately left the country), and went in a 
body to the church, where the oath of allegiance was administered 
to them in a most solemn manner. An officer was elected, the fort 
immediately [garrisoned], and the American flag displayed to the 
astonishment of the Indians, and everything settled far beyond our 
most sanguine hopes. The people here immediately began to put 
on a new face, and to talk in a different style, and to act as perfect 
freemen. With a garrison of their own, with the United States at 
their elbow, their language to the Indians was immediately altered. 
They began as citizens of the United States, and informed the 
Indians that their old father, the king of France, was come to life 
again, and was mad at them for fighting for the English ; that they 
would advise them to make peace with the Americans as soon as 
they could, otherwise they might expect the land to be very bloody, 
etc. The Indians began to think seriously ; throughout the country 
this was the kind of language they generally got from their ancient 
friends of the Wabash and Illinois. Through the means of their 
correspondence spreading among the nations, our batteries began 
now to play in a proper channel. Mr. Gibault and party, accom- 
panied by several gentlemen of Post Vincennes, returned to Kas- 
kaskia about the 1st of August with the joyful news. During his 
absence on this business, which caused great anxiety to me (for 
without the possession of this post all our views would have been 
blasted), I was exceedingly engaged in regulating things in the Illi- 



252 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

nois. The reduction of these posts was the period of the enlistment 
of our troops. I was at a great loss at the time to determine how 
to act, and how far I might venture to strain my authority. My 
instructions were silent on many important points, as it was impos- 
sible to foresee the events that would take place. To abandon the 
country, and all the prospects that opened to our view in the Indian 
department at this time, for the want of instruction in certain cases, 
I thought would amount to a reflection on government, as having no 
confidence in me. I resolved to usurp all the authority necessary to 
carry my points. I had the greater part of our [troops] reenlisted 
on a different establishment, commissioned French officers in the 
country to command a company of the young inhabitants, estab- 
lished a garrison at Cahokia, commanded by Capt. Bowman, and 
another at Kaskaskia, commanded by Capt. Williams. Post Vin- 
cennes remained in the situation as mentioned. CqI. William Linn, 
who had accompanied us as a volunteer, took charge of a party 
that was to be discharged upon their arrival at the Falls, and 
orders were sent for the removal of that post to the mainland. 
Capt. John Montgomery was dispatched to government with letters. 
. . . I again turned my attention to Post Vincennes. I plainly saw 
that it would be highly necessary to have an American officer at that 
post. Capt. Leonard Helm appeared calculated to answer my pur- 
pose ; he was past the meridian of life, and a good deal acquainted 
with the Indian [disposition]. I sent him to command at that post, 
and also appointed him agent for Indian affairs in the department of 
the Wabash. . . . About the middle of August he set out to take 
possession of his new command."'' Thus, ,1 says Clark, referring to 



* "An Indian chief called the Tobacco's Son, a Piankeshaw, at this time resided in 
a village adjoining Post Vincennes. This man was called by the Indians ' The Grand 
Door to the Wabash ' ; and as nothing of consequence was to be undertaken by the 
league on the Wabash without his assent, I discovered that to win him was an object 
of signal importance. I sent him a spirited compliment by Mr. Gibault ; he returned 
it. I now, by Capt. Helm, touched him on the same spring that I had done the inhab- 
itants, and sent a speech, with a belt of wampum, directing Capt. Helm how to man- 
age if the chief was pacifically inclined or otherwise. The captain arrived safe at Post 
Vincennes, and was received with acclamations by the people. After the usual cere- 
mony was over he sent for the Grand Door, and delivered my letter to him. After 
having read it, he informed the captain that he was happy to see him, one of the Big 
Knife chiefs, in this town; it was here he had joined the English against him; but he 
confessed that he always thought they looked gloomy; that as the contents of the let- 
ter were of great moment, he could not give an answer for some time; that he must 
collect his counsellors on the subject, and was in hopes the captain would be patient. 
In short, he put on all the courtly dignity that he was master of, and Capt. Helm fol- 
lowing his example, it was several days before this business was finished, as the whole 
proceeding was very ceremonious. At length the captain was invited to the Indian 
council, and informed by Tobacco that they had maturely considered the case in hand, 
and had got the nature of the war between the English and us explained to their sat- 
isfaction; that as we spoke the same language and appeared to be the same people, he 
always thought that he was in the dark as to the truth of it, but now the sky was 



CLARK'S INFLUENCE OVER THE INDIANS. 253 

Helm's success, "ended this valuable negotiation, and the saving of 
much blood. ... In a short time almost the whole of the various 
tribes of the different nations on the Wabash, as high as the Ouia- 
tanon, came to Post Vincennes, and followed the example of the 
Grand Door Chief; and as expresses were continually passing be- 
tween Capt. Helm and myself the whole time of these treaties, the 
business was settled perfectly to my satisfaction, and greatly to the 
advantage of the public. The British interest daily lost ground in 
this quarter, and in a short time our influence reached the Indians 
on the River St. Joseph and the border of Lake Michigan. The 
French gentlemen at the different posts we now had possession of 
engaged warmly in our interest. They appeared to vie with each 
other in promoting the business, and through the means of their 
correspondence, trading among the Indians, and otherwise, in a 
short time the Indians of various tribes inhabiting the region of 
Illinois came in great numbers to Cahokia, in order to make treaties 
of peace with us. From the information they generally got from 
the French gentlemen (whom they implicitly believed) respecting us, 
they were truly alarmed, and, consequently, we were visited by the 
greater part of them, without any invitation from us. Of course we 
had greatly the advantage in making use of such language as suited 
our [interest]. Those treaties, which commenced about the last of 
August and continued between three and four weeks, were probably 
conducted in a way different from any other known in America at 
that time. I had been always convinced that our general conduct 
with the Indians was wrong ; that inviting them to treaties was con- 
sidered by them in a different manner from what we expected, and 
imputed by them to fear, and that giving them great presents con- 
firmed it. I resolved to guard against this, and I took good pains 
to make myself acquainted fully with the French and Spanish 
methods of treating Indians, and with the manners, genius and dis- 
position of the Indians in general. As in this quarter they had not 
yet been spoiled by us, I was resolved that they should not be. I 
began the business fully prepared, having copies of the British trea- 
ties." 

At the first great council, which was opened at Cahokia, an Indian 
chief, with a belt of peace in his hand, advanced to the table at which 

cleared up; that he found that the ' Big Knife' was in the right; that perhaps if the 
English conquered, they would serve them in the same manner that they intended to 
serve us; that his ideas were quite changed, and that he would tell all the red people 
on the Wabash to bloody the land no more for the English. He jumped up, struck 
his breast, called himself a man and a warrior, said that he was now a Big Knife, and 
took Capt. Helm by the hand. His example was followed by all present, and the 
evening was spent in merriment." 



254 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Col. Clark was sitting; another chief, bearing the sacred pipe of the 
tribe, went forward to the table, and a third chief then advanced 
with lire to kindle the pipe. When the pipe was lighted it was fig- 
uratively presented to the heavens, then to the earth, then to all the 
good spirits, to witness what was about to be done. After the ob- 
servance of these forms the pipe was presented to Clark, and after- 
ward to every person present. An Indian speaker then addressed 
the Indians as follows : " Warriors, — You ought to be thankful that 
the Great Spirit has taken pity on you, and cleared the sky and 
opened your ears and hearts, so that you may hear the truth. We 
have been deceived by bad birds flying through the land. But we 
will take up the bloody hatchet no more against the Big Knife," and 
we hope, as the Great Spirit has brought us together for good, as he 
is good, that we may be received as friends, and that the belt of 
peace may take the place of the bloody belt.' 1 

"I informed them," says Clark, "that I had paid attention to 
what they had said, and" that on the next day I would give them an 
answer, when I hoped the ears and hearts of all people would be 
opened to receive the truth, which should be spoken without decep- 
tion. I advised them to keep prepared for the result of this day, on 
which, perhaps, their very existence as a nation depended, etc., and 
dismissed them, not suffering any of our people to shake hands with 
them, as peace was not yet concluded, telling them it was time enough 
to give the hand when the heart could be given also. They replied 
that ' such sentiments were like men who had but one heart, and did 
not speak with a double tongue.' The next day I delivered them the 
following speech : 

'Men and Warriors, — Pay attention to my words: You informed 
me yesterday that the Great Spirit had brought us together, and that 
you hoped, as he was good, that it would be for good. I have also 
the same hope, and expect that each party will strictly adhere to 
whatever may be agreed upon, whether it be peace or war, and hence- 
forward prove ourselves worthy of the attention of the Great Spirit. 
I am a man and a warrior, — not a counsellor. I carry war in my 

* The early border men of Virginia and her county of Kentucky usually carried 
very large knives. From this circumstance the Virginians were called, in the Illinois 
(Miami) dialect, She-mol-sea, meaning the "Big Knife." At a later day the same 
appellation, under the Chippewayan word Che-mo-ko-man, was extended, by the 
Indians, to the white people generally, — always excepting the Englishman proper, 
whom they called the Sag-e-nash, and the Yankees to whom they gave the epithet of 
Bos-to-ne-ly , i.e., the Bostonians. The term is derived from the Miami word mal-she, 
or mol-sea, a knife, or the Ojibbeway mo-Jco-man, which means the same thing. The 
prefix che or she emphasizes the kind or size of the instrument, as a huge, long or big 
knife. Such is the origin of the expression " long knives," frequently found in books 
where Indian characters occur. 



CLARK'S SPEECH TO THE INDIANS. 255 

right hand, and in my left, peace. I am sent by the great council of 
the Big Knife, and their friends, to take possession of all the towns 
possessed by the English in this country, and to watch the motions 
of the red people ; to bloody the paths of those who attempt to stop 
the course of the river, but to clear the roads from us to those who 
desire to be in peace, that the women and children may walk in them 
without meeting anything to strike their feet against. I am ordered 
to call upon the Great Fire for warriors enough to darken the land, 
and that the red people may hear no sound but of birds who live on 
blood. I know there is a mist before your eyes. I will dispel the 
clouds, that you may clearly see the cause of the war between the 
Big Knife and the English, then you may judge for yourselves which 
party is in the right, and if you are warriors, as you profess to be, 
prove it by adhering faithfully to the party which you shall believe 
to be entitled to your friendship, and do not show yourselves to be 
squaws. 

'The Big Knives are very much like the red people. They don't 
know how to make blankets and powder and cloth. They buy these 
things from the English, from whom they are sprung. They live by 
making corn, hunting and trade, as you and your neighbors, the 
French, do. But the Big Knives, daily getting more numerous, like 
the trees in the woods, the land became poor and hunting scarce, 
and having but little to trade with, the women began to cry at seeing 
their children naked, and tried to learn how to make clothes for 
themselves. They soon made blankets for their husbands and chil- 
dren, and the men learned to make guns and powder. In this way 
we did not want to buy so much from the English. They then got 
mad with us, and sent strong garrisons through our country, as you 
see they have done among you on the lakes, and among the French. 
They would not let our women spin, nor our men make powder, nor 
let us trade with anybody else. The English said we should buy 
everything of them, and since we had got saucy we should give two 
bucks for a blanket, which we used to get for one ; we should do as 
they pleased ; and they killed some of our people, to make the rest 
fear them. This is the truth, and the real cause of the war between 
the English and us, which did not take place until some time after 
this treatment. 

w But our women became cold and hungry and continued to cry. 
Our young men got lost for want of counsel to put them in the right 
path. The whole land was dark. The old men held down their 
heads for shame, because they could not see the sun ; and thus there 
was mourning for many years over the land. At last the Great 



256 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Spirit took pity on us, and kindled a great council fire, that never 
goes out, at a place called Philadelphia. He then stuck down 
a post, and put a war tomahawk by it, and went away. The sun 
immediately broke out, the sky was blue again, and the old men 
held up their heads and assembled at the fire. They took up the 
hatchet, sharpened it, and put it into the hands of our young men, 
ordering them to strike the English as long as they could find one 
on this side of the great waters. The young men immediately struck 
the war post and blood was shed. In this way the war began, and 
the English were driven from one place to another until they got 
weak, and then they hired you red people to fight for them. The 
Great Spirit got angry at this, and caused your old father, the 
French king, and other great nations, to join the Big Knives, and 
fight with them against all their enemies. So the English have be- 
come like deer in the woods, and you may see that it is the Great 
Spirit that has caused your waters to be troubled, because you have 
fought for the people he was mad with. If your women and chil- 
dren should now cry, you must blame yourselves for it, and not the 
Big Knives. 

' You can now judge who is in the right. I have already told 
you who I am. Here is a bloody belt and a white one, take which 
you please. Bel;ave like men, and don't let your being surrounded 
by the Big Knives cause you to take up the one belt with your hands 
while your hearts take up the other. If you take the bloody path, 
you shall leave the town in safety, and may go and join your friends, 
the English. We will then try, like warriors, who can put the most 
stumbling-blocks in each other's way, and keep our clothes longest 
stained with blood. If, on the other hand, you should take the path 
of peace, and be received as brothers to the Big Knives, with their 
friends, the French ; should you then listen to bad birds that may 
be flying through the land, you will no longer deserve to be counted 
as men, but as creatures with two tongues, that ought to be destroyed 
without listening to anything you might say. As I am convinced 
you never heard the truth before, I do not wish you to answer be- 
fore you have taken time to counsel. We will, therefore, part this 
evening, and when the Great Spirit shall bring us together again, let 
us speak and think like men, with but one heart and one tongue.' 

"The next day after this speech a new fire was kindled with 
more than usual ceremony ; an Indian speaker came forward and 
said : They ought to be thankful that the Great Spirit had taken 
pity on them, and opened their ears and their hearts to receive the 
truth. He had paid great attention to what the Great Spirit had 



CLARK TREATS WITH THE INDIANS. 257 

put into niv heart to say to them. They believed the whole to be 
the truth, as the Big Knives did not speak like any other people 
they had ever heard. They now saw they had been deceived, and 
that the English had told them lies, and that I had told them the 
truth, just as some of their old men had always told them. They 
now believed that we were in the right ; and as the English had 
forts in their country, they might, if they got strong enough, want 
to serve the red people as they had treated the Big Knives. The 
red people ought, therefore, to help us, and they had, with a cheer- 
ful heart, taken up the belt of peace, and spurned that of war. They 
were determined to hold the former fast, and would have no doubt 
of our friendship, from the manner of our speaking, so different 
from that of the English. They would now call in their warriors, 
and throw the tomahawk into the river, where it could never be 
found. They would suffer no more bad birds to fly through the 
land, disquieting the women and children. They would be careful 
to smooth the roads for their brothers, the Big Knives, whenever 
they might wish to come and see them. Their friends should hear 
of the good talk I had given them ; and they hoped I would send 
chiefs among them, with my eyes, to see myself that they were men, 
and strictly adhered to all they had said at this great fire, which the 
Great Spirit had kindled at Cahokia for the good of all people who 
would attend it." 

The sacred pipe was again kindled, and presented, figuratively, 
to the heavens and the earth, and to all r the good spirits, as witness 
of what had been done. The Indians and the white men then closed 
the council by smoking the pipe and shaking hands. With no ma- 
terial variation, either of the forms that were observed, or with the 
speeches that were made at this council, Col. Clark and his officers 
concluded treaties of peace with the Piankeshaws, Ouiatenons, Kick- 
apoos, Illinois, Kaskaskias, Peorias, and branches of some other 
tribes that inhabited the country between Lake Michigan and the 
Mississippi. 

Gov. Henry soon received intelligence of the successful progress 
of the expedition under the command of Clark. The French inhab- 
itants of the villages of Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Post Vincennes 
took the oath of allegiance to the State of Virginia. 

In October, 1778, the General Assembly of the State of Virginia 
passed an act which contained the following provisions, viz: All the 
citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia tk who are already settled 
or shall hereafter settle on the western side of the Ohio, shall be in- 
cluded in a distinct county, which shall be called Illinois county / 
17 



258 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

and the governor of this commonwealth, with the advice of the 
council, may appoint a county lieutenant, or commandant-in-chief, 
in that county, during pleasure, who shall appoint and commission 
so many deputy commandants, militia officers and commissaries as 
he shall think proper in the different districts, during pleasure ; all 
of whom, before they enter into office, shall take the oath of fidelity 
to this commonwealth and the oath of office, according to the form 
of their own religion. And all civil officers to which the inhabit- 
ants have been accustomed, necessary for the preservation of the 
peace and the administration of justice, shall be chosen by a major- 
ity of the citizens in their respective districts, to be convened for 
that purpose by the county lieutenant, or commandant, or his deputy, 
and shall be commissioned by the said county lieutenant or com- 
mandant-in-chief. ' ' 

Before the provisions of the law were carried into effect, Henry 
Hamilton, the British lieutenant-governor of Detroit, collected an 
army, consisting of about thirty regulars, fifty French volunteers, 
and four hundred Indians. With this force he passed down the 
River Wabash, and took possession of Post Vincennes on the 15th 
of December, 1778. JN"o attempt was made by the population to 
defend the town. Capt. Helm was taken and detained as a prisoner, 
and a number of the French inhabitants disarmed. 

Clark was aware that Gov. Hamilton, now that he had regained 
possession of Vincennes, would undertake the capture of his forces, 
and realizing his danger, he determined to forestall Hamilton and 
capture the latter. His !plans were at once formed. He sent a por- 
tion of his available force by boat, called The Willing, with instruc- 
tions to Capt. Rogers, the commander, to proceed down the Missis- 
sippi and up the Ohio and Wabash, and secrete himself a few miles 
below Vincennes, and prohibit any persons from passing either up or 
down. With another part of his force he marched across the country, 
through prairies, swamps and marshes, crossing swollen streams — ■ 
for it was in the month of February, and the whole country was 
flooded from continuous rains — and arriving at the banks of the 
Wabash near St. Francisville, he pushed across the river and brought 
his forces in the rear of Yincennes before daybreak. So secret and 
rapid were his movements that Gov. Hamilton had no notice that 
Clark had left Kaskaskia. Clark issued a notice requiring the 
people of the town to keep within their houses, and declaring that 
all persons found elsewhere would be treated as enemies. Tobacco's 
Son tendered one hundred of his Piankashaw braves, himself at 
their head. Clark declined their services with thanks, saying his 



SURRENDER OF HAMILTON. 259 

own force was sufficient. Gov. Hamilton had just completed the 
fort, consisting of strong block-houses at each angle, with the cannon 
placed on the upper floors, at an elevation of eleven feet from the 
surface. The works were at once closely invested. The ports were 
so badly cut, the men on the inside could not stand to their cannon 
. for the bullets that would whiz from the rifles of Clark's sharp- 
shooters through the embrasures whenever they were suffered for 
an instant to remain open. 

The town immediately surrendered with joy, and assisted at the 
siege. After the first offer to surrender upon terms was declined, 
Hamilton and Clark, with attendants, met in a conference at the 
Catholic church, situated some eighty rods from the fort, and in the 
afternoon of the same day, the 24th of February, 1779, the fort and 
garrison, consisting of seventy-five men, surrendered at discretion.* 
The result was that Hamilton and his whole force were made prison- 
ers of war.f Clark held military possession of the northwest until 
the close of the war, and in that way it was secured to our country. 
At the treaty of peace, held at Paris at the close of the revolutionary 
war, the British insisted that the Ohio River should be the northern 
boundary of the United States. The correspondence relative to that 
treaty shows that the only ground on which "'the American commis- 
sioners relied to sustain their claim that the lakes should be the 
boundary was the fact that Gen. Clark had conquered the country, 
and was in the undisputed military possession of it at the time of 
the negotiation. This fact was affirmed and admitted, and was the 
chief ground on which British commissioners reluctantly abandoned 
their claim. "^ 

*Two days after the Willing arrived, its crew much mortified because they did not 
share in the victory, although Clark commended them for their diligence. Two days 
before Capt. Rogers' arrival with the Willing, Clark had dispatched three armed 
boats, under charge of Capt. Helm and Majors Bosseron and Le Grass, up the Wabash, 
to intercept a fleet which Clark was advised was on its way from Detroit, laden with 
supplies for Gov. Hamilton at Vincennes. About one hundred and twenty miles up 
the river the British boats, seven in number, having aboard military supplies of 
the value of ten thousand pounds sterling money and forty men, among whom was 
Philip De Jean, a magistrate of Detroit, were captured by Capt. Helm. The writer 
has before him the statement of John McFall, born near Vincennes in 1798. He lived 
near and in Vincennes until 1817. His grandfather, Ralph Mattison, was one of 
Clark's soldiers who accompanied Helm's expedition up the Wabash, and he often told 
McFall, his grandson, that the British were lying by in the Vermilion River, near its 
mouth, where they were surprised in the night-time and captured by Helm without 
firing a shot. 

tThis march, from its daring conception, and the obstacles encountered and over- 
come, is one of the most thrilling events in our history, and it is to be regretted that 
the limited space assigned to other topics precludes its insertion. 

X Burnett's Notes on the Northwest Territory, p. 77. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY — THE ORDINANCE OF 1787 — BILL OF 
RIGHTS — FREE SCHOOL SYSTEM — PROVISIONS FOR STATES — OLD 
BOUNDARIES BETWEEN CANADA AND LOUISIANA— INDIAN WARS — 
THE INDIAN COUNTRY RAVAGED. 

Col. Clark having captured Gov. Hamilton's forces at Vin- 
cennes, and reestablished the authority of Virginia over the north- 
west territory, Col. John Todd, commissioned as lieutenant for the 
county of Illinois, in the spring ot 1779 proceeded to Kaskaskia and 
Vincennes, and organized a government under the act of the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Virginia of October, 1778, for the establishing of 
" Illinois County." Col. Todd formed courts of justice, and pro- 
vided other machinery to secure peace and good order among the 
inhabitants. The court was comprised of several magistrates, who 
dispensed justice, in the absence of statutes specifically defining 
their powers, pretty much according to their own unrestrained no- 
tions of equity, applied according to the emergency of each particu- 
lar case, as it would come before them, much after the manner of 
the early French commandants.* 

The northwest territory soon became a source of trouble to the 
continental congress. Besides the claims of Virginia, Xew York, 
Massachusetts and Connecticut asserted title to portions of it by 
virtue of their ancient charters. f These conflicting claims were the 
subjects of much discussion and legislative action in the states 
named, and by congress as well. Congress, on the 6th of Septem- 
ber, 1780, requested the several states "having claims to waste and 
unappropriated lands in the western country to cede a portion 

*"The court" was one of high authority, and among the powers it arrogated to 
itself was the right of disposing of the public lands. After having granted some 
twenty-two thousand acres to private individuals, by orders entered i'rom time to time 
upon their records, "the court" partitioned large tracts among themselves; the recip- 
ient member would, out of modesty, absent himself from "court" on the day the 
entry was made on the journal by his associates in his favor, "so that it might appear 
to be the act of his fellows only." Official letter of Gen. Harrison, January 19, 1802. 
The evil grew to such proportions that Gen. Harner, in 1787, issued a military order 
suppressing it. 

f Connecticut, claiming through her charter granted on the 23d of April, 1662, by 
King Charles the Second, passed a resolution in 1783, to the effect "That all the land 
lying west of the western limits of Pennsylvania and east of the Mississippi, and be- 
tween the forty-first and forty-second parallels of latitude," was hers. 

260 



CESSION OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 261 

thereof to the United States.* Virginia, on the 2d of January, 1781, 
released her claim to the northwest territory, reserving one hundred 
and fifty thousand acres near the falls of the Ohio, which she had 
promised to Gen. Clark, and the officers and soldiers of his regiment 
who marched with him, and preserving to the French and Canadian 
inhabitants of Kaskaskia, Vincennes and neighboring villages their 
titles to the lands claimed by them.f However, owing to conditions 
imposed by the terms of cession, further legislation intervened, and 
the Virginia delegates did not execute the deed of release until the 
1st of March, 1784. New York followed Virginia, and ceded her 
claim on the 1st of March, 1781 ; then Massachusetts, on the 1 8th 
of April, 1785, executed her release, and on the 11th of September, 
1786, the Connecticut delegates delivered a deed of cession from 
that state, reserving a strip of territory west of Pennsylvania, and 
bordering on the lakes, since known as the Western Reserve.^ 

Before these disputes were settled it was proposed in congress to 
divide the territory into states by parallel lines of latitude and merid- 
ians of longtitude.§ It seems that the States of Virginia and Mas- 
sachusetts had made their grants with reference to a previous reso- 
lution of congress, limiting the area of the states, to be formed out 
of the territory named, to a hundred and fifty miles square, and 
therefore further legislation by these states became necessary. In 
July, 1786, congress passed another resolution, looking to a division 
of the territory into not less than three nor more \\iaxijive states, and 
Massachusetts and Virginia gave their assent to this modification. 
All differences and conflicts of title being now settled, congress, on 
the 13th day of July, 1787, adopted unanimously, "An ordinance for 
the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the 
Ohio. 1 ' The act, when considered with respect to the times in which 
it was adopted, was a most radical document. It made sweeping 
changes in the whole theory of social laws as practiced in Europe, 
and contravened the prevailing opinions of many of our own people, 
emerging, as they then were, from the accumulated prejudices of the 
old world into the daydawn of a new and experimental government. 
"For the purpose of extending the fundamental principles of civil 

* Old Laws of the U.S. 

fXI Hen. Statutes of Virginia, p. 326. 

{Vol. 16, Am. S. Papers, p. 94. 

§01d Congressional Journals, vol. 4, pp. 379 and 380; Land Laws, p. 34. The 
prospective states were to be named as follows: Washington, Illinoia, Michigania, 
Sylvania, Saratoga, Pelisipia, Mesopotamia, Polypotamia, Chersonisus and Assenispia. 
The act for such division of the territory, and naming of the states to be formed out of 
it. was passed unanimously, with the exception of the vote of South Carolina, on the 
23d of March, 1784. 



262 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

and religious liberty forever, and to fix and establish those principles 
as a basis of all laws, constitutions and governments which should 
thereafter be formed within the territory," the ordinance impressed 
conditions upon every acre of the soil, prohibited certain arbitrary 
practices of power, and enjoined beneficial acts to be performed, 
which have resulted in the largest measure of happiness and pros- 
perity. The act was a " compact between the original states and 
the people and states within the territory, to remain unalterable un- 
less changed by common consent." It is, therefore, in the nature 
of a bill of rights — a Magna Charta — to every inhabitant of the five 
several states since formed out of the territory to which the ordi- 
nance was applied.* The act forever prohibited slavery or involun- 
tary servitude, thus ennobling honest labor, and endowing it with a 
dignity it could not have attained in competition with the unrequited 
toil of human chattels. 

Heretofore the plan of governments was one of force, in which 
the intelligent few dominated over the ignorant many. The Ameri- 
can Declaration of Independence announced the new theory that 
all men should be free, and that the people should govern them- 
selves. This they could not be, or do unless they possessed an 
enlarged intelligence, a requirement that rendered a system for the 
general education of the masses necessary. Happily, congress real- 
ized the force of this, and nobly provided the means. Subsequent 
to the cession by Virginia of the northwest territory to the United 
States, and at the time congress passed the act of May 20, 1785, 
relative to the disposition and sale of the public lands northwest of 
the Ohio, one thirty-sixth part of the whole of this vast domain was 
reserved and set apart for the maintenance of public schools ; and 
so determined was congress that the educational system to be inau- 
gurated in the northwest territory should not be balked by any unwise 
legislation of the future states to be formed therein, that the great 
plan was carried into the ordinance of 1787, where it was further 
declared that " religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to 
good government and happiness of mankind, schools and the means 

*The act, among other things, fixes the law of descent upon the just and equitable 
terms of equality in the division of real estate among the heirs of the ancestor, thus 
cutting up by the roots the European doctrine of primogeniture ; it provides for perfect 
liberty of conscience, and declares that no person demeaning himself in a peaceable 
and orderly manner should ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or 
religious sentiment; it secures to every one the writ of habeas corpus, and the right of 
trial by jury; it makes all offenses bailable except capital crimes, and while it provides 
that all fines shall be moderate, it prohibits the infliction of cruel or unusual punish- 
ments; it declares that no person shall be deprived of his liberty or property but by 
the judgment of his peers or the law of the land, and prevents the body politic from 
taking his property or demanding his services without making full compensation, etc. 



SUBDIVISION OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 263 

of education shall forever he encouraged.''''* The act of May 20, 
1785, is the quarry from whence was procured the "corner-stone" 
laid by our forefathers deep in the ordinance of 1787, upon which 
the states, since formed out of the old northwest territory, have, 
with most generous hand, established a system of public schools 
which is a guarantee of our national life and the citadel of our lib- 
■erties. 

The provision — the ordinance of 1787 — contains relative to a 
subdivision of the territory is, "that there shall be formed in said 
territory no less than three nor more than five states ; the western 
state to be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio and the Wabash 
Rivers ; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post St. Vincent 
•due north to the territorial line between the United States and 
Canada, and [west] by said territorial line to the Lake of the 
Woods and Mississippi, f The middle state shall be bounded by 
the said direct line, the Wabash from Post St. Vincent to the 
Ohio ; b}' the Ohio, and by a direct line drawn due north from 
the mouth of the Great Miami to said territorial line.;}: The 
eastern state shall be bounded by the last-mentioned direct line, 
the Ohio, Pennsylvania and the said territorial line."§. The act 
provided "that the boundaries of these three states should be 
subject to alteration if congress should find it expedient," with 
' ' authority to form one or two states in that part of the territory 
lying north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly 
bend or extreme of Lake Michigan." The wording of the pro- 
viso, and a want of means for a correct geographical knowledge 
of the lake region, led to a sharp controversy in adjusting the 
boundaries of the two additional states. When the ordinance was 
passed, the current maps of the day represented the "southern 
bend 1 '' of Lake Michigan as being quite far north of its true 
position. While the convention was in session at Chillicothe, in 
1802, a hunter, well acquainted with the country, told some of the 
members that Lake Michigan extended much farther south than was 
generally supposed. This caused the convention to alter the bound- 
ary prescribed by congress, so that the line between the then terri- 

* One section in every township, section 16, being selected on account of its central 
position, and known as the school section, was set apart in the act of May 20, 1785, for 
public schools. The proceeds arising from the sales thereof called the school fund, is 
a sacred fund, the yearly accruing interest from which is expended in the maintenance 
of " free schools " within the township. 

fThis is the embryo of the present state of Illinois. 

X Here is foreshadowed the future state of Indiana. 

§Out of this last the state of Ohio was formed. 

j[ It was under this discretionary clause that the states of Michigan and Wisconsin 
were subsequently formed. 



264 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

tory of Michigan and the incipient state of Ohio, should be direct 
from the most northern cape of the Mauniee Bay.* 

In 1818, when Illinois was about to become a state, her delegate 
in congress, Nathanial Pope, procured an amendment of the act for 
its admission, so as to extend its northern boundary to the parallel 
of 42° 30' north latitude, t By a literal construction of the ordi- 
nance of 1787, two tiers of counties in northern Illinois would have 
been within the limits of Wisconsin. These changes, made through 
a wise forethought, have secured the harbor of Toledo to Ohio, 
Michigan City to Indiana and Chicago to Illinois. 

Soon after the passage of the ordinance, a party of New Engend- 
ers, under the name of The Ohio Company, bought live millions of 
acres of land lying along the Ohio, between the Muskingum and 
Sciota rivers. Gen. Rufus Putnam, the agent of the company, with 
a colony from Massachusetts, landed at the mouth of the Muskingum 
on the 7th of April, 1788, and proceeded to lay out a town, to which 
the name of Marietta was given. ^ Another sale was made to John 
C. Simms, embracing a tract of two millions of acres, fronting upon 
the Ohio, between the Great and Little Miami rivers. This was 
known as "The Simms Purchase, 11 and its beauty and fertility soon 
attracted immigration. In this way the settlements westward of the 
Alleghanies and north of the Ohio were fairly begun. 

Maj.-Gen. Arthur St. Clair was chosen by congress, on the 5th of 
October, 1787, as the first governor of the Northwest Territory. 

The subdivisions of New France, when owned by the French, for 
political purposes, seems not to have been clearly defined or well 
understood. Originally, La Salle, under his grant, claimed all of the 
territory between the Mississippi and the Wabash, — as appears from 
a letter of his lately published in the rare collections of P. Margry, 
— and also a strip ten leagues wide, on the west side of the Missis- 
sippi, to the mouth of the Ohio. He gave the name of "Louisiana 
to all the country watered by the Mississippi below the mouth of 
the Ohio, 11 a name, says Father Charlevoix, writing in 1743, which it 
still retains. Shortly after this the line was changed, and, says 
the great geographer, Thomas Pownall, quoting from maps and 
authorities accessible in 1756, the time at which he wrote, "the line 
which now divides Canada and Louisiana in the Illinois country 
begins from the Wabash at the mouth of Vermilion River, thence to 
the post called Le Rocher [Starved Rock] on the River Paeorias [the 

* Burnett's Notes on the Northwest Territory, p. 360. 
t Ford's History of Illinois, p. 19. 
% Pioneer History, p. 205. 



POSTS RETAINED BY GREAT BRITAIN". 2GS 

Illinois], and from thence to the peninsula formed at the confluence 
of Rocky [Rock] River and the Mississippi. 1 '* While the English 
owned the northwest, it was governed from Quebec, through officers 
or commandants stationed at Detroit, Fort Chartres and other mili- 
tary posts in the territory. Having thus briefly noted some of the 
subdivisions of the northwest by France and Great Britain for ad- 
ministrative purposes, those of our own government will be noticed. 

By the terms of the definite treaty of peace, concluded at Paris 
on the 3d of September, 1783, between the United States and Great 
Britain, the boundary between the possessions of the two powers 
was established along the lakes substantially as it now remains. 
Among other stipulations, Great Britain was, without delay, to sur- 
render the several military posts within the acknowledged territory 
of the United States. She declined to perform this part of the 
treaty, and on the 8th of December, 1785, the American minister, 
John Adams, addressed a letter to Lord Carmarthen, the English 
secretary of state, protesting "that although a period of three years 
had elapsed since the signing of the preliminary treaty, and more 
than two years since that of the definite treaty, the posts of Niagara, 
Presque Isle, Sandusky, Detroit, Michilimackinack, with others, and 
a considerable territory around each of them, all within the incon- 
testible limits of the United States, are still held by British garrisons, 
to the loss and injury of the United States, 11 etc.,f and demanding 
"that all of His Majesty^ armies and garrisons be forthwith with- 
drawn, 11 etc. To which, on the 28th of February, 1786, the British 
secretary replied, admitting that while Mr. Adams was correct in his 
construction of the seventh article of the treaty, the fourth article of 
the same, stipulating "that creditors on either side should meet with 
no lawful impediment to the recovery of all bona fide debts, hereto- 
fore contracted, had not been fulfilled on the part of the people of 
the United States. 11 :}: 

The reasons put forward by Lord Carmarthen were a mere pre- 
text. The true cause for the action of Great Britain in retaining 
possession of these military posts was to prolong her enjoyment of 
the fur trade and continue her influence over the several Indian 
tribes. With her it was the old desire to continue '■'"master of the fur 

* Appendix to The Administration of the Colonies, p. 16. This line, it would 
appear, placed all of the country north of it and east of the Wabash in the jurisdiction 
of Canada, and the territory to the south of the line and west of the Wabash within 
the confines of Louisiana. 

t Secret Journals of Congress, vol. 4, p. 186. 

% Secret Journals of Congress, vol. 4, p. 187. Massachusetts and Virginia, for good 
reasons, refused to comply with the article of the treaty concerning the collection of 
debts. 



266 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

trade.'''' Her traders, in conjunction with the Canadians and coureurs 
de hois, had, since the submission of the westward Indians to her 
authority, in 1765, extended and perfected the "fur trade" over the 
entire northwest, and were reaping such profits as they never before 
realized, while the supply of goods required by the Indians absorbed 
a vast quantity of British manufactures. 

Unfortunately, the revolutionary war was concluded without Great 
Britain's having made any provisions for her Indian allies, who con- 
tinued their hostilities. No treaties had ever been made between the 
United States aiid the Wabash tribes, and the latter continued their 
hostilities upon the people of Kentucky, in which the injuries and 
murders seemed to have been reciprocal.* 

The government tried peaceable means to put an end to these 
depredations. Failing in this, expeditions were sent out, the first 
under command of Gen. Harmar, who, in the fall of 1790, destroyed 
the villages about Fort Wayne, as noticed on page 173. The next, 
by Gen. Charles Scott, in June, 1791, who burnt several villages 
above and below La Fayette, and carried a number of women and 
children captives to Fort Washington, where they were held as pris- 
oners. A third, under Gen. Wilkinson, who, in the summer of the 
same year, burned the Wea village above Logansport and destroyed 
some Kickapoo villages on the west side of the river, taking away 
with him a number of women and children, as Scott had done before 
him. Old scores with long accumulating interest were paid back. 
From Yincennes to Fort Defiance the heart of the Indian country 
had been ravaged. The principal villages along the Wabash and 
Maumee were destroyed. The fields were devastated, and the In- 
dians, suffering for food and shelter, were made to feel the retribu- 
tive hand of the Americans, whom traders within our borders, and 
other subjects of Great Britain in Canada, had heretofore taught 
them to despise. 

While the expeditions of Scott and Wilkinson were being exe- 
cuted, Gov. St. Clair was organizing a force with which, under 
instructions from the war department, he was to proceed to the 
forks of the Maumee and there establish a permanent military post, 
from which forces could be sent as occasion required, to punish such 
tribes as might dare to further molest the border settlements. On 
the way to the Maumee his army, consisting of about 1,400 men, 
was, on the 4th of November, 1791, attacked by the confederated 

* American State Papers, vol. 4, p. 13. It was estimated that between the years 
1783 and 1790 no less than fifteen hundred persons were killed and captured in that 
state and adjacent territory, and upward of twenty thousand horses and other property, 
estimated at $75,000, were taken or destroyed by the Indians: Idem, p. 88. 



TREATY AT VINCENNES. 267 

Indians, and almost totally destroyed. The calamity was one of 
the most severe ever sustained by the United States at the hands of 
the Indians until the time of the recent defeat of Custer. The bat- 
tle ground is in Mercer county, Ohio, and since known as Fort 
Recovery. 

The government, too feeble and greatly embarrassed, financially, 
from its struggle with Great Britain, could not speedily retrieve its 
loss. St. Clair resigned his commission in disgrace and Gen. Wayne 
— Mad Anthony, of revolutionary fame — was appointed military 
commander of the northwest in his stead. While the new general 
was recruiting his forces and subjecting them to a discipline that 
rendered their subsequent movements invincible, the government 
again tried to bring the Wabash tribes to a treaty of peace. The 
latter, now arrogant beyond measure from their victory, declined 
all overtures, and basely murdered Messrs. Hardin, Freeman and 
Trueman, who were sent with messages of peace to them. Gen. 
Putnam, the agent of the Ohio company, at Marietta, offered his 
services, and at the hazard of his life undertook to visit the hostile 
tribes and induce them to come to Philadelphia or Fort Washington 
and enter into negotiations. He was soon satisfied that the Indians 
would neither go to Philadelphia nor Fort Washington. Persisting 
in his efforts, however, several of the Wabash tribes agreed to meet 
him at Yincennes. Thither he went, starting from Fort Washington 
on the 26th of August, in company with the Moravian missionary, 
John Heckwelder, and the surviving prisoners — consisting mostly 
of women and little children — captured at the Wea towns by Scott 
and Wilkinson the previous year. The party, numbering in all one 
hundred and forty persons, were put in boats and taken down the 
Ohio and up the Wabash, ascending which they reached Vincennes 
on the afternoon of the 12th. The Indians, already notified of its 
coming, "were assembled upon the banks of the river, and when 
they saw their friends approaching," says Heckwelder, "they dis- 
charged their guns in token of joy, and sang the praises of their 
friends in tunes peculiar to themselves." The prisoners were 
immediately delivered to their friends with a happy speech by 
Gen. Putnam. From the 13th to the 23d the Indians were daily 
coming in to participate in the treaty. 

Delegates representing the Eel Creek, Wea, Pottawatomie, Mas- 
coutin, Kickapoo, Piankeshaw, Kaskaskia and Peoria tribes being 
present, a conference was opened in the council house on the morn- 
ing of the 24th. Here Gen. Putnam assured the assembled chiefs 
that the United States desired peace ; that ample time and opportu- 



268 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

nity would be given to them all to talk with the United States about 
all that had happened ; to settle all old scores and to begin anew. 
An answer was deferred until the next day, when the council was 
again convened, at which the speakers chosen to reply on behalf of 
their respective tribes rose up in succession, and spoke upon strings 
— i. e., giving presents — of wampum. The drift of their speeches 
was that the whites should not take their land, but remain on the east 
and south side of the Ohio, letting that river be the mutual bound- 
dary. Their speeches were not clear, and Gem Putnam requested 
a more definite answer, with which they gratified him in the after- 
noon. Among other things, the Indian speakers stated "that they 
did not wish to live too near the white people, as there were bad 
persons on both sides ; that they wished to trade with us, and con- 
cluded with a request that the French dwelling in the vicinity of 
Vincennes might not be deprived of the lands which had been 
given them by the forefathers of the speakers in times past."* 

Definite articles of peace were concluded and signed on the 27th 
of September, 1792, and this was the first treaty ever entered into 
between the United States and the several Wabash tribes. As here- 
tofore intimated, it was a treaty of peace and friendship only. 

Gen. Putnam, as appears from his receipt, dated May 22, 1792, to 
the war department, had taken with him, besides a quantity of goods 
for presents, "the following silver ornaments: twenty medals, thirty 
pairs of arm and wristbands, twelve dozen of brooches, thirty pairs 
of nose jewels, thirty pairs of ear jewels, and two large white wam- 
pum belts of peace, with a silver medal suspended to each, bearing the 
arms of the United States."\ 

The chiefs of the several tribes having "signed the articles of 
treaty, ' ' says the Journal of Gen. Putnam, ' ' the latter arose and 
delivered the following speech to them : 

' ' Brothers, listen to what I say : We have been for some days 
past industriously engaged in a good work, namely, in establishing 
& peace, and we have happily succeeded, through the influence of the 
Great Spirit. 

"Brothers, we have wiped off the blood, — we have buried the 
hatchet on both sides; and all that is past shall be forgotten. (Takes 
up the belts.) 

"Brothers, this is the bell of peace, which I now present you in 
the name of the United States. This belt shall be the evidence of, 
and the pledge tor, the performance of the articles of the treaty of 

* Vide Heckwelder's journal in the book before quoted, pp. 116, 117. 
t Putnam "s Manuscript Journal of the Treaty of Vincennes. 



THE GREAT PEACE BELT. 269 

peace which we have concluded between the United States and your 
tribes this day. 

" Brothers, whenever you look on this, remember that there is a 
perpetual peace and friendship between you and us, and that you are 
now under the protection of the United States. 

"Brothers, we both hold this belt in our hands, — here, at this 
end, the United States hold it, and you hold it by the other end. 
The road, you see, is broad, level and clear. We may now pass to 
one another easy and without difficulty. Brothers, the faster we hold 
this belt the happier we shall be. Our women and children will 
have no occasion to be afraid any more. Our young men will observe 
that their wise men performed a good work. 

tk Brothers, be all strong in that which is good. Abide all in this 
path, young and old, and you will enjoy the sweetness of peace.' 1 
(Delivers the belts.) 

The connection which the relic here illustrated sustains with the 
treaty at Vincennes will now be shown. We leave the treaty for a 
moment while we narrate the circumstances under which this medal, 
together with the other one illustrated farther on, was found. For 
the purposes of description, the first may be designated as the 
"Washington medal,"" although it is an engraving, and the latter as 
the "British medal.' 1 The former is believed to be none other than 
the silver medal "suspended to the white wampum belt of peace'''' pre- 
sented by Gen. Putnam, and referred to in his speech. 

The two medals, the illustrations of which are the exact size of 
the originals, and fine representations of the sides of the medals 
they display, were found in April, 1855, at the old, so-called, Kicka- 
poo Indian burying-gronnd, near the mouth of the Middle Fork of 
the Vermilion River, four miles west of Danville, Illinois, in a grave 
which had become exposed by the giving way of the high bluff, on 
the brink of which this grave, with many others, is situated.* 

* The old burial-place bears the appearance of having been used by the Indians 
for many years prior to the time of the cession of the territory along the Vermilion 
by the Pottawatomies and Kickapoos. It is a level plateau of several acres, at an 
elevation that commands a fine view of both streams, overlooking the bluffs beyond, 
and taking in a wide scope of the prairies, before the timber and undergrowth had 
intercepted the view. The plateau is terminated at the westward by a precipitous bluff, 
the foot of which, nearly a hundred feet below, is washed by the Middle Fork. Of late 
years the stream has encroached upon the bluff at the water-line, causing the earth to 
slide down from above. Two young men, John Ecard and Hiram Chester, then living 
upon the farm of Samuel Chester, near by, were passing along the water's edge, in the 
month of April, 1855, and found a skull and some other parts of a human skeleton that 
had fallen out of a grave above and rolled down the hill. The skull was well preserved, 
and had clinging to it the remains of a rotted band, filled with plain brooches, about a 
half an inch in diameter, made of silver, which, owing to their delicate structure and 
the length of time they had been buried, crumbled to pieces on exposure to the air. 
The young men, following an accessible path that led up the hill, proceeded to the 



270 



HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



The Washington medal consists of a thin plate of silver let into 
a rim of the same metal. It was made and engraved by hand. On 




the side not illustrated is engraved " the coat of arms of the United 
States — the American eagle, with wings outspread, the shield upon 

grave out of which the remains had fallen, and found a part of the grave still intact. 
Ecard took a stick, and digging around in that portion of the grave that yet remained, 
quickly unearthed both of the medals, which were highly discolored. He sold them to 
Samuel Chester, and the latter disposed of them to the present owner, Josephus Collett, 
of Terre Haute, to whom the writer is indebted for permission to illustrate them. The 
writer has the affidavit of Samuel Chester as to the time, place and manner of their 
finding. Mr. Chester was informed of the facts within a few moments after their dis- 
covery, and immediately went over to the spot in company with the young men, of 
whom he then and there received the particulars substantially as given. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE MEDAL. 271 

its breast; a bundle of arrows in one foot and an olive branch in the 
other ; and the stars, representing the several states, about the head 
of the bird, from which lines radiate, representing the sun's rays. 
The 'eye,' by which the medal is suspended, shows no signs of 
having been used ; the delicate tracings of the engraver appear as 
perfect as when first made. These facts would seem to preclude 
the idea that it was worn about the person as an ornament. 

Among the manuscript papers of Gen. Putnam relating to the 
treaty of Yincennes is a speech, in his own handwriting, in which 
he particularly describes one side of this medal.* 

We quote extracts from Gen. Putnam's speech: 

"Brothers, the engravings on this medal distinguish the United 
States from all other nations ; it is called their arms, and no other 
nation has the like. The principal figure is a broad eagle. This 
bird is a native of this island, and is to be found in no other part of 
the world ; and both you and the Americans being also born on this 
island, and having grown up together with the eagle, they have 
placed him in their arms, and have engraved him on this medal, by 
which the great chief, Gen. Washington, and all the people of the 
United States hold this belt fast. The wings of the eagle are ex- 
tended to give protection to all our friends, and to assure you of our 
protection so long as you hold fast this belt. In his right foot the 
eagle holds the branch of a tree, which with us is an emblem of 
peace, and it means that we love peace, and wish to live in peace 
with all our neighbors, and is to assure you that while you hold this 
belt fast you shall always be in peace and security, whether you are 
pursuing the chase, or reposing yourselves under the shadow of the 
bough. In the left foot of this bird is placed a bundle of arrows ; 
by this is meant that the United States have the means of war, and 
that when peace cannot be obtained or maintained with their neigh- 
bors on just terms, and that if, notwithstanding all their endeavors 
for peace, war is made upon them, they are prepared for it."f 

* " Whether this explanation, or the substance of it, was delivered at Vincennea, 
we cannot say. It does not appear in the journal of the proceedings." Letter of 
Dr. Andrews, custodian of the Putnam papers at Marietta College, Ohio, to the writer. 
However, while the journal may be silent on this point, it was doubtless delivered, as 
appears from the remarks of an Indian chief two years later, at Greenville, noticed 
farther on. 

fit will be borne in mind that prior to this treaty the tribes represented at Vin- 
cennes had never held official or diplomatic relations with the United States, and it 
was highly proper that our coat of arms, and the signification of its several parts, 
should be explained to them. The bill of account of Gen. Putnam against the United 
States shows that at this treaty he delivered one of the peace belts, six of the medals, 
and a quantity of other jewelry itemized in the account, and that he retained the other 
peace belt, medals, etc., in his custody. Extract from the Putnam papers, supplied to 
the writer by Dr. Andrews. 



272 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

The obverse side of the medal, illustrated, required no explana- 
tion from Gen. Putnam ; it interpreted its own story to the Indian 
clearer than any words could do. The Indian has thrown his toma- 
hawk, the emblem of war, at the foot of the tree, under whose roots 
it was to be typically buried. The extended pipe is the universal 
token of peace, which Washington, representing the United States, 
with outstretched hands was about to receive and smoke, as the 
Indian had already done. These friendly acts assured protection to 
the pioneer plowman and his cabin in the background. All this is 
plain to the merest novice in picture reading. 

Turning to the minutes of the great treaty held at Greenville, in 
1T95, we take the following extracts from two speeches of Kesis, or 
the Sun, a prominent Pottawatomie chief, who took an active part 
in both of the treaties at Vincennes and Greenville. 

"Elder Brother:* If my old chiefs were living, I should not pre- 
sume to speak in this assembly ; but as they are dead, I now address 
you in the name of the Pottawatomies, as Massas has spoken in the 
name of the three fires, of which we are one.f I have to express 
my concurrence in sentiment with him. It is two years since I 
assisted at the treaty of Vincennes. My voice there represented 
the three fires. I then said it will take three years to accomplish 
a general peace." 

In another speech (made in order of time before the one quoted), 
Kesis says : " Brother, the Master of Life had pity on me when he 
permitted me to come and take you \ first by the hand. "With the 
same hand and heart I then possessed I now salute you. When I 
gave you my hand you said I thank you, and am glad to take your 
hand, Pottawatomie ; and you thanked the other Indians, also, and 
told them you had opened a road for them to come and see you."$ 

* Referring to Gen. Wayne. 

fMassass was a Chippewa, and the expression, of the three fires being one, is 
intended by Kesis to refer to the fact that the Ottawas, Chippeways and Pottawato- 
mies were one nation. 

| Meaning the United States. 

§ " Opening a road " has the peculiar signification that the parties who have given 
and received a "road belt"' are at liberty to go to and from, and visit each other 
freely, as friends, without danger of molestation. It seems that Kesis was the custo- 
dian of several of these belts or records, for at Greenville he displayed a road belt 
which he said he had received from the United States, to which the eagle was sus- 
pended holding an olive branch which, he said, had been explained as " a leaf of that 
great tree under whose shade we and all our posperity should repose in prosperity and 
happiness." He also displayed a war belt which, he said, "was presented to us by 
the British, and has involved us for four years past in misery and misfortune." This 
war belt he gave to Gen. Wayne, saying: " You may burn it if you please, or trans- 
form it into a necklace for some handsome squaw, and thus change its original design 
and appearance, and prevent forever its future recognition. It has caused us much 
misery, and I am happy in parting with it." Kesis, as stated in another speech made 
by him at the same treaty, and quoted in foot-note on page 147, said his village was a 



ENGLISH MEDAL. 



273 



The British medal was struck with a die. It is of pure silver, or 
silver containing very little alloy, nearly a quarter of an inch thick, 
and weighing nearly four ounces, troy weight. On the reverse side 
(not illustrated) is the coat-of-arms of Great Britain. The hole 
through which the string was passed, unlike the Washington medal, 
is badly worn, while the finer lines of the bust of the British king are 
also worn away, showing that that side of the medal had been worn 
against the breast or clothing of its owner. All the delicate lines 
on the coat-of-arms side are as perfect as when the medal was struck. 




It is without date. A correspondence with the custodian of medals 
in the British Museum in London, England, has resulted in disclos- 
ing that a duplicate is among the collections of that institution, and 
that the die with which they were struck was made either in the 
year 1786 or 1787, and that many like them had been presented to 
the Indians.* 

day's walk below Ouiatanon, referring-, as is believed, to the mixed Kickapoo and Pot- 
tawatomie village at the mouth of the Vermilion River. Now, the same people occu- 
pied a village called the Old Kickapoo Town, within a short distance of the old bury- 
ing ground we have described, and this last was not abandoned as a permanent village 
until the year 1819, as the writer is informed by early settlers who were cognizant of 
the fact. It is probable that Kesis was buried there, and the medals with him, where 
they were afterward found in the manner narrated. 

* This circumstance makes the medal illustrated another witness of the fact that 
subsequent to the treaty of peace in 1783 British subjects continued distributing 
18 






274 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

Resuming the notice of the treaty at Vincennes, peace being now 
proclaimed, Gen. Putnam informed the Indians that he should have 
a piece of artillery fired on the occasion ; that he would fire the first 
gun, and that each of those chiefs who had received belts should 
follow the example. 

After the conclusion of this ceremony, all of the Indians — we 
here quote from Heckwelder's journal, which states that eight can- 
non were fired, the first by Gen. Putnam himself, the rest by the 
chiefs who had received the belts — "all the Indians performed a 
dance in the council house, to express their rejoicings at the peace. 
Each nation was painted in a different style, and all took the utmost 
pains to make themselves appear as fierce and terrific as possible. 
They commenced by proceeding, with drums and singing, through 
all the streets of the town ; they then adjourned to the council 
house, where they sung and related their warlike deeds. The figures 
and grimaces which they made during this dance, the disfigured and 
ferocious countenances, the instruments of war they whirled about, 
with which they dealt blows upon the posts and benches, the rattling 
-of deer's claws about their legs, the green garlands about their necks 
and waists, and their naked bodies, presented a scene which I am 
unable to describe. All, however, passed off in an orderly manner, 
.at least in their way. 1 '' 

The distribution of presents began on the 3d of September, and 
continued several days, and on the 5th of October Father Heck- 
welder, with sixteen of the chiefs and one Indian woman, in charge 
of Lieut. Prior, two pilots and two soldiers, started overland on 
pack-horses for Philadelphia, by way of the falls at Louisville. At 
the latter place they continued the voyage in three canoes, passing 
up the Ohio by Fort Washington, Gallipolis, Marietta, AVheeling 
and Pittsburgh, at all of which places they were received with pub- 
lic demonstrations. From Pittsburgh they went, by way of Bethle- 
hem, to Philadelphia. The treaty concluded by Gen. Putnam was 
laid before the United States Senate in February, 1793, where it lin- 
gered until January, 1794, the senate refusing to ratify it because the 
fourth article recognized the right of the Indians "to their lands, as 
being theirs and theirs only."f 

"Most of the principal chiefs of the Wabash Indians," says the 

medals bearing the coat-of-arins and bust of their king among the Indians within the 
ceded territory, thus keeping up the old relation of the latter as children of their 
" British father." 

* Life of Heckwelder. by Rondthaler, p. 117. 

tGen. Putnam had only carried out his orders, and the objectionable clause was 
almost literally in the words of his instructions from the Secretary of War. 



BRITISH INVASION ON THE MAUMEE. 275 

Secretary of War to the President, in a letter of the 2d of January, 
17!M, "who visited Philadelphia, having died of the smallpox, it 
would have been improper to attempt with the remainder any ex- 
planation of the fourth article of the treaty," and therefore the sen- 
ate refused, by a vote of twenty-one to four, to give it effect. While 
the senate was engaged in deliberating over that, which at best 
might be called a technicality when compared with the benefit that 
would have resulted from a ratification of the treaty of Yincennes, 
the Indians were increasing in their feelings of hostility, and gather- 
ing in numbers, and concentrating their forces against the govern- 
ment. Still the latter renewed its efforts to secure a peace. In 
March, 1793, the President appointed Messrs. Randolph, of Vir- 
ginia, Lincoln, of Massachusetts, and Pickering, of Pennsylvania, 
to treat with the northwestern tribes, who proceeded to the Niagara 
River, intending to go from there to Sandusky. On their way they 
met Red Jacket and some other chiefs of the Seneca nation, who 
advised them that the western Indians, to whom the President had 
sent a speech, inviting them to a treaty, would not attend because 
the British had not been invited to be present, "and that it was 
necessary they should attend, because they originally called the 
Indians to war against the United States.* Lieutenant-Governor 
Simcoe, "commanding the king's forces in Upper Canada, antici- 
pating the coming of the commissioners, had in April "come from 
Niagara through the woods to Detroit, and had gone from thence to 
the foot of the Rapids, and three companies of Col. England's 
regiment had followed him, to assist in building a fort there." \ 
Having thus invaded the territory of the United States, Gov. Simcoe 
now intimated that he would be pleased to assist in attempting a 
reconciliation between the United States and the Indians. The com- 
missioners, unhappily, were not in a position to decline his friendly 
aid, and accordingly the preliminary courtesies between the Gov- 
ernor of Canada and the commissioners were opened at Navy Hall, 
the house of the former, opposite Fort Niagara, on the 17th of May. 
Here the latter were detained by delays they could not foresee or 
prevent. In the meantime large delegations of the several westward 
tribes already named, together with representatives of the Five 
Nations and Cherokees, were assembled in a grand council about 
Gov. Simcoe' s rising fort at the Rapids of the Maumee, and were 
engaged in settling their minor differences, and agreeing upon a 
united plan of action preliminary to, and to be insisted upon, at the 

* A. S. Papers on Indian Affairs, p. 342. 

t Letter from Detroit, dated April 17, 1794, idem p. 480. 



276 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

treaty proposed to be held with the United States commissioners at 
Sandusky. Several messages, as a basis of peace, passed between 
the two parties, the views of each being widely apart. In August 
the commissioners went up the lake to the mouth of the Detroit 
River, so that less time would be consumed by the bearers of dis- 
patches between themselves and the Indian council at the Rapids. 
The Indians would not recede from their sine qua non, which was 
no less than the Ohio River as the boundary between themselves 
and the United States. This could not be conceded, for the reason 
that by the treaties of Fort Mcintosh and Fort Harmar the govern- 
ment had acquired a large tract on the north and west side of that 
stream, portions of which had been purchased by citizens of the 
United States, who were then actually living upon the same. The 
commissioners agreed to purchase the lands over again from any 
tribes having claims to any part thereof who had not been present or 
represented at the treaties by which the United States had acquired 
its title. Brothers, replied the Indians, money to us is of no value, 
and to most of us unknown, and as no consideration whatever can 
induce us to sell the lands on which we get sustenance for our women 
and children, we hope we may be allowed to point out a mode by 
which your settlers may be recompensed and peace thereby obtained. 
We know these settlers are poor, or they never would have ventured 
to live in a country which has been in continual trouble ever since 
they crossed the Ohio. Divide, therefore, this large sum of money 
which you have offered to us among these people ; give to each, 
also, a portion of what you said you would give to us annually over 
and above this very large sum of money, and we are persuaded they 
would most readily accept of it in lieu of the lands you sold them. 
If you add the great sums you must expend in raising and paying 
armies, with a view to force us to yield our country, you will cer- 
tainly have more than sufficient for the purpose of repaying these 
settlers for all their labor and improvements. You have talked to 
us about concessions. It appears strange that you should expect any 
from us, who have only been defending our just rights against your 
invasions. We want peace ; restore us our country, and we will be 
enemies no longer. . . . We shall be persuaded that you mean to 
do* us justice if you agree that the Ohio shall remain the boundary 
line between us. If you will not consent thereto, our meeting will 
be altogether unnecessary.' 1 * 

* Extracts from the joint answer of the Pottawatomies, Chippeways, Ottawas 
Miamis, Shawnees, Delawares, Wyandots, Muncies, the Seven Nations of Canada, the 
Senecas of the Au Glaize, Mohegans and other tribes, dated at Miami Rapids, August 
13, 1793. 



CLOSE OF THE INDIAN WAR. 277 

The commissioners could make no such concessions, as must have 
been foreseen by the Indians and their evil advisers. 

Gen. Wayne moved his forces from Fort Greenville, where he 
had wintered, and on the — day of August, 1794, obtained a deci- 
sive victory over the Indians, almost under the guns of the British 
fort. After destroying villages and fields the whole length of the 
Maumee and the Au Glaize, his army returned to Greenville, where 
he passed a second winter. In the following summer delegates from 
the several tribes met him, and after a conference extending over 
five months, a treaty was signed, leaving the Indians with the dimen- 
sions of their territories vastly curtailed, and themselves for the first 
time recognized as the children of a new father, — "The Fifteen 
Fires," as they called the United States. 

Gen. Wayne's success, and the happy negotiations of Chief- 
Justice Jay, terminated the differences, for the present at least, 
between our government on the one side and the Indians and Great 
Britain on the other. The several military posts held by the English 
within our territory, including Fort Miami, erected by Gov. Simcoe, 
were surrendered early in 1796 ; Gen. Wayne, authorized by the 
president so to do, receiving possession of them on behalf of the 
United States. He at once arranged to have Detroit and the other 
works provisioned and garrisoned, and 4ate in the season embarked 
by way of the lake for Erie. On the way he was attacked with gout 
of the stomach, of which he died before the vessel reached the port. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY DIVIDED— WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON 
APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF THE INDIANA TERRITORY— ITS SUB- 
DIVISION INTO COUNTIES — BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GOVERNOR 
HARRISON — TECUMSEH AND HIS BROTHER THE PROPHET'S CON- 
FEDERACY—ORGANIZATION OF ILLINOIS TERRITORY— INDIAN HOS- 
TILITIES—THE ADVANCE OF POPULATION — CONCLUSION. 

Peace being secured, emigration poured into Ohio so rapidly, 
extending itself westward to the Great Miami, that at the beginning 
of the year 1800 the population was nearly sufficient to entitle the 
territory to be advanced to the second grade of government.* Ac- 
cordingly, on the 7th of May of that year, congress passed an act 
for a division of the territory, to take eifect on the 4th day of the 
following July. 

By this act all that part of the Northwest Territory lying "to the 
westward of a line beginning at the Ohio, opposite the mouth of 
Kentucky River, and running from thence to Fort Recovery, and 
thence north until it shall intersect the territorial line between the 
United States and Canada, shall, for the purposes of temporary gov- 
ernment, constitute a separate territory, to be called the Indiana 
Territory. ' ' 

The territory eastward of this line retained the old name of the 
"Territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River," and 
by the terms of the act Chillicothe was made the seat of government 
of the latter, and Vincennes of the former, territory, f Gen. Wm. 
H. Harrison, then delegate in congress for the old Northwest Terri- 
tory, was appointed governor, and John Gibson, secretary, of the 
new Indiana Territory. The governor reached Vincennes early in 
the year 1801, having been preceded thither by the secretary the 

* Under the Ordinance of 1787 thex*e were two grades of territorial government. 
The first was composed of the judges and governor; the second grade began when the 
inhabitants numbered sixty thousand, and consisted of a territorial legislature, com- 
prising a house of representatives, elected by the people, and a council, appointed by 
the president and senate of the United States. 

fOld Land Laws, p. 451. The name given to the western subdivision could not 
have been more appropriate, as it contained within its boundaries the most numerous 
and by far the most populous Indian tribes east of the Mississippi. The name Indiana, 
however, was not original, having been formerly applied to a tract of country on the 
southeast of the Ohio, about the Great Kanawha, granted to Col. George Morgan, 
Indian trader and agent, prior to the beginning of the revolutionary war. 

278 



TERRITORIAL COUNTIES. 279 

previous July. Gov. Harrison called the judges of the territory 
together at Yincennes for the purpose of passing the necessary laws 
and setting the machinery of government in motion. On the 3d of 
February the governor issued proclamations altering the boundaries 
of Knox, Randolph and St. Clair counties, previously formed, and 
creating the new county of Clark. By the terms of the first procla- 
mation the county of Knox was extended some thirty miles into Illi- 
nois, south of Yincennes, and extending from thence north by a little 
east to the mouth of the Calumet River, A line was extended from 
the westward boundary of Knox through the "Sink-Hole Spring" — 
a prominent landmark on the west side of the state, nearly on the 
present boundary line between the counties of Randolph and St. 
Clair — to the Mississippi. The territory south of this line was called 
Randolph county, Kaskaskia being the county seat. All of Illinois 
west of Knox, the whole of Wisconsin, and all that part of Michigan 
lying north of a line drawn northeast from the mouth of the Calumet 
River and west of the dividing line between Ohio and Indiana, ex- 
tended north through the Straits of Mackinaw, the boundary between 
the United States and Canada, was formed into the county of St. 
Clair, the county seat of which was established at Cahokia. The 
county of Knox began at the ''''cave in the rock" on the Ohio, thirty 
miles below the mouth of the Wabash, thence up the Ohio to the 
mouth of Blue River, and up this stream to the crossing of the 
old road from Yincennes to Louisville ; from thence to the nearest 
point on White River, and up the same to the branch thereof which 
runs toward Fort Recovery, and from the head-springs of said branch 
to Fort Recovery ; thence along the line separating Ohio from Indi- 
ana until its intersection with the line drawn northeast from the 
mouth of the Calumet River, and thence southward along the eastern 
boundary of St. Clair and Randolph counties to the Ohio River at 
the cave in the rock. The new county of Clark was a gore, its base 
being on the Ohio, between the mouths of the Big Blue and Ken- 
tucky rivers, bounded on the west by Knox county, and on the 
east by the Indian line of cession, running from the mouth of the 
Kentucky river north by east to Fort Recovery. Springfield, near 
the Ohio River, was made the county seat of Clark, while Yincennes 
remained the county seat of Knox, as before. 

On the 29th of November, 1802, the eastern division of the 
northwest territory became a state, and was admitted into the 
Union, bearing the name of Ohio. While Ohio had remained as 
the northwest territory, the peninsula of Michigan was attached to 
it for judicial purposes. The greater portion of the peninsula had 



280 HISTOEIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

been organized into a county and given the name of Wayne, in 
1796, by Gov. St. Clair, who was present with Gen. Wayne, at 
Detroit, when that post was surrendered to the United States by 
the English commander. By the act of congress providing for the 
admission of Ohio as a state, Michigan was taken from Ohio and 
attached to the Indiana territory. The people of Ohio resented 
what they considered as an illegal interference by congress, in thus 
disposing of territory which, under the ordinance of 1787, would 
have remained as a part of and tributary to Ohio, until such time 
as it was formed into a state.* 

Gov. Harrison, on the 24th of January, 1803, issued a proclama- 
tion establishing the county of Wayne, the boundaries of which 
embraced the whole of the lower peninsula, except a strip running 
the length of Lake Michigan west of Branch county, and a small 
portion of Indiana and Ohio lying north of a line drawn due east 
from the southern extremity of the lake.f 

On the 11th of January, 1805, congress established Michigan as 
a separate territory, and Gen. William Hull was appointed as its 
governor, Detroit being designated the capital. :£ 

Gov. Harrison brought with him the prestige of an established 
reputation as a military officer and a statesman. As ensign he 
served with Gov. St. Clair, and as aide-de-camp of Gen. Wayne, 
he bore a distinguished part in the successful campaigns of the lat- 
ter against the northwest Indians. He was secretary of the north- 
west territory and a delegate in congress from the eastern division. 
On the formation of the Indiana territory he was not only made its 
governor, but commissioned as superintendent of Indian affairs in 
the northwest, which he administered with a skill and success never 
equaled by any other person through whom our government has 
had dealings with the Indians. During the long period he had 

* By a literal construction of the ordinance of 1787, all that part of Michigan lying 
east from a line drawn from the mouth of the Miami north to the middle of the Straits 
of Mackinaw would have belonged to Ohio, while the territory lying west of this line 
would have remained as a part of Indiana until it was formed into a state. 

fThe proclamation defines the boundaries as follows: "Beginning at a point 
where an east and west line passing through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan 
would intersect a north and south line passing through the most easterly bend of said 
lake; thence north along the last mentioned line to the boundary of the United States; 
thence along the said boundary line to a point where a due east and west line passing 
through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan would intersect the same; thence 
west to the place of beginning, and which said county shall be designated and known 
as the county of Wayne, and that the inhabitants of said county shall have and enjoy 
[from the date hereof] all the rights, privileges and immunities whatsoever which to a 
county and the inhabitants thereof in any wise appertains." Detroit remained as the 
seat of government, and the officers who held commissions in the old county of Wayne 
were continued in office. Vide Executive Records of the Indiana territory. 

X The name Michigan is derived from the two Chippewa Mitchaw (great) and Sagi- 
gan (lake). Vide Blois' Gazetteer of Michigan, p. 177. 



GEN". HARBISON. 



281 



charge of the Indian affairs, he extinguished the title of the Indians 
to a greater part of the territory within the limits of Indiana and 
Illinois, and in all his dealings with this unfortunate race his con- 
duct was marked with a uniform kindness and fair dealing that won 
for him the most implicit confidence and esteem of the Indians 
themselves and the applause of the government. His private and 

official correspondence abun- 
dantly illustrate the tender re- 
gard he had for the Indians, 
and the care with which he al- 
ways sought to protect their 
rights against the designs of 
the unscrupulous, while at the 
same time he was equally so- 
licitous to shield the white peo- 
ple against all aggressions from 
the red. It is said that Gov. 
Harrison was personally ac- 
quainted with almost every 
prominent chief of the many 
tribes within his jurisdiction, 
and by his address, tact and well- 
known integrity, he attracted to 
his person many of the leading 
savages in bonds of closest friendship. These prominent traits en- 
abled him to exert an influence over the Indians that few other men 
could have commanded, and by the exercise of which he often restrained 
the lawlessness of the savage and protected the pioneer's cabin. 

Beginning with the time of his appointment as governor, and 
ending with the close of the war of 1812, his vigilance and skill 
during all the time of that memorable struggle shielded the ex- 
tended lines of the western frontier from incursions of the savages. 
The early settlers of western Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan 
might well have hailed him as the "father of the west." 

His fame as a soldier and commander is a part of the military his- 
tory of the country. He was born in Charles City county, Virginia, 
February 9, 1773, and died April 4, 1841, at Washington, of an ill- 
ness supposed to have been induced in consequence of the fatigue 
and excitement incident to his inauguration as the ninth president 
of the United States.* 

* The vignette of Gov. Harrison was supplied by Harper Bros., copyright owners 
of Lossing's Field-Book of the "War of 1812, from which it is taken. 




GEN. HARRISON. 



282 



HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



Early in 1806 Gov. Harrison was advised that a Shawnee Indian 
had set himself up as a prophet. This man avowed that he had been 
deputed by the Great Spirit to reform the manners of the red people ; 
to revive all their old customs which had been laid aside since their 
intercourse with the white people ; that all the manners in dress and 
other innovations borrowed by the Indians from the whites were to 
be abolished, and that when these reforms were effected the comfort 
and happiness enjoyed by their forefathers would be restored, on 
condition of their obedience to the will and orders of the Prophet. 
The latter pretended to fore- ,^ss, 

tell future events, declared 
that he was invulnerable to 
the arms or shot of his enemy, 
and he promised the same 
inviolability to those of his 
followers who would devote 
themselves entirely to his ser- 
vice, and assist him in the 
cause which he had espoused. * 
This new light dawned upon 
the Indians at Greenville, 
Ohio, in the person of "Lol- 
a-waw-chic-ka, " or the Loud 
Voice, brother of Tecumseh. + 
The Prophet, the name by 
which he was generally desig- 
nated, soon gathered about 
him a large number of follow- 
ers, composed of a few Shaw- 
nee warriors of his own tribe and numerous persons from other 
tribes, many of whom had fled for their crimes.;}: 

For some time the Prophet's influence in his own neighborhood 
was trifling ; his fame, however, spread among the more distant 




THE PROPHET. 



* Memoirs of Gen. Harrison, p. 81. 

t Judges Hall and McKenney, in their History of the Indian Tribes of North 
America, vol. 1, p. 47, following Benjamin Drake's Manuscript of the Life of Tecumseh 
and the Prophet, before its publication by the author, give the name as Tens-kwau-ta- 
waw, meaning the Open Door. Drake's Life of Tecumseh, p. 88. The name of the 
prophet and its signification, as given in the text, is taken from a speech sent by the 
prophet to Gen. Harrison, in August, 1808, found in full in the Memoirs of General 
Harrison, p. 108, and being the name, with its meaning, as given by none other than 
the prophet himself, may be regarded as the more correct. 

% The fine illustration of the prophet here given was first used in Lossing's Picto- 
rial Field Book of the War of 1812, p. 189, published by Harper Brothers, who kindly 
furnished the cut for insertion in this work. 



ENGLISH INFLUENCE. 283 

tribes, and miracles without number were attributed to him. He 
gathered about him a horde of deluded savages, whose numbers 
were swollen daily by accessions of the disaffected from the various 
tribes, the Winnebagoes, and particularly the Kickapoos, furnishing 
large numbers of enthusiastic proselytes. So great was the infatua- 
tion of his followers that while listening to his teachings they wholly 
neglected to provide for their own subsistence, and as reports pre- 
vailed abroad that they were supplied with every luxury through 
the supernatural power of the Prophet, they were actually starving.* 
The principal Delaware chiefs being opposed to the schemes of the 
Prophet, the latter, to get rid of them, brought charges of witchcraft 
against three of the old Delaware chiefs, and caused them to be 
burned at the stake. 

In the spring of 1808 the Prophet and his adherents moved from 
Greenville and took up their abode on the Wabash, near the mouth 
of the Tippecanoe, on a tract of land claimed to have been granted 
them by the Pottawatomies and Kickapoos, + without the consent of 
the Miamis, who were the rightful owners. 

The Prophet was merely a screen, behind which his brother, 
Tecumseh, a man of much more ability, was perfecting a confedera- 
tion of all the tribes in a grand scheme of hostility against the people 
of the United States, and involving no less than a bold attempt to 
check the westward advance of white emigration and the recovery of 
all previously-ceded lands north and westward of the Ohio. In this 
movement was but too plainly visible the hands of English traders 
and the baneful influence emanating from Quebec, Montreal, Sand- 
wich and Maiden.:}: After the surrender of the several military posts 
by the British authorities, medals bearing the head of the English 
king on the obverse, and the British coat-of-arms on the reverse, 
continued persistently to be distributed among the principal Indian 
chiefs, the same as they had been bestowed before, and the Indians 
were still taught, in this most pernicious and effectual manner, to 
regard the English sovereign as their father. § 

To preserve harmony, as far as practicable, in a chronological 
order of treating events, Tecumseh' s movements will be dropped, 
to note the fact of a subdivision of the Indiana territory. On the 3d 
of February, 1809, congress passed an "Act," whereby "all that 
part of the Indiana territory which lies west of the Wabash River, 

* Memoirs of General Harrison, p. 81. 

t McAffee, p. 11. Drake's Tecumseh, p. 105. 

X Situated a few miles below Detroit, on the Canadian side of the river. 

§ Samuel K. Brown's History of the Second War for Independence. 



284 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

and a line drawn from that river and Post Vincennes due north to 
the territorial line between the United States and Canada, should, 
for the purposes of a territorial government, constitute a separate 
territory, and be called Illinois. 1 '* Nmnian Edwards, then chief 
justice of Kentucky, was appointed governor, and Nathaniel Pope, 
an eminent member of the Kaskaskia bar, secretary of the Illinois 
Territory, which was thus started on the way of the first grade of its 
existence. Kaskaskia, with the romance of a century and the mists 
of more remote tradition clinging about its venerable precincts, was 
selected as the seat of government. 

Tecumseh had an able assistant in the person of Blue Jacket, the 
great Shawnee warrior. The two held similar views, the leading 
principles of which were to combine all the tribes to prevent the 
sale of land by a single tribe, to join the British in the event of war, 
with the hope of recovering the lands previously ceded. They held 
that in the treaty of Greenville the United States had admitted the 
right to the lands to be jointly in all the tribes, and, therefore, had 
no right to purchase territory of a single tribe without the consent 
of all the others, f 

" The various tribes in the habit of visiting Detroit and Sandwich 
were annually subsidized by the British. Where the American 
agent at Detroit gave one dollar by way of an annuity, the British 
agent on the other side of the river would give the Indians ten. 
This course of iniquity had the intended effect ; the Indians were 
impressed with a great aversion for the Americans, and desired to 
recover the lands ceded at Greenville, and for which they were 
yearly receiving the stipulated annuity. They wished again to try 
their strength with the Big Knife, in order to wipe away the dis- 
grace of their defeat by Gen. Wayne. They were still promised aid 
by the British in the advent of a war between the latter and the 
United States.":}: 

The teachings of the Prophet and the schemes of Tecumseh could 
have only one result. Gen. Harrison saw the storm that was too 
surely approaching, and exerted himself, with great address, to pro- 
tect the inhabitants committed to his care, scattered, as they were, 
at great distances over an extensive territory. By an admirable sys- 
tem he had spies, in the guise of traders, and Indians, whom he had 
by his winning manners drawn about him, in the villages of all of 
the disaffected tribes, by means of whom he was kept fully informed 

* Second U. S. Statutes at Large, p. 114. 
t McAfee's History of the Late War, p. 9. 
% McAfee, p. 9. 



PLANS OF TECUMSEH. 285 

of the purposes of Tecuinseh and his brother, the Prophet. While 
Tecumseh was traveling, visiting the various tribes in the northwest, 
and perfecting his schemes, the governor was preparing for what he 
knew would surely come — war. 

The Prophet, becoming bolder every day, at last, in the month 
of April, 1809, required his followers "to take up the hatchet 
against the white people, to destroy the inhabitants of Vincennes 
and those on the Ohio, who lived as low down as its mouth and as 
high up as Cincinnati, telling them that the Great Spirit had ordered 
them to do this, and that their refusal would result in their own de- 
struction. " A number of Chippeways, Ottawas and Pottawatomies 
were so alarmed at this bold avowal that they hurried away from 
the Prophet.* The estimated force of the Prophet at this time was 
from six to eight hundred men ; and if, as it was reported, the 
defection had extended to all the tribes between the Illinois River 
and Lake Michigan, that number might be doubled. f 

The governor dispatched another one of his interpreters, Joseph 
Barron, to the Prophet's town, in the hope that, when informed of 
the strength and resources of the United States, the Indians would 
be prevented from commencing hostilities. This speech was deliv- 
ered to the Prophet by Barron, in the presence of Tecumseh. No 
answer was made, but one was promised to be sent back by the 
interpreter. The latter lodged for the night with Tecumseh, when 
a general conversation ensued, in which Tecumseh denied " an in- 
tention to make war, but declared that it was not possible to be 
friends with the United States, unless the latter would abandon the 
idea of extending settlements further to the north and west, and 
explicitly acknowledge the principle that all the lands in the west- 
ern country were the common property of all the tribes. The 
Great Spirit, 1 ' 1 said Tecumseh, "gave this island to his red chil- 
dren. He placed the whites on the other side of the big water. 
They were not contented with their own, but came to take ours from 
us. They have driven us from the sea to the lakes — we can go no 
farther. They have taken upon them to say this tract is the Mi- 
ami's, this is the Delaware's, and so on ; but the Great Spirit 
intended it as the common property of all. Our father tells us 
that we have no business upon the Wabash — that the land belongs 

* Memoirs of Gen. Harrison, pp. 126, 127. 

f Idem, 138. About this time an old Piankashaw, named Grosble, or Big-Corn, a 
particular friend to Gen. Harrison and the United States, asked the former for permis- 
sion to move beyond the Mississippi, alleging that he heard nothing among the Indians 
but news of war, and as he intended to take no part in it he wished to be out of 
danger. 



286 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

to other tribes. The Great Spirit ordered us to come here, and here 
we will stay." 

Tecumseh told the interpreter that he would come to Yinceimes 
and visit Gen. Harrison, and bring with him about thirty of the 
principal men. Accordingly, on the 12th of August, 1810, Tecum- 
seh arrived at Yincennes, where a council was held, at which mu- 
tual explanations were made in the presence of a large concourse 
of Indians, militia and the citizens of the town. Tecumseh, in his 
speech, took the grounds of a common ownership by all the Indians 
of all the lands, and of the inability of one tribe to dispose of any 
part of it without the consent of all the others. He grew very vio- 
lent as the interpreter was rendering Gen. Harrison's reply. The 
Indians sprang to their feet, seizing their tomahawks and war clubs, 
bending their eyes fiercely upon the governor. The militia were 
quickly marched up to the scene of the difficulty, and order was re- 
stored. The next morning Tecumseh, greatly mortified at his dis- 
play of anger and bad manners, met the governor with an apology. 
The latter assured him that he would submit his propositions to the 
president, adding, at the same time, that there was little probability 
of their being acceded to. " Well," said Tecumseh, " as the great 
chief is to determine the matter, I hope the Great Spirit will put 
sense enough into his head to induce him to direct you to give up 
this land. It is true he is so far off that he will not be injured by 
the war. He may still sit in his town and drink his wine whilst you 
and I will have to fight it out."* And fight it out they did, as we 
will now proceed to show. 

Events transpiring subsequent to the conference at Yincennes 
clearly demonstrated that there was no other alternative ; either the 
Prophet's town had to be destroyed, and the purposes of Tecumseh 
thwarted, or else the advancing line of white population would be 
driven back from whence it came. 

The boldness and insolence of the assemblage at the Prophet's 
town increased daily ; hostile parties were continually leaving that 
place for the white settlements, where they killed the inhabitants 
and stole their horses. Finally, Gov. Harrison received orders to 
proceed to the Prophet's town with a military force, which he was 
only to use after all efforts to effect a peaceable dispersion of its 
occupants had failed. The governor left Yincennes on the 26th of 
September, 1811, with a force of nine hundred effective men, com- 
posed of the 1th Reg. U. S. regulars, with a body of militia, and a 

* Memoirs of Gen. Harrison, p. 159. 



TIPPECANOE CAMPAIGN. 287 

hundred and thirty volunteer dragoons. The regulars had been 
organized for some time, and were well drilled and ably officered. 
James Miller, who subsequently immortalized himself at Lundy's 
Lane by replying, when asked if he could take the English battery 
on the hill, "I will try, sir," and in the heroism and success with 
which, he made the effort, being the lieutenant-colonel. * The mili- 
tia, who were all volunteers, had been well trained by the governor 
in person in all those peculiar evolutions practiced by Gen. Wayne's 
army, and which had been found so efficient in operating against the 
Indians in a covered country. On the 3d of October the army, 
moving up on the east side of the Wabash, reached a place on the 
bank of the stream some two miles above the old Wea village of 
We-au-ta-no, ""The Risen Sun, 1 ' called by many the "-Old Orchard 
Town," and time out of mind, by the early French traders, Terre 
Haute. Here the governor halted, according to his instructions, 
within the boundary of the country already ceded by the Indians, 
and occupied his time in erecting a fort, while waiting the return of 
messengers whom he had dispatched to the Prophet's town, demand- 
ing the surrender of murderers, and the return of stolen horses 
sheltered there, and requiring that the Shawnees, Winnebagoes, 
Pottawatomies and Kickapoos collected there should disperse and 
return to their own tribes. The messengers were treated with great 
insolence by the Prophet and his council, who, to put an end to all 
hopes of peace, sent out a small war party to precipitate hostilities. 
This war party, finding no stragglers about the governor's encamp- 
ment, shot at and wounded one of his sentinels. The Delaware 
chiefs who went with the messengers to the Prophet's town advised 
the governor, on their return, that it would be in vain to expect that 
anything short of force would obtain satisfaction for past injuries or 
security for the future. They also informed him that the strength 
of the Prophet was daily increasing by accessions of ardent and 
giddy young men from every tribe, and particularly from those along 
and beyond the Illinois River. 

The new fort was finished on the 28th of October, and by the 
unanimous request of all the officers it was christened "Fort Har- 
risony* 

*This intrepid officer was so extremely ill of the fever when the regiment marched 
that he could scarcely walk. He did go, however, as far as Ft. Harrison, and on the 
completion of this work he could go no farther, and the fort, with a garrison con- 
sisting of invalids like himself, was assigned to his command. 

f The illustration is copied from a lithograph in possession of M M. Redford, Dan- 
ville, Illinois. It is one of a number of impressions printed by Modesit & Hager in 
1848. It was drawn from descriptions given by old settlers who were well acquainted 



288 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

On the 29th of October Gov. Harrison moved up the Wabash, 
crossing Raccoon Creek at Armysburg, and ferrying his army over 
the Wabash at the mouth of the former stream on boats sent up the 
river for that purpose. The army encamped on the 2d of November 
some two miles below the mouth of the Big Vermilion, and about a 
mile below the encampment a block-house, partly jutting over the 
river, twenty-five feet square, was erected on the edge of a small 
prairie sloping down to the water's edge. The block-house was gar- 




FORT HARRISON IN 1812. 

risoned with a sergeant and eight men, in whose charge were left the 
boats which up to this time had been used for the transportation of 
supplies.* On the 3d the army left the block-house, crossed the Ver- 
milion and entered the prairies, the route passing just east of State 

with the fort and surroundings before its demolition, and was pronounced a faithful 
and good representation. 

Samuel R. Brown, in his Western Gazetteer, p. 69, gives an account he received 
from the French traders at Fort Harrison, in 1816, of" the traditional great battles fought 
between the Indians, many years ago, on the ground at Fort Harrison. On account of 
the rarity of the volume in which it is found, the veracity of its author, the time when 
and persons from whom he received it, and the interest attaching to the tradition, we 
insert it here : 

"The French have a tradition that an exterminating battle was fought in the begin- 
ning of the last century, on the ground where Fort Harrison now stands, between the 
Indians living on the Mississippi and those of the Wabash. The bone of contention 
was the lands lying between those rivers, which both parties claimed. There were 
about a thousand warriors on each side. The condition of the fight was that the vic- 
tors should possess the lands in dispute. The grandeur of the prize was peculiarly 
calculated to inflame the ardor of savage minds. The contest commenced about sun- 
rise. Both parties fought desperately. The Wabash warriors came off conquerors, 
having seven men left alive at sunset, and their adversaries but ./we. The mounds are 
still to be seen where it is said the slain were buried." 

* Memoirs of General Harrison: Dillon's Indiana, p. 463. 



Harrison's march. 289 

Line city; from thence to Crow's Grove, where the army went into 
camp for the night. 

It was from this point that Capt. Prince was sent forward to find 
a crossing place at Pine Creek."' In passing through this prairie 
country, the army was frequently made to practice all those forma- 
tions which it was probable they would have to assume in action. 
On the -tth of November the army approached the very difficult 
pass of Pine Creek. This stream presents a curious spectacle in 
that country. For many miles before it discharges itself into the 
Wabash its course is through an immense mass of rock, the sides 
of which in some places are perpendicular. Few places can be 
found where the stream may be crossed with facility. The Indian 
path, upon which the army was then marching, led to a defile ex- 
tremely difficult of passage, and would have afforded the enemy an 
opportunity to make an attack very unfavorable to the troops. f In 
the course of the night of the 4th of November, Gov. Harrison sent 
Capt. Prince with a small force;}; to discover a passage higher up the 
stream. This officer returned at ten o'clock the following morning, 
with a report that " a few miles higher up he had found a good cross- 
ing place," since known as the "army ford" where the prairies on 
each side skirted the creek." On the evening of the 5th the army 
encamped within nine or ten miles of the Prophet's town. The 6th 
was consumed by the governor in working his army over difficult 
ground toward the Indian town, and in edeavoring to speak with 
the Indians who, in great numbers, now swarmed about his front 
and flanks, declining to communicate with his interpreters, and 
"continued to insult our people by their gestures." Every invi- 
tation to a parley by the interpreters, who were some distance in 
front for that purpose, "was answered by menace and insult." It 
was evident that the Indians intended to fight, and the troops, in 
high spirits, wanted to be led to the attack immediately. This the 
governor would not permit until every effort for a peaceable solu- 
tion of the difficulties were exhausted. The army being within a 
short distance of the town, the governor was determined not to 
jeopardize his men by advancing nearer that evening, nor until he 

* Tipton's Journal. The track of Harrison's army remained for many years. The 
army encamped in the grove upon its return. 

t The governor knew that it had been selected for an ambuscade by the Indians, 
once, in the year 1786, when Gen. George R. Clarke commanded an expedition against 
the Indians of the Wabash, which failed from a mutiny of the troops eight miles 
above Vincennes, and a second time, in 1790, when Col. Hamtramck marched up the 
Wabash to make a diversion in favor of Gen. Harmar. The governor, with a knowl- 
edge of this fact, had no notion of leading his army into this defile. 

X Tipton's scouts. Vide his Narrative Journal. 
19 



290 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

knew precisely the situation of the village and the character of 
the intervening ground. Maj. Davis, who, with the other officers, 
desired, like the men, immediate action, replied that from the 
right of the position of the dragoons, in front, the openings made 
by low grounds of the Wabash could be seen ; that in company 
with his adjutant, D. Floyd, he had advanced to the bank, which 
descends to the low grounds, and had a fair view of the cultivated 
lields and the houses of the town, to which the open woods where 
the army then was, continued without interruption. The governor 
said he would advance if he could get a suitable person to proceed 
to the town with a flag. Capt. T. Dubois, of Vincennes, offered 
his services, and proceeded, with an interpreter, to the Prophet, 
desiring to know whether he would now comply with .the terms that 
had been so often proposed to him. The army, in order of battle, 
moved slowly toward the town. Directly a message came from 
( ^apt. Dubois, with word that the Indians, who were near him in 
considerable numbers, would return no answer to the interpreter, 
although sufficiently near to hear what was said to them, and that, 
upon his advancing, the Indians endeavored to cut him off from the 
army. The governor could no longer hesitate in treating the In- 
dians as enemies. He recalled Capt. Dubois, and moved up with a 
determination to attack them. He had not proceeded far before he 
was met by three Indians, one of them a principal counsellor of the 
Prophet, who said they were sent to know why the army was ad- 
vancing ; that the Prophet wished to avoid hostilities ; that pacific 
messages had been returned to the governor by his messengers, the 
Miami and Pottawatomie chiefs, who, unfortunately, had proceeded 
back on the south side of the Wabash, thus missing the governor, 
who was marching up on the other. Hostilities were suspended 
accordingly, and a meeting was agreed upon to take place the next 
day, for the purpose of fixing upon terms of peace. The governor 
told the deputation that he would go on to the Wabash and encamp 
for the night. 

Marching a short distance farther, he came in view of the town, 
which was seen at some distance up the river, upon a commanding 
eminence. Maj. Davis had mistaken some scattering houses in the 
fields below for the town itself. The ground below the town being 
unfavorable for an encampment, the army continued its march in 
the direction of the town, for the purpose of obtaining a better sit- 
uation beyond. The dragoons becoming entangled in a piece of 
ground covered with brush and the tops of fallen trees, a halt was 
ordered, and the position of the cavalry changed to some open fields 



TIPPECANOE BATTLE-GROUND. 



291 



adjacent to the river. The Indians, seeing this nianceuver as the 
army approached the town, supposed they intended to attack it, and 
immediately prepared for its defense. The governor rode forward 
and requested some of the Indians to come to him, assuring them 
that nothing was "farther from his thoughts than of attacking them ; 
that the ground below the town was not fit for an encampment and 
that his movements were for no other purpose than to search for a 




better one above. He then asked if there was any other water con- 
venient besides that in the Wabash, and an Indian with whom the 
governor was well acquainted referred him to the creek which the 
army had crossed two miles back, and that ran through the prairie to 
the north of the village. A halt was ordered, and three officers sent 
out, who, returning in half an hour, reported that they had found on 
the creek, since called Burnett's Creek, an elevated spot nearly sur- 
rounded by an open prairie and supplied with water and fuel. To 
this place (since famous as the Tippecanoe battle-ground, about eight 



292 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

miles north of La Fayette, Indiana, on the northwest side of the 
Wabash) the army repaired, and went into camp for the night.* 

The illustration will assist the reader, while perusing an account 
of the engagement contained in the following extracts taken from 
Gov. Harrison's official report. 

"I then took leave of the chief, and a mutual promise was again 
made for a suspension of hostilities until we could have an interview 
on the following day. I found the ground destined for the encamp- 
ment not altogether such as I could wish it. It was, indeed, admira- 
bly calculated for the encampment of regular troops that were 
opposed to regulars, but it afforded great facility for the approach of 
savages. It was a piece of dry oak land, rising about ten feet above 
the level of a marshy prairie in front (toward the Indian town), and 
nearly twice that height above a similar prairie in the rear, through 
which, and near to this bank, ran a small stream clothed with willows 
and brushwood. Toward the left flank this bench of high land 
widened considerably, but became gradually harrow in the opposite 
direction, at the distance of one hundred and fifty yards from the 
right flank terminated in an abrupt point. The two columns of 
infantry occupied the front and rear of this ground, at the distance 
of about one hundred and fifty yards from each other, on the left, 
and something more than half that distance on the right flank. 
These flanks were filled up, the first by two companies of mounted 
riflemen, amounting to one hundred and twenty men, under the 
command of Maj.-Gen. Wells, of the Kentucky militia, who served 
as major, the other by Spencer's company of mounted riflemen, 
which amounted to eighty men. The front line was composed of one 
battalion of United States infantry, under the command of Major 
Floyd, flanked on the right by two companies of militia, and on the 
left by one company. The rear line was composed of a battalion of 
United States troops under command of Capt. Bean, acting as major, 
and four companies of militia infantry under Lieut. -Col. Decker. The 
regular troops of this line joined the mounted riflemen under Gen. 
Wells on the left flank, and Col. Decker's battalion formed an angle 
with Spencer's company on the left. 

"Two troops of dragoons, amounting to, in the aggregate, about 
sixty men, were encamped in the rear of the left flank, and Capt. 
Parke's troop, which was larger than the other two, in the rear of 
the front line. Our order of encampment varied little from that 

*The illustration of the battle-ground was drawn by the historical writer, B. J. 
Lossing, who visited the locality in 1860, and appears in his Field Book of the War of 
1812; and the positions of the several corps are located on the plan in conformity with 
the official account of the battle. 



BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE. 293 

above described, excepting when some peculiarity of the ground 
made it necessary. For a night attack the order of encampment was 
the order of battle, and each man slept immediately opposite to his 
post in the line. In the formation of my troops I used a single rank, 
or what is called Indian hie, because in Indian warfare, where there 
is no shock to resist, one rank is nearly as good as two, and in that 
kind of warfare the extension of line is of the first importance. Raw 
troops also manoeuver with much more facility in single than in double 
ranks. It was my constant custom to assemble all the field officers at 
my tent every evening by signal, to give them the watchword and 
the instructions for the night; those given for the night of the 6th 
were that each troop which formed a part of the exterior line of the 
encampment should hold its own ground until relieved. The dragoons 
were ordered to parade, in case of a night attack, with their pistols in 
their belts, and to act as a corps of reserve. The camp was defended 
by two captains' 1 guards, consisting each of four non-commissioned 
officers and forty-two privates, and two subalterns' guards of twenty 
non-commissioned officers and privates, the whole under the com- 
mand of a field officer of the day. The troops were regularly called 
up an hour before day, and made to continue under arms until it was 
quite light. 

"On the morning of the Tth I had risen at a quarter after four 
o'clock, and the signal for calling out the men would have been 
given in two minutes when the attack commenced. It began on our 
left flank ; but a signal gun was fired by the sentinels, or by the 
guard, in that direction, which made not the least resistance, but 
abandoned their officer and fled into camp, and the first notice which 
the troops of that flank had of the danger was from the yells of the 
savages within a short distance of the line; but even under those 
circumstances the men were not wanting to themselves or the occa- 
sion. Such of them as were awake, or were easily awakened, seized 
their arms and took their stations ; others, which were more tardy, 
had to contend with the enemy in the doors of their tents. The 
storm first fell upon Capt. Barton's company of the -tth IT. S. Reg., 
and Capt. Geiger's company of mounted riflemen, which formed the 
left angle of the rear line. The fire upon these was exceedingly 
severe, and they suffered considerably before relief could be brought 
to them. Some few Indians passed into the encampment near the 
angle, and one or two penetrated to some distance before they were 
killed. I believe all the other companies were under arms and tol- 
erably formed before they were fired on. The morning was dark 
and cloudy ; our fires afforded a partial light, which, if it gave us 



294 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

some opportunity for taking our positions, was still more advanta- 
geous to the enemy, affording them the means of taking a surer aim ; 
they were, therefore, extinguished. Under all these discouraging 
circumstances, the troops (nineteen- twentieths of whom never had 
been in action before") behaved in a manner that can never be too 
much applauded. They took their place without noise, and less 
confusion than could have been expected from veterans placed in 
the same situation. As soon as I could mount my horse I rode to 
the angle that was attacked. I found that Barton's company had 
suffered severely, and the left of Geiger's entirely broken. I imme- 
diately ordered Cook's company, and the late Capt. Wentworth's, 
under Lieut. Peters, to be brought up from the center of the rear 
line, where the ground was much more defensible, and formed across 
the angle in support of Barton's and Geiger's. My attention was 
then engaged by a heavy firing upon the left of the front line, where 
were stationed the small company of United States riflemen (then, 
however, armed with muskets), and the companies of Bean, Snell- 
ing and Prescott, of the 4th Reg. I found Major Daviess forming 
the dragoons in the rear of those companies, and understanding that 
the heaviest part of the enemy's fire proceeded from some trees 
about fifteen or twenty paces in front of those companies, I directed 
the major to dislodge them with a part of the dragoons. Unfortu- 
nately, the major's gallantry determined him to execute the order 
with a smaller force than was sufficient, which enabled the enemy 
to avoid him in front and attack his flanks. The major was mortally 
wounded, and his party driven back. The Indians were, however, 
immediately and gallantly dislodged from their advantageous posi- 
tion by Capt. Snelling at the head of his company. 

"In the course of a few minutes after the commencement of the 
attack the Are extended along the left flank, the whole of the front, 
the right flank and part of the rear line. Upon Spencer's mounted 
riflemen and the right of Warwick's company, which was posted on 
the right of the rear line, it was excessively severe. Capt. Spencer 
and his first and second lieutenants were killed, and Capt. Warwick 
was mortally wounded. Those companies, however, still bravely 
maintained their posts, but Spencer had suffered so severely, and 
having originally too much ground to occupy, I reinforced them with 
Robb's company of riflemen, which had been driven, or by mistake 
ordered, from their positions on the left flank toward the center of 
the camp, and filled the vacancy that had been occupied by Robb 
with Prescott' s company of the 4th United States regiment. My 
great object was to keep the lines entire, to prevent the enemy from 



BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE. 295 

breaking into the camp, until daylight, which should enable me to 
make a general and effectual charge. With this in view, I had rein- 
forced every part of the line that had suffered much, and as soon as 
the approach of morning discovered itself I withdrew from the front 
line Snelling's, Porey's (under Lieut. Albright) and Scott's, and from 
the rear line Wilson's, companies, and drew them up upon the left 
flank ; and at the same time I ordered Cook's and Bean's companies, 
the former from the rear, and the latter from the front, line, to 
reinforce the right flank, foreseeing that at these points the enemy 
would make their last efforts. Major Wells, who commanded on the 
left flank, not knowing my intentions precisely, had taken command 
of these companies, and had charged the enemy before I had formed 
the body of dragoons with which I meant to support the infantry. A 
small detachment of these were, however, ready, and proved amply 
sufficient for the purpose. The Indians were driven by the infantry 
at the point of the bayonet, and the dragoons pursued and forced 
them into a marsh, where they could not be followed. Capt. Cook 
and Lieut. Larabee had, agreeable to my order, marched their com- 
panies to the right flank, and fprmed them under the fire of the ene- 
my, and, being then joined by the riflemen of that flank, had charged 
the Indians, killed a number and put the rest to precipitate flight. A 
favorable opportunity was here offered to pursue the enemy with 
dragoons, but being engaged at that time on the other flank, I did 
not observe it till it was too late. 

"I have thus, sir, given you the particulars of an action which 
was certainly maintained with the greatest obstinacy and persever- 
ance by both parties. The Indians manifested a ferocity uncommon 
even with them. To their savage fury our troops opposed that cool 
and deliberate valor which is characteristic of the christian sol- 
dier."* 

We note a few of the incidents connected with the campaign. 
The night was dark in consequence of clouds, which occasionally 
discharged a drizzling rain, affording the Indians a chance to creep 
up so near the sentries as to hear them challenged when relieved. 
The} 7 intended to rush upon the sentinels and kill them before they 
could fire ; but one of the sentinels discovering an Indian creeping 
toward him in the grass, fired his gun, the report of which was in- 
stantly followed by an Indian yell, and a desperate charge upon the 
left flank. The Indians advanced to the wild music of their rattles, 
made of deers' hoofs, the shrill noise of their gun chargers, blowing 

* General Harrison's Official Report: American State Papers, vol. 5, pp. 777, 778. 



296 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

them as whistles, and furious savage yells, that arose in the darkness 
above the peals of the musketry. They fought like the very demons 
they were, inspired by the incantations of the Prophet, who, secure 
from flying bullets, occupied an adjacent eminence and sang kt the 
war song." He had told his followers that the American bullets 
would prove harmless. Soon after the beginning of the battle word 
was sent him that his men were falling. He encouraged them to 
tight on, saying it would soon be as he predicted, and then sang the 
louder. The Indians rushed up to the bayonets of our men, and in 
one instance, related by (Japt. Snelling, an Indian adroitly pushed 
the bayonet of a soldier aside, and clave his head with a war club. 
The Winnebago warriors distinguished themselves by their bravery. 
The governor exposed himself constantly, and was present at every 
point on the lines as they were severally pressed by the enemy. His 
clothing, hat, and even his hair, were cut by the enemy's balls.* 

The 7th was spent in burying the dead on the field where they 
fell, caring for the wounded, and fortifying the camp. On the 8th 
of November the village was reconnoitred, and gave evidence of 
having been abandoned in great haste. The household utensils 
were all left, and some guns, still in the covers in which they had 
been imported, and a quantity of prime double-glazed English rifle 
powder. Hogs and poultry were found, running through the village, 
a large quantity of corn and a vast number of kettles. Gen. John 
Tipton, who took a prominent part in this campaign, says in his 
daily journal that the Americans destroyed two thousand bushels of 
corn, besides six wagon loads which they hauled away from the vil- 
lage, r Everything useful to the army was removed, and then the 

*0f the little more than eight hundred Americans in the action, the killed and 
wounded numbered one hundred and eighty-eight. An unusual per cent of the 
wounded died or lost their limbs on account, as the surgeons said, of the Indians 
having chewed their balls, causing them to tear the flesh severely, and make a more 
ragged wound than a smooth ball would do. The Indians were estimated by some at 
six hundred; the traders, whose opportunities for knowing were good, said there were 
at least eight hundred. The previous summer there were four hundred and fifty war- 
riors at the Prophet's town, and these were joined a few days before the battle by all 
the Kickapoos of the prairie, and by many other bands from the Pottawatomie villages 
on the Illinois, and the St. Josephs of Lake Michigan. It being in the dark, the Indians 
were enabled to carry many of their dead and wounded away without their being 
observed; still thirty-eight of their warriors were found upon the field. Of the Kick- 
apoos braves in the battle belonging to Pa-hoi- shee-can, or " LaFarine's " band alone, 
fourteen of the severely hurt, who got away from the Wabash, afterward died of their 
wounds, and were buried near their village, four miles west of Danville, where their 
graves, still to be seen, were pointed out to the early salt boilers in 1819, by the sur- 
vivors who were cognizant of the facts. 

fTipton's Journal of the "Indian Campaign of 1811 " contains many interesting 
items. It was first published by the enterprising proprietor of the Indianapolis 
"News," in the issue of the 5th of May, 1879. It covers the late Gen. Tipton's daily 
movements from the time his company left Corydon on the 12th of September, 1811, 
to his return home on the 24th of November, a period of seventy-four days. Much of 



RETURN MARCH. 297 

village and everything in it was committed to the flames. " The vil- 
lage is on the west side of the Wabash, miles above 

Vincennes, on the second bank, about two hundred yards from the 
river, and neat built. This is the main town ; but it is scattering, 
a mile long, all the way a tine corn field." On the 9th the troops 
were put in motion, returning by the same route they had come. 
The wounded were placed in wagons drawn by oxen, of which there 
was scarcely a sufficient number for this humane purpose. All camp 
equipage and baggage, owing to the insufficiency of transportation, 
was destroyed, the governor setting the example by knocking his 
own to pieces and throwing it into the fire. The whole army cheer- 
fully followed his example, and the camp was quickly strewed with 
debris of furniture, mess boxes, plates, dishes and bottles. "With 
all this, it was difficult to make the wagons contain those who could 
neither walk nor ride. The wounded were dying every day. Early 
in the action two or three of the army fled, reaching the block-house 
below the Vermilion, and spread exaggerated news of the battle and 
the defeat of Harrison. And as the troops were returning, they 
"•were frequently met on their way by persons coming to learn the 
fate of their children or friends."* The army was reduced to the 
scantiest of rations, part of the time living upon parched corn ; and 
on the 13th of November they reached the block-house, as appears 
from Tipton's Journal, just as a timely boat was arriving with much 
needed provisions. The next day as many of the sick and wounded 
as the boat would hold were placed aboard and sent down the river. 
The main army reached Fort Harrison on the 14th of November, 
and Vincennes four days later, where they were met with great re- 
joicing by the inhabitants. 

In its results, the engagement at Tippecanoe ranks as one of the 
most important ever fought against the Indians in the west. It may 
be said to have been the opening battle of the war of 1812, although 
the formal declaration of hostilities was deferred until the following 
June. However many and grave were the irritating causes in the 
Atlantic states which had threatened the peace of the two countries, 
had they not existed, still, the continued aggressions of the Indians, 
operated upon as they were by traders within our borders and other 
subjects of Great Britain in Canada, would have provoked collision, t 

his time was occupied in advance of the array, either in picking out crossing places of 
streams or other difficult portions, and in scouting. 

* Samuel R. Brown's History of the Second War of the Independence: Auburn, 1815, 
vol. 1, p. 227. 

fThe causes culminating in the action at Tippecanoe, the movements of the Amer- 
ican forces before and after the engagement, and the incidents connected with the 
campaign, are taken from Dawson's Life of Harrison, McAfee's History of the Late 



298 HISTOKIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

While the Indian difficulties described in this chapter were 
transpiring, matters between the United States and Great Britain 
were fast assuming a warlike hue. An embargo was laid upon all 
our shipping, to protect it against the unwarrantable interference of 
English cruisers. Our commerce upon the high seas was almost 
entirely destroyed by the policy of Great Britain and France, then 
engaged in the mighty struggle for empire upon the continent of 
Europe. The depleted navy of England was recruited by seizure 
of Americans aboard of American vessels and empressing them into 
her service. War was declared on the 19th of June, 1812. 

Since the battle of Tippecanoe "the frontiers," wrote Gen. Har- 
rison, " never enjoyed more perfect repose." Still the Indians were 
powerful, thoroughly organized, and fully supplied with guns and 
ammunition from Canada,] and were eagerly looking at the toma- 
hawk long uplifted in the hand of their English father, and only 
waiting the time when it should fall upon the head of the Ameri- 
cans, to begin an active and determined war of extermination upon 
all of the western settlements. Notwithstanding these facts were 
so apparent, and the importance of providing a naval force upon 
Lake Erie and an army for the protection of the northwest had been 
urged upon the secretary of war and others, still the war department 
refused to do anything commensurate with the magnitude of the 
danger. William Hull, governor of the Michigan territory, was 
appointed to the command of the westward frontiers ; and, although 
he advised the department that it was idle to attempt to hold the 
territory with less than three thousand well-equipped soldiers, little 
attention was paid to his demands. However, through the activ- 
ity of the governors of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, a small army 
of militia volunteers, with the 4th United States regiment of regu- 
lars (Miller's regiment of Tippecanoe fame) as a nucleus, was tardily 
recruited. Owing to the wide extent of thinly-settled country from 
which the forces were drawn, the difficulty of obtaining munitions 
and provisions and moving them over districts unprovided with 
roads to points of concentration, but very slow progress was made. 
Before Hull could reach Detroit the enemy, who had received in- 
telligence of the declaration of war before Hull was notified of the 
fact, had already begun the war by the capture of a schooner, along 
with a quantity of baggage and some thirty officers and privates 
aboard of her, while on its way from Miami Rapids to Detroit. 
Overcoming all delays, Gen. Hull reached Spring Wells, three 

War in the Western Country, and Tipton's Journal, all regarded as sources of original 
and authentic information. 



LOSS OF TERRITORY. 299 

miles below Detroit, only to be confronted with a naval and mil- 
itary force of the enemy in a more forward state of concentration 
upon the Canadian side of the river. The commanding general, 
on the 12th of the month, moved his forces across the river, issued 
a florid proclamation to the inhabitants of Canada, whose soil he 
had invaded, and in the course of a few days retreated back to his 
old quarters. On the 16th of the same month, without striking a 
blow, Gen. Hull surrendered Detroit and his whole force to Sir 
Isaac Brock, governor-general of Canada. This most unexpected 
calamity was followed by intelligence, received on the 28th of July, 
that the port of Mackinaw had been captured by the British. Fast 
upon this startling news came the surrender of Fort Dearborn to 
the Indians by Capt. ITeald, on the 15th of August, and the mas- 
sacre or capture of the inhabitants and soldiers. Thus, in less than 
sixty days after the declaration of hostilities, the whole northwest, 
from the Detroit to the Mississippi River, was in the hands of the 
British or their Indian allies under the lead of English traders. 
Fort Wayne and Fort Harrison were the only points at which the 
United States presented resistance. 

The plans of Tecumseh succeeding more happily than he could 
have expected, it was determined to lay siege to Forts Wayne and 
Harrison simultaneously, as the only "remaining obstacles in the 
way of driving the white inhabitants over the Ohio" River. Fort 
Wayne was accordingly besieged, and closely invested by the sav- 
ages until it was relieved by Gen. Harrison, who had been appointed 
to the chief command of the northwest immediately after the sur- 
render of Hull. 

We will now let Capt. Taylor tell how nearly the Indians suc- 
ceeded in gaining possession of Fort Harrison, only noting the fact 
that his official report, written immediately after the assault, before 
opportunity was given him to acquire more accurate information, 
erroneously names the Miamis as a part of the attacking force. 
M'Affee, as well as others, writing at a later date, correctly state 
that the enemy were Kickapoos and Winnebagoes only. 

"Fort Harrison, September 10. 

"Dear Sir, — On Thursday evening, the 3d instant, after retreat 
beating, four guns were heard to fire in the direction where two 
young men (citizens who resided here) were making hay, about four 
hundred yards distant from the fort. I was immediately impressed 
with the idea that they had been killed by the Indians, as the Pro- 
phet's party would soon be here for the purpose of commencing 



300 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

hostilities, and that they had been directed to leave this place, as we 
were about to do. I did not think it prudent to send out at that late 
hour of the night to see what had become of them, and their nut 
coming in convinced me that I was right in my conjecture. I waited 
till eight o'clock next morning, when I sent out a corporal with a 
small party to find them, if it could be done without running too 
much risk of being drawn into an ambuscade. He soon sent back 
to inform me that he had found them both killed, and wished to 
know my further orders. I sent the cart and oxen and had them 
brought in and buried. They had been shot with two balls, scalped 
and cut in the most shocking manner. Late in the evening of the 
4th instant old Joseph Lenar and about thirty or forty Indians 
arrived from the Prophet's town with a white flag, among whom 
were about ten women, and the men were composed of the chiefs of 
the different tribes that compose the Prophet's party. A Shawnee 
man, that could speak good English, informed me that old Lenar 
intended to speak to me next morning, and try to get something to 
eat. 

"At retreat beating I examined the men's arms and found them 
all in good order, and completed their cartridges to fifteen rounds 
per man. As I had not been able to mount a guard of more than six 
privates and two non-commissioned officers for some time past, and 
sometimes part of them every other day, from the unheal thiness of 
the company, I had not conceived my force adequate to the defense 
of this post, should it be vigorously attacked, for some time past, 

"As I had just recovered from a very severe attack of the fever, 
I was not able to be up much through the night. After tattoo, I 
cautioned the guard to be vigilant, and ordered one of the non-com- 
missioned officers, as the sentinels could not see every part of the 
garrison, to walk around on the inside during the whole night, to 
prevent the Indians taking any advantage of us, provided they had 
any intention of attacking us. About 11 o'clock I was awakened by 
the firing of one of the sentinels. I sprang up, ran out and ordered 
the men to their posts, when my orderly-sergeant, who had charge of 
the upper block-house, called out that the Indians had fired the 
lower block-house (which contained the property of the contractor, 
which was deposited in the lower part, the upper having been 
assigned to a corporal and ten privates as an alarm post). The guns 
had begun to fire pretty smartly from both sides. I directed the 
buckets to be got ready and water brought from the well and the fire 
extinguished immediately, as it was perceivable at that time ; but 
from debility or some other cause the men were very slow in execut- 






ATTACK ON FORT HARRISON. 301 

ing my orders, — the word fire appeared to throw the whole of them 
into confusion, — and by the time they had got the water and broken 
open the door, the fire had unfortunately communicated to a quantity 
of whisky (the stock having licked several holes through the lower 
part of the building, after the salt that was stored there, through 
which the fire had been introduced without being discovered, as the 
night was very dark), and in spite of every exertion we could make 
use of in less than a moment it ascended to the roof and baffled 
every effort we could make to extinguish it. As the block-house 
adjoined the barracks that made part of the fortifications, most of the 
men immediately gave themselves up for lost, and I had the greatest 
difficulty 7 in .getting my orders executed. And, sir, what from the 
raging of the fire, the yelling and howling of several hundred Indi- 
ans, the cries of nine women and children (a part, soldiers' and a 
part citizens' wives, who had taken shelter in the fort), and the 
despondency of so many of the men, which was worse than all, I 
can assure you that my feelings were unpleasant, and, indeed, there 
were not more than ten or fifteen men able to do a great deal, — the 
others being sick or convalescent ; and to add to our other misfor- 
tunes, two of the strongest men in the fort, and that I had every 
confidence in, jumped the picket and left us. I saw by throwing off 
a part of the roof that joined the block-house that was on fire, and 
keeping the end perfectly wet, the whole row of buildings might be 
saved, and leave only an opening of eighteen or twenty feet for the 
entrance of the Indians after the house was consumed, and that a 
temporary breastwork might be executed to prevent their even enter- 
ing there. I convinced the men that this might be accomplished, 
and it appeared to inspire them with new life, and never did men 
act with more firmness and desperation. Those that were able 
(while the others kept up a constant fire from the other block-house 
and the two bastions') mounted the roofs of the houses, with Dr. 
Clark at their head, who acted with the greatest firmness and pres- 
ence of mind the whole time the attack lasted, which was seven 
hours, under a shower of bullets, and in less than a moment threw 
off as much of the roof as was necessary. This was done only with 
a loss of one man and two wounded, and I am in hopes neither of 
them dangerously. The man that was killed was a little deranged, 
and did not get off the house as soon as directed, or he would not 
have been hurt ; and although the barracks were several times in a 
blaze, and an immense quantity of fire against them, the men used 
such exertions that they kept it under, and before day raised a tem- 
porary breastwork as high as a man's head, although the Indians 



802 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

continued to pour in a heavy fire of ball and innumerable quantity 
of arrows during the whole time the attack lasted, in every part of 
the parade. I had but one other man killed, nor any other wounded 
inside the fort, and he lost his life by being too anxious. He got into 
one of the galleys in the bastion and fired over the pickets, and called 
out to his comrades that he had killed an Indian, and, neglecting to 
stoop down, in an instant he was shot dead. One of the men that 
jumped the pickets returned an hour before day, and, running up 
toward the gate, begged for God's sake for it to be opened. I sus- 
pected it to be a stratagem of the Indians to get in, as I did not 
recollect the voice. I directed the men in the bastion, where I hap- 
pened to be, to shoot him, let him be who he would, and one of 
them fired at him, but fortunately he ran up to the other bastion, 
where they knew his voice, and Dr. Clark directed him to lie down 
close to the pickets, behind an empty barrel that happened to be 
there, and at daylight I had him let in. His arm was broken in a 
most shocking manner, which he says was done by the Indians, 
which, I suppose, was the cause of his returning. I think it probable 
that he will not recover. The other they caught about one hundred 
and thirty yards from the garrison, and cut him all to pieces. After 
keeping up a constant fire until about six o'clock the next morning, 
which we began to return with some effect after daylight, they re- 
moved out of reach of our guns. A party of them drove up the 
horses that belonged to the citizens here, and as they could not catch 
them very readily, shot the whole of them in our sight, as well as a 
number of their hogs. They drove off the whole of the cattle, 
which amounted to sixty-five head, as well as public oxen. I had 
the vacancy filled up before night [which was made by the burning 
of the block-house] with a strong row of pickets which I got by 
pulling down the guard-house."* 

The events following the relief of Fort Wayne, and the failure 
at Fort Harrison, were the formation of a navy upon Lake Erie and 
the raising of a large military force by Gen. Harrison, under diffi- 
culties and such depressing delays as would have discouraged almost 
any other officers than Harrison and the immortal Perry. 

On the 10th day of September, 1813, Perry met the British fleet 
of vessels at the head of Lake Erie, and captured every one of them 
in an engagement that shed imperishable fame upon every officer 
and private of his command. Harrison's army collected upon the 

* Gen. Taylor's report, read in connection with the account given by the commander 
on the other side, — Old Joseph Lenar, as Taylor calls "La Farine," or Pa-koi-shee-can, 
— found on page 165, will give the reader a very full understanding of the ingenuity 
and boldness of the attack on Fort Harrison and the heroism of its defense. 






tecumseh's death. 303 

peninsula formed by Sandusky Bay, with the venerable Gov. Isaac 
Shelby in his gray hairs at the head of his children, the gallant 
Kentucky militia, were transported across the lake to Maiden, which 
the fleeing Proctor had burned at their approach. Retreating up 
the River Thames, the forces of Proctor and Tecumseh were 
brought to an engagement near the Moravian towns, where, on 
the 5th of October, they were defeated in an action as brilliant 
upon the land as was Capt. Barclay's upon the water. 

The Indians were posted in a swamp, and were commanded by 
Tecumseh in person, who went down in the thickest of the tight, 
gallantly encouraging his men. His prediction was verified to the 
letter — he and Harrison had "fought it out"; the confederation 
he had molded dropped to pieces. The several tribes hastened to 
Gen. Harrison's headquarters to say they wanted peace. It was 
the last great combination of the Indians against the whites ; and 
it is a historical coincidence that the confederations of both Pon- 
tiae and Tecumseh to check the ever westward flow of immigration 
should have met their final overthrow in the vicinity of Detroit, and 
on British soil. 

Happily for the west, that owing largely to the exertions of its own 
people, the lost territory was recovered, and when the treaty of 
peace was concluded in 1815, the old boundary lines remained as 
before, without the loss of a single acre. 

Upon the restoration of peace, immigration received a new im- 
pulse. Indiana, having sufficiently increased her population, was, on 
the 11th of December, 1816, admitted as a state in the Union. Two 
years afterward, December 3, 1818, Illinois followed Indiana in the 
sisterhood of states. 

The campaigns of Harmar, Scott, Wilkinson, St. Clair, Wayne 
and Harrison gave the volunteers a knowledge of the beauty and 
fertility of the western country, and may well be said to have been 
so many exploring expeditions. As soon as the Indian titles to the 
several portions of the territory were successively extinguished, 
population poured in, often in advance of the government surveys. 
The Ohio and the Mississippi were the base, and the Illinois, the 
Wabash, the Miami and their tributaries, with other principal 
streams, were the supporting columns upon which the settlements 
respectively formed and gradually extended itself to the right and 
left from these waters until the intervening country was filled. 

Within little more than half a century, population has extended 
itself northward over the states of Indiana and Illinois, and coun- 
ties have been organized like the blocks of a building, one upon 



304 HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 

the other, until now those hitherto wild and uninhabited wastes com- 
prise the most wealthy, enterprising and populous portions of these 
two states. 

The order in which these counties were organized and filled can 
be more properly carried forward in their respective county histories 
in an unbroken continuity from the place where the writer now bids 
the reader a hearty good-bye. 






ILL 




r>o. 




HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 



BY H. W. BECKWITH. 



That part of Illinois now known as Vermilion county was orig- 
inally a portion of New France. It, together with all the immense 
territory lying west of the Alleghanies and north of the Ohio, be- 
longed, by right of discovery and occupation, to the King of France 
from the year 1682 to 1763. During this time, for administrative 
purposes, *New France was divided into two immense districts, the 
one known as Canada and the other as Louisiana, and at one period 
prior to 1745 the division line of the "Illinois country" began on 
the Wabash, at the mouth of the Vermilion River, thence northwest 
to La Salle's old fort on the Illinois River, a few miles above Ottawa. 
North of this line was Canada ; south of it, and west of the Wabash, 
was Louisiana. At that time the county seat for that part of Ver- 
milion county south of the line named was Fort Chartes. North of 
this line the country was governed from the Post of Detroit ; and if 
a French trader, then living along the Vermilion River, wished to 
get married to an Indian girl, he would have, in the absence of a 
nearer parish priest, to go either to Fort Chartes or Detroit, if he 
wished to lawfully celebrate the ceremony. They seldom went to 
this trouble, however. 

At the conclusion of the French colonial war in 1763 the country 
eastward of the Mississippi and west of the Alleghanies was ceded 
to Great Britain, and this power held and exercised dominion over 
it for some fifteen years, through an organization or board known 
as "The Lords Commissioners of the Council of Trade and Planta- 
tions," or "Lords of Trade." While the revolutionary war was in 
progress, the western country, by the capture of Kaskaskia and 
other settlements within its borders, fell, in 1778, into the hands of 
Virginia, through the conquest of Gen. George Rogers Clark and 
his soldiers, citizens of that state. After this Vermilion became a 
part of "Illinois county," in the State of Virginia. Our own gov- 



306 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

eminent acquired title to the northwest by deeds of cession from 
Virginia, together with releases from Connecticut, Massachusetts and 
New York, of such claims as these states might have had to parts 
of it under their old charters from the British crown. Afterward, 
and under the ordinance of 1787, passed by congress for its govern- 
ment, the country became known as "The territory of the United 
States northwest of the River Ohio.'' In the year 1800 the territory 
was divided, when that part of it tying west of a line drawn from 
the mouth of the Kentucky River to Fort Recovery — the old battle- 
field of St. Clair's defeat, in the edge of Mercer county, Ohio, four 
miles east of the Indiana state line — thence north to the British 
possessions, was named and governed as "The Indiana Territory"; 
the capitol at Vincennes. In the formation of counties,' by virtue of 
the proclamation of Gen. Harrison, as governor, issued on the 3d 
day of February, 1801, a part of Vermilion county lay in the county 
of Knox, and the other portion in St. Clair, the same as sections of 
it were formerly in Canada and Louisiana, with the difference that 
the line established by Gov. Harrison split our county by a nearly 
north and south line, while that fixed, over half a century before, by 
Mons. Vaudreuil, governor of New France, divided it in an oppo- 
site direction. Again, in 1809, after the Illinois Territory had been 
formed off of the Indiana Territory, by a line running from the 
mouth of the Ohio up the Wabash to Vincennes, thence north to the 
British Possessions, and when Nathaniel Pope, acting as governor, 
issued his proclamation on the 28th day of April, 1809, reforming 
the boundary lines between the counties of Randolph and St. Clair, 
and that portion of Knox lying west of the territorial line, Ver- 
milion county fell wholly within the county of St. Clair. Our county 
seat by the change was now Cahokia, on the west side of the state, 
opposite the lower suburbs of St. Louis. At this time had any per- 
son living within the present limits of Vermilion a deed he de- 
sired to record, it would have required a journey of nearly two 
hundred miles, and no little skill in finding the way to the county 
seat. 

Two years before Illinois was admitted as a state into the Union 
the county of Crawford was formed, and at that time Vermilion 
county was a part of its territory. Here, in the round of changes, 
our new county seat was shifted back across the state to the banks 
of the Wabash, at Palestine, situated at the mouth of La Motte 
Creek, where in 1812 was a block-house, called Fort La Motte, that 
stood on the extreme northern limit of settlements in eastern Illi- 
nois. 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 307 

In 1819, the year after Illinois was made a state, the county of 
Clark was formed off the northern part of Crawford, with the county 
seat established some miles higher up the Wabash, at a place called 
Aurora, which in turn became the county seat of all that region 
bordering on the Indiana line, and extending north as far as the Illi- 
nois and Kankakee Rivers. As it was when Vermilion county was 
a part of Clark, and while Aurora was the county seat, that the first 
permanent settlement was begun within the present limits of Ver- 
milion, we will defer further reference to the formation of counties 
in the chain of succession until we have noticed the incoming of the 
first pioneers. 

It was fur and salt that first attracted attention of white people 
in this direction. 

Prior to this date, the title of the Indians claiming the country 
along the waters of the Vermilions had not been wholly extinguished. 
At the treaty concluded at St. Mary's, Ohio, on the 2d of October, 
1818, between Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass and Benjamin Parke, 
commissioners of the United States, and the Pottawatomie nation of 
Indians, Me-te-a — "Kiss me," Ke-sis — "The Sun," To-pin-ne-bee, 
Pe-so-tem, and thirty other principal chiefs of that tribe, ceded the 
following tract of country : " Beginning at the mouth of Tippecanoe 
River, and running up the same to a point twenty-five miles in a 
direct line from the Wabash River; thence on a line as nearly paral- 
lel to the general course of the Wabash River as practicable, to a 
point on the Vermilion River twenty-five miles from the Wabash 
River ; thence down the Vermilion River to its mouth ; thence up 
the Wabash River to the place of beginning." By the second arti- 
cle of this treaty the United States agreed to purchase any just claim 
which the Kick-a-poos might have to any part of the ceded country 
below Pine Creek. The next year, by the treaty of Edwards ville, 
concluded on the 13th of July, 1819, the latter tribe ceded a large 
section of country between the Illinois River and the Wabash, in- 
clusive of that ceded by the Pottawatomies, and which is more par- 
ticularly described in the chapter on the Kickapoos, and will be 
found on page 167 of the general history. Immediately following 
this latter treaty, another treaty was concluded on the 30th of 
August, 1819, at Fort Harrison, between the United States, through 
its commissioner, Benjamin Parke, and that particular tribe or band 
who, in this treaty, described themselves as u The chiefs, warriors 
and head men'of the tribe of Kickapoos of the Vermilion, in which, 
to the end that the United States might be enabled to fix with other 
Indians a boundary between their respective claims, these Kickapoos 



308 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

described the country to which they had a rightful claim as follows : 
"Beginning at the northwest corner of the Vincennes tract" — see 
the General History, page 167, for the location of the Vincennes 
tract, — "thence westerly to the boundary established by a treaty 
with the Piankashaws on the 30th of December, 1805." This line 
runs north seventy-eight degrees west from the northwest corner of the 
Vincennes tract to the ridge that divides the waters flowing into the 
Wabash from the streams that drain directly to the Mississippi, "to 
the dividing ridge between the waters of the Embarras and Little 
Wabash ; thence by the said ridge to the sources of the Vermilion 
River ; thence by the said ridge to the head of Pine Creek ; thence 
by said creek to the Wabash River ; thence by the said river to the 
mouth of the Vermilion River, and thence by [up] the Vermilion 
and the boundary heretofore established to the place of beginning." 
This treaty was signed by Wah-co-haw, "The Grey Fox"; Kitch- 
e-mak-quaw, "Big Bear"; Te-cum-the-na, "Track in the Prairie"; 
Pe-le-che-ah, "The Panther"; Mac-a-ca-naw (none of the treaties to 
which this chief was a party give the signification of his name) ; Ka- 
an-eh-ka-ka or Ka-an-a-kuck, "The Drunkard's Son," as he was 
first called, or "The Prophet," a name which he assumed after he 
reformed and became a religious teacher; Pa-koi-shee-can, or "The 
Flour," and whom the French called "La Ferine." 

However singular these names may appear to us, doubtless the 
parties to whom they belonged were men of distinction during the 
time they owned and lived within the territory they relinquished. 
We have mentioned in the General History, page 164, the fact of the 
Kickapoos having ceded the tract of country between the Vermilion 
and the mouth of Raccoon Creek, below Newport, Indiana, and ex- 
tending from the Wabash westward some fifteen miles. In an address 
delivered by the writer before the Historical Society in May, 1878, it 
was stated that "a history of our county would not be complete un- 
less it went back of the time when the settlements began ; that the 
mind would constantly recur to the unwritten chapter, would go back 
beyond the recollection of the l oldest inhabitant, ' and busy itself 
with the inquiries, Who first explored this part of our country? 
Who owned it before the United States acquired it ? Who were the 
aboriginal proprietors ? What were their tribal names ? Where 
were their villages located?" These questions the writer has en- 
deavored to answer in the General History preceding that of the 
County History in this volume. One other topic in which the writer 
supposed the citizens of this locality would be interested was as to 
when and how our government extinguished the Indian titles to 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 



309 



the lands drained by the Vermilion River and its tributaries. This 
last question has now been answered. 

In less than a month after the treaty at Fort Harrison, August, 
1819, the Vermilion River was explored. The inducement was the 
hope of discovering salt. It appears, from an affidavit made to 
Joseph Barron, who for many 
years was Gen. Harrison's in- 
terpreter, ' and well vWsed in 
the dialects of all the Indian 
tribes who lived, hunted or 
claimed to own the lands wa- 
tered by the Wabash and the 
streams flowing into it, that he 
was at the "Vermilion Salines'" 
as early as the year 1801. He 
further made oath that he was 
again at the same " salt spring, 
situated on the Big Vermilion 
River, on the north side, about 
one and a half miles above the 
old 'Kickapoo town, 1 and about 
fifteen or eighteen miles from 
the Big Wabash River, in the 
county of Clark, state of Illi- 
nois, on the 22d day of September, 1819, in company with Lambert 
Bona, Zachariah Cicott" [as we know the name, or Shecott, as 
spelled by the justice of the peace who wrote and verified the affi- 
davits to which Bona, Cicott and Barron had sworn before him on 
on the 8th of December, 1819], "and Truman Blackmail, together 
with four Shawnee Indians whom he [Barron] had hired and paid to 
go with him and show him minerals, salt springs, etc." 

The occasion of these affidavits, with several others of which the 
writer obtained copies from the archives at Springfield, was that the 
legislature had previously passed a liberal law to encourage the dis- 
covery and development of saline water, by the terms of which any 
person making such discoveries should have the exclusive right to 
manufacture salt within a given area. Conflicting claims arose di- 
rectly as to the rights of several parties, and it was several years 
before they were finally adjusted, and the letters and affidavits sent 
in to Gov. Bond from the contestants afford reliable dates and other 
interesting matter relating to "the first settlement of the county." 

The parties returned, and Capt. Blackmail organized a second 




JOSEPH BARRON. 



310 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

expedition without the knowledge or sanction of Barron. His party 
consisted of himself, his brother- — Remember Blackman — George 
Beckwith, Seymour Treat, Peter Allen and Francis Whitcomb. They 
crossed the Wabash at the mouth of Otter Creek in the latter part of 
October, and struck out in a northwest course through the timber 
and prairies, keeping the direction with a small pocket compass, un- 
til they arrived at a stream supposed to be the Big Vermilion, about 
twenty-five miles, as they inferred, from the Wabash River. Here 
they encamped on the 31st of October, 1819. Capt. Blackman 
pointed out a smooth spot of low ground from twenty to thirty rods 
across where he said there was salt water. There was no vegetation 
growing upon the surface, and no traces of people ever having been 
there, "except," — says Peter Allen in his affidavit, — "in some few 
places where the Indians had sunk curbs of bark into the soil for the 
purpose of procuring salt water." 

Capt. Blackman set two or three men to work with spades, and by 
digging two or three feet into the saturated soil saline water was pro- 
cured. This was boiled down in a kettle brought along for that pur- 
pose. About two gallons of water yielded four ounces of good 
clear salt. An experimental well was dug a few rods from the former, 
where the brine was much stronger. It was agreed by Capt. Black- 
man that Treat, Whitcomb and Beckwith should be partners in the 
discovery of the salt water, and each pay his portion of the ex- 
penses. Beckwith and Whitcomb were left in charge to hold pos- 
session against the intrusion of other explorers, and to go on devel- 
oping the saline water, while the others returned to Fort Harrison 
and procured a team, tools and provisions, with a view to future ope- 
rations. In the latter part of November, 1819, Treat returned, com- 
ing up the Wabash and Vermilion rivers in a pirogue, with tools, 
provisions, his wife and children. With the assistance of Beckwith 
and Whitcomb — both good axmen — a cabin was quickly erected 
and Treat's family took immediate possession. In this way and at 
this place began the first permanent settlement within the present 
limits of Vermilion county. Mr. Treat's family suffered all the pri- 
vations incident to their situation. Their nearest neighbors were on 
North Arm Prairie, some forty miles away. The old Kickapoo town, 
a mile below their cabin, was deserted. The fence inclosing the 
cornfield had tumbled to the ground. Weeds rankled where formerly 
the Indian squaw had hoed her corn and cultivated her squashes. A 
year later, Treat, writing to the governor, says "that his family had 
remained on the ground ever since their arrival, except one who has 
fallen a victim to the sufferings and privations which they have had 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 311 

to endure, in a situation so remote from a settled country, without 
the means of procuring the ordinary comforts of life." 

Capt. Blackmail, it seems, did not do as he agreed. Instead of 
making an application to the governor in the name of Barron and 
the other parties interested, he look the lease, or permit, in his own 
name. The other parties complained and presented their own claims 
to the governor, in numerous affidavits and letters, and it was some 
three years before the difficulties were finally adjusted. In the mean- 
time several wells were sunk, one of them by Beckwith and Whit- 
comb at their own expense, to the depth of fifty feet, mostly by drilL- 
ing through solid rock. The salt was excellent in quality, purity and 
strength. Great expectations were raised as to the benefit that would 
accrue to the people of the Wabash Valley from these salt works. 
The writer has before him a letter addressed, on the 8th of June, 
1820, by James B. MeCall, from Vincennes, to Gov. Bond, in which 
the former says, " the people of the eastern section of your state are 
very anxious that the manufacture of salt might be gone into. Ap- 
pearances at the Vermilion salines justify the belief that salt may be 
made north of this sufficient for the consumption of all the settlers 
on the Wabash, and much below the present prices. Nearly all of 
the salt consumed above the mouth of the Wabash is furnished by 
Kentucky, and the transportation so far up streams materially en- 
hances the price, and in the present undeveloped state of the country 
as to money, prevents a majority of the farmers from procuring 
the quantity of this necessary article that their stock, etc., requires." 
On the 13th of December, 1822, the conflicting claimants, or as- 
signees of them, settled their differences at Vandalia before Gov. 
Bond, in an agreement which defined the shares of each. During 
this and the following year the manufacture of salt was increased. 
Nothing, however, was done on a scale equal to the demands until 
in 1824, and after John W. Vance obtained possession of the salines. 
In the spring of 1824 Vance brought twenty-four large iron kettles 
from Louisville, in a batau, down the Ohio, up the Wabash and Ver- 
milion to the mouth of Stony Creek, about four miles southeast of 
Danville. The water being low and the channel obstructed by a sand- 
bar at the mouth of the creek, the boat was abandoned, and the ket- 
tles hauled from thence to the salt works by ox teams. Soon after 
this the number of kettles was increased to eighty, holding a hun- 
dred and forty gallons each. They were set in a double row in a 
furnace constructed of stone at the bench of the hill near the wells. 
A hundred gallons of brine was required to make a bushel of salt, 
and from sixty to eighty bushels was a good week's run. The salt 



312 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

sold readily at the works for from $1.25 to $1.50 per bushel. Much 
of it was taken down the river in pirogues to supply the country 
below. A great deal was taken away in wagons, and much of it in 
sacks on horseback by persons who were too poor to own a team. 
It was not an unusual occurrence to see people at the "works " from 
the settlements at Buffalo, Hart and Elkhart Groves, from the San- 
gamon and Illinois Rivers, and from the neighborhood of Rockville 
and Rosedale, Indiana. In those days, says Mr. H. A. Coffeen, in 
an excellent little volume issued by him in 1870, and which is the 
pioneer history of our country, "the motto seemed to be more 
wagon roads to the salt works." 

The discovery of enormous quantities of brine upon the Ka- 
nawha River, and the completion of a government pier at the 
mouth of the Chicago Creek, making a practical harbor so that 
vessels on the lake could safely enter there, created a competition 
that put an end to the further manufacture of salt in Vermilion 
county. The works after this were a loss to every one who under- 
took to run them. They were abandoned, and the long row of 
buildings that had grown up in palmier days became vacant. For 
many years afterward the sole occupant was a singular old lady 
whom the people called "Mother Bloss." She lived all alone, 
spending her time in knitting or in boiling a little salt at the old 
furnace when the weather was pleasant, and would bring the pro- 
ducts of her industry to town and barter them for sugar, coffee, 
snuff and such other little luxuries as her limited means would 
allow. 

Nothing now remains of the old salt works except the furrowed 
hillside, where some of the furnace stones point above the overlay- 
ing grass, and a few depressions in the ground that mark the posi- 
tion of several of the wells. They are situated over half a mile 
west of the crossing of the middle fork, in the bottom, near the 
north bank of the salt fork, and between the cultivated fields and 
the river. The Indians told Maj. Yance that they and the French 
traders had made salt at these springs for at least seventy or eighty 
years before they were developed by the white people ; and the old 
Indians said they had no recollection of the time, it was so long ago 
since their people first commenced making salt there. The well- 
worn trails of buffalo and other wild animals were found converg- 
ing to this brakish ooze from many directions, and the abundance 
of game that collected there to eat the salty earth is proven by the 
quantity of broken arrow-heads which have been found in this 
localitv ever since the settlement of the country. 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 313 

The salt works were the nucleus of settlements in that vicinity, 
as they were, also, the beginning of the county. The next begin- 
ning, in the order of time, was made in 1820, by Jaipes D. Butler, 
who "took up a claim," as squatting on apiece of land before it 
was surveyed or put in market was called, just west of Catlin. 
He was from Chittenden county, Vermont ; moved to Clark county, 
Ohio ; lived there six years, when, with two or three other persons, 
he came to Vermilion county. His cabin was erected on the right 
hand side of the road leading from Catlin to the fair ground, and on 
the east side of the branch which still bears his name. He put in a 
crop, and, in company with his neighbors, returned in the fall to Ohio. 
The next spring he brought out his family. His neighbors would not 
come back with him; they abandoned their "little beginnings 1 ' be- 
cause their families were afraid to submit themselves, so far from 
civilization, to the mercy of the Indians, whose numerous bands 
were roaming over this country at that time. When Butler's fam- 
ily moved in, their nearest neighbor south was Henry Johnson, on 
the Little Vermilion, while Treat's family, at the salt works, with 
Whitcomb and the two Beckwiths, Dan and George, were their only 
neighbors in that direction. Within two or three years Robert 
Trickle came to Butler's Point, then John Light, and soon after 
Asa Elliott. Whitcomb took a wife and went from the salt works 
to Catlin, where he built a home and lived for many years. 

At a later day, Butler, greatly prospered by his industry and 
thrift, built a larger house — in fact, a mansion, so considered at the 
time — out on the prairie near the northeast portion of the present 
Catlin fair-ground inclosure. The logs were square hewn ; the cor- 
ners of the building were cut even with the line of the walls. Butler 
was a man of good business capacity, and possessed a practical mind. 
This, with his good house and the accession of enterprising neigh- 
bors, soon made "Butler's Point" the focal center of the country 
many miles around. 

Near Butler's house stood a large oak tree, all alone, out well 
beyond the line of timber skirting the branch, where for years it had 
bid defiance to the annual prairie fire. It was called " Butler's lone 
tree," and was a landmark and sentinel that served as a guide to 
travelers crossing the prairies from the south and west. 

A Lewis Bailey, in 1823, made a "tomahawk improvement," as 
little clearings in the timber were called in those days, west of the 
salt works some six miles, on what is now known as a part of the 
old Radclifre farm. Bailey sold out to Harvey Luddington, who 
was well known in Danville, where he lived since 1828 until his 



314 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

death within the past year. The branch near by became known to 
the early settlers as Luddington's branch. It is now called Stony 
Creek. Within a few years afterward a Mr. "Walker opened a farm 
higher up the creek, and the place became known as "Walker's 
Point." 

The facts narrated in reference to the early settlement at Butler's 
Point, and upon the Little Vermilion and Stony Creek, are produced 
from a narrative given the writer by Annis Butler, daughter of Jas. 
D. Butler, afterward the wife of Marquis Snow, and after this the 
wife of Cyrus Douglas. Her reminiscences are quite lengthy, and 
were taken down in writing by the writer of this, at the time and 
substantially as related to him at her house in Fairmount, on the 
12th of August, 1876. The lady was in excellent health at the time, 
and exceedingly quick in both mind and body. Her recollection of 
events was remarkable, and her faculty in relating them minute and 
exact. She had always enjoyed excellent health, and time had dealt 
so gently with her that her appearance betrayed no evidence of her 
age. The writer has been thus particular, that the reader may give 
proper credit to her statements wherein they differ from the "recol- 
lections" of other "old settlers." She was born in 1805, and was 
about sixteen years old when she came to Catlin Township with her 
father. She lived in that part of the county until in March, 1877, 
when she died at her home in Fairmount. Concerning her first 
marriage, she says that her husband, Marquis Snow, drove one of 
her father's teams when the family moved from Ohio to Illinois, 
and that her acquaintance with him began before that time. Mr. 
Douglas and his intended bride were at the salt works. She was 
there also, as was Marquis Snow. The groomsman took their girls 
on horseback, each pony carrying two persons, the groom in front, 
the bride behind, following in single file along an Indian trail, leading 
from the salt works to Denmark. Dan and George Beckwith, dressed 
in buckskin blouse, breeches and moccasins, brought up the rear on 
foot. Squire Treat's cabin was about fourteen feet square, built of 
small round logs. Douglas was married first, and then Marquis and 
Miss Annis stood up, and joining hands, their marriage was next 
duly solemnized. The ceremony of this double wedding was per- 
formed on the 27th day of January, 1825. It has been erroneously 
stated that these weddings were the first ever celebrated in Vermil- 
ion county. These were, perhaps, the first in this part of what is 
now known as Vermilion county. Then, Vermilion was a part, and 
only a small part, of Edgar county, and Squire Treat was one of the 
justices of the peace for the county of Edgar. Before laying aside 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 315 

Mrs. Douglas's narrative, we will extract two or three incidents 
which she relates. They are unimportant in themselves, but will 
illustrate the necessities of society, and the condition of this part of 
the country at that time, and will assist the reader in drawing con- 
trasts between the " early duvs " and now. 

After Baily sold out to Luddington he cleared out to the "Illi- 
nois River country, 1 ' leaving his wife and two or three small children 
at the salt works. The children were taken sick. The wife soon 
became ill, too. There was no other woman at the salt works, the 
men laboring there being all unmarried. Whitcomb took care of the 
sick mother and her children. With his own hands he did all their 
washing. No female help could be had. No doctors or drug stores, 
from where aid or medicines could be procured, were nigh. No food, 
such as invalids require, could be procured. One by one the chil- 
dren, wasting away, day after day, died. No plank or lumber was 
to be had, and coffins were made out of rough boards, split from a 
walnut tree that grew a short distance from Butler's branch. In 
these rude caskets, roughly made by the men with such tools as they 
possessed, the bodies of the little ones were placed in the ground. 
The sick mother, unable to leave her couch, could drop no tear at 
the graves of her dear ones. There were none to mourn at the 
funeral, — no relatives, no friends, no minister, — only the sad faces 
of strong men inured to hardships, who silently performed the last 
rites. 

The walnut tree, says Mrs. Douglas, was called the "coffin tree." 
Neighbors came from a long distance and rived boards from this 
tree. It was straight-grained, and slabs could be split off of it with 
little difficulty. From such material as this were formed the burial- 
cases of a number of the early settlers. 

One spring, some two years before Mr. Snow's marriage, he was 
making sugar at the camp near the salt works, and as he was hauling 
sugar water from the trees to the camp on a "bob-sled." a panther 
came near him. He motioned to Lewis Bailey, who was at the camp 
fire, to bring the rifle, but Bailey did not see him. All the while the 
panther was eyeing Mr. Snow sharply ; whenever he moved, the 
panther would move in the same direction. He mounted a fallen 
tree, still trying to attract Bailey's attention. He was afraid to run, 
lest the panther would spring upon him. The panther got upon the 
log himself, and followed Snow up as the latter slowly retreated, walk- 
ing backward upon the log and facing the crouching animal. At last 
Mr Snow gave a loud halloo, not daring to turn his eye away from 
the panther in the direction of the camp. His shout quickly brought 



316 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Bailey to his assistance, and frightened the panther away at the same 
time. ISTo more sugar was made at that camp until the next year. 

The Blackmans and Treat brought up a lot of hogs from Terre 
Haute to the salt works in 1820 or 1821, and turned them loose in 
the woods, where they throve and multiplied astonishingly. The 
animals lived upon grass and the abundance of mast found in the 
timber. In time the hogs grew wild, and the males were dangerous. 
They spread their numbers many miles up the Middle Fork and Salt 
Fork, and down the Vermilion below Danville. The round, plump 
form, the result- of domestication, gave way as the animals bred back 
to a wild condition, and their bodies became tall and thin, their legs 
long, and their whole appearance grew so changed that they looked 
very little like civilized hogs. They became common property in 
the woods, and were killed off as wild game. 

Leaving the narrative of Mrs. Douglas, the writer was told by 
Mr. Jackson, now living on the Little Yermilion, that these hogs 
were so wild it was impossible to domesticate them. His people 
caught a large one, with dogs, and brought it to Danville and put it 
in a pen. It would eat no corn or any other food, but walked 
around the pen continually, chafing and frothing at the mouth, like 
the wildest beast he ever saw caged in a menagerie. Thus it walked 
and chafed and starved to death under the restraint of its confine- 
ment. Besuming Mrs. Douglas' narrative, this lady states that her 
father in 1823 made the first mill, or "corn cracker" ever used either 
in Yermilion or Champaign counties. It consisted of a "gum," or 
section of a hollow tree, some four feet long by two feet in diameter. 
Into this was set a stationary stone, selected with reference to as 
flat a surface as could be procured. The revolving burr, like the 
stationary stone, consisted of a granite boulder, or "nigger head," 
as the old settlers called the stone, which are distributed freely over 
the ground everywhere. The stones were broken and dressed into a 
circular form, and the grinding surfaces were furrowed, so as to give 
them cutting edges, by Mr. Butler, with the aid of such tools as he 
could manufacture at his forge for the purpose. A hole was drilled 
on the upper side of the rotary burr, near the rim. A pole was 
inserted in this, and the other end placed into a hole in a beam 
some six or eight feet directly above the center of the hopper. By 
taking hold of the pole with the hand near the burr, and exerting a 
"push and pull" movement, a rotary motion was given to the mill. 
Its capacity, with a lively, muscular man as the motive power, was 
about one bushel of tolerably well cracked corn per hour. The corn 
was put into the gum with one hand, while the burr was revolved 



HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 317 

with the other. "I have," says Mrs. Douglas, "ground many a 
time on this mill, and so has Uncle Harvey Luddington." It served 
the wants of the settlement at Butler's Point until the water-mill 
was built on the north fork at Danville. Afterward it was taken to 
the "Big Grove," in Champaign county, by Mr. Trickle, where it 
did work for the whole neighborhood, then consisting of five or six 
families, among whom it sustained its reputation as a good and reli- 
able mill. During the time this machine was the only "first-class 
mill" in the county, the nearest place where flour and good meal 
could be procured was from the water-mill on Raccoon Creek, across 
the Wabash, below Montezuma. 

The year before I was married to my- first husband, continues 
Mrs. Duglass in her statement, he, in company with Seymour Treat, 
George and Dan Beckwith, went off "on a lark" to Chicago. The 
Indians had told them about Chicago, the trading post, and the 
"big, big water," and the young men were curious and determined 
to know for themselves how the country looked up that way. They 
had a little bacon and meal, an Indian pony to carry their provisions 
and blankets, and to help them over the streams, and a pocket com- 
pass. Thus equipped, they started. They got lost on the way, in 
the confusion of trails crossing the country ; however, they were put 
on the right trail by an Indian whom they met. They got through 
pleasantly and safe enough, saw what was to be seen at Fort Dear- 
born, and returned. They had a first-rate time going up and re- 
turning, which occupied the better part of two weeks. After the 
party had returned to the salt works, although they had gone one 
hundred and twenty-eight miles to Fort Dearborn, they might have 
traveled sixty miles farther north, and, if asked where they had 
been, might have replied, in truth, that they had not been outside of 
the county, for at that date Edgar county extended to the Wisconsin 
line. They slept out in the open air all the way going and return- 
ing, except one night when they were the guests of a Pottawatomie 
chief, and an old acquaintance, at his village on the Kankakee. The 
Indians treated the travelers with the greatest kindness, giving up 
their skin blankets for them to sleep upon, while they themselves 
lay upon the bare ground. There were then no white men's houses 
between the salt works and Chicago, except Treat's cabin at Den- 
mark, and Geurdon S. Hubbard's trading house at the Iroquois. 

This was, perhaps, the first "free" or "grand excursion" from 
Vermilion county to Chicago. The reader can draw the contrast : 
Then, it was the Indian trail called "Hubbard's trace," over wild, 
uninhabited prairies, and terminating on the desolate sand-ridge 



318 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

crowned with stunted oak trees, relieved in the distance by the white- 
washed barracks of Fort Dearborn, beyond which was a sluggish 
creek that meandered a devious course into Lake Michigan. Now, 
the trip is made on the cushioned seat of the railway car, speeding 
in a few brief hours, all the way through cultivated fields or by 
thrifty villages, to the mighty city that has since arisen and become 
alike a pride and wonder of the west. 

In 1820 Henry Johnson and Absalom Starr began the nucleus of 
settlements on the Little Vermilion, some two miles west of George- 
town. The writer has a copy of a letter addressed to William Lowery, 
the member from Clark county in the Illinois legislature, from Henry 
Johnson, dated "Achilles township," November 22, 1822, in which 
he says that "he had a knowledge of the affairs of this township 
since October, 1820." From the text of the letter it is quite appar- 
ent "Achilles township" embraced the whole territory of Clark 
county watered by the two Vermilions and extending as far north as 
the Kankakee. Thomas O'Neil opened up the so-called Caroway 
Farm at "Brooks' Point" in 1821. A little later he settled on the 
Vermilion River. Capt. Achilles Morgan and his two daughters, — 
the one married to Henry Martin, the other to George Brock, — 
arrived at the salt works in 1821, all the way from Virginia. They 
passed down through "Brooks' Point," where they lodged one night 
in an Indian wigwam made of bark. Then they pursued their way 
to the south side of the Little Vermilion, about three miles west of 
Georgetown, where they found a home. In 1822 Mr. Dickson Will- 
iams and others extended the picket line of settlements still higher 
up the Little Vermilion. With them, or soon after, we hear of the 
Swanks, the McDonalds, Mr. McDowell and G. W. Cassiday. We 
might give other names, only in doing so we should encroach upon 
the field already covered by other writers, to whom were assigned 
the histories of the several townships, where the reader will find the 
names of the persons by whom and the order in which the several 
townships, respectively, were settled. The purpose in this connection 
is to show that the line of immigration into Vermilion county was 
from the south toward the north. 

On the 3d of January, 1823, Edgar county was formed off of 
Clark, and by the fifth section of the act, passed on the 3d of Janu- 
ary, 1823, for its organization, all that tract of country north of said 
Edgar county, to Lake Michigan, was attached to the county of 
Edgar, for judicial purposes. Our county-seat was again changed, 
still working its way north. The first business transacted in the new 
county of Edgar was at the house of Jonathan Mayo, on the North 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 319 

Ann Prairie. Shortly after this the seat of justice was located at 
Paris. The date of the report of the commissioners fixing the county 
seats is April 21, 1823. Amos Williams, late of Yermilion county, 
was the surveyor who laid off the original town of Paris. 

Within the next three years the population along the Little Yer- 
milion and northward of that stream had increased sufficiently to 
justify the formation of another new county. Accordingly, by section 
one of the act of the 18th of January, 1826 (Laws of 1826-7, page 
50), it was declared that all that tract of country within the following 
bounds, to wit : " Beginning on the state line between Illinois and 
Indiana, at the northeast corner of Edgar county [the act organizing 
Edgar county fixed its northern boundary by a line running east and 
west between townships 16 and 17], thence west with the line divid- 
ing townships 16 and 17 to the southwest corner of township 17 
north, of range 10 east ; thence north to the northwest corner of 
township 22 north ; thence east to the Indiana state line ; thence 
south with the state line to the place of beginning, should constitute 
a separate county, to be called Yermilion." This description would 
strike off one tier of townships, or six miles, from the north end of 
the county, and extend its west line about ten miles into Champaign. 
By the seventh section of the act referred to, "all that tract of coun- 
try lying east of range 6, east of the 3d principal meridian and north 
of Yermilion county, as far north as the Illinois and Kankakee 
rivers, was attached to Yermilion county for judicial purposes." 

The attached territory embraced all of the country now occupied 
by Champaign, Iroquois and Ford counties, two tiers of townships 
on the east side of Livingston, two-thirds of the width of Grundy 
county south of the Kankakee (which comprises more than half the 
area of that county), and nearly one and one half congressional 
townships in the southwest corner of Will. This region was dis- 
posed of substantially in the following order: Iroquois county was 
formed in 1833, and by the terms of the act for its establishment, 
the old boundary line of Yermilion was extended six miles farther 
north, making the line where it now is. Champaign county was 
stricken off by the act of February, 1833, by the terms of which 
Yermilion lost half of range 14, fractional range 11 and range 10, 
thus reducing the old limits of Yermilion county ten miles on the 
west in its entire length. Livingston county was organized in 1837, 
by which ten full townships and a half of two others was taken 
from Yermilion. Grundy was established in 1841, and by the act 
for its formation she acquired that portion of Yermilion which we 
have indicated. In January, 1836, Will county was formed out of 









320 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Cook and that portion of Iroquois between the present northern limit 
of Iroquois county and the Kankakee. After the formation of the 
several counties named, there still remained a remnant — a "boot- 
leg," or "pan-handle," as it was called — of the old attached ter- 
ritory. The "boot-leg" of this fragment consisted of a strip lying 
between Iroquois and Will (or latterly Kankakee county) on the 
east and Livingston and Grundy on the west. It was only six miles 
in breadth and nearly fifty miles long. South of this was a block 
sixteen miles north and south, by eighteen miles east and west, with 
a "toe" of two townships extending eighteen miles still farther 
east. The three northern townships of the boot-leg — Reed, Essex 
and Norton — were disposed .of: The first went to Will and the two 
last to Kankakee county. The remainder was organized into the 
county of Ford in 1859. Our member in the legislature acted un- 
wisely, perhaps, in submitting to the loss of territory on the west 
side of the county in the organization of Champaign. The latter has 
the greater width of the two. The dismembered strip would have 
always been valuable to Vermilion, while the people living in it 
could have been, in all probability, as well, if not better, accommo- 
dated had the old relations been retained. A small county has a 
correspondingly less influence in a conference, at a political conven- 
tion, state or congressional, and in the legislature, than the larger 
and more populous ones, as little counties have, unfortunately, often 
learned to their cost. While Vermilion is by no means a small 
county as compared with Edwards or Ford, or many others, in the 
state,- still, when contrasted or coming in a collision with such coun- 
ties as Adams, Sangamon or McLean, her interests are apt to suffer. 
Hence it will be seen that Chicago, as well as all that territory lying 
north of the Kankakee, was never in, and formed no part of, Ver- 
milion county proper. , True, while Vermilion was a part of Edgar 
the latter did embrace all the territory south of the Wisconsin line. 
Before Vermilion county was organized, however, to wit, on the 
13th of January, 1825, Peoria county was formed off of Pike, and 
took in all the territory north of the Illinois and Kankakee Rivers, 
from Indiana state line west to the boundary established by that act, 
between the old county of Pike and the new county of Peoria. The 
writer is aware that old settlers yet living would, if necessary, make 
their affidavits that Chicago was at one time in Vermilion county, 
and that William Reed, the sheriff, paid out of his own pocket the 
taxes due from property-owners at Chicago rather than travel there 
to collect them, and that Harvey Luddington, having occasion to go 
to Chicago, was deputized by Sheriff Reed to obtain the taxes due 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 321 

in Cook county. Mr. Luddington, H. Cunningham and others have 
often told the writer this story. The old. settlers were doubtless 
correct in their statements as to the manner of payment of this tax ; 
but they are mistaken as to the time, which could only have been 
between the years 1823 and 1825, while Cook was a part of Edgar, 
and before the formation of Peoria and Vermilion, during which 
period Mr. Reed was acting as sheriff of Edgar, and while Mr. Lud- 
dington and the others were citizens of that county, though residing 
within the present limits of Vermilion. In those days new counties 
were being organized with such rapidity, and the special laws were 
accessible to so few of the people, that a mistake such as the one 
here pointed out was quite likely to occur, particularly where the 
narrators are speaking of past events with no data to refresh their 
recollections. 

By the second section of the act establishing Vermilion county, 
"John Boyd and Joel Phelps, of Crawford, and Samuel Prevo, of 
Clark county, were appointed commissioners to meet at .the house of 
James Butler, on the second Monday of March, then next ; and, 
after taking oath for a faithful discharge of their trust, to examine 
for, and determine on, a place for the permanent seat of justice of 
the county, taking into consideration the convenience of the people, 
the situation of the settlements, with an eye to the future population 
and eligibility of the place.' 1 The act required that "the owners 
of the land selected as a county seat should donate and convey the 
same to the county in a quantity not less than twenty acres in a 
square form, and not more than twice as wide, to be laid off in lots 
and to be sold by the county commissioners for the purpose of erect- 
ing public buildings. In case of a refusal of the owner to donate 
the required ground, the commissioners were required to locate the 
county-seat on the lands of some other person who would make the 
donation contemplated by the act.' 1 

An' examination of the old private laws shows that it was a gen- 
eral custom in those days for the Legislature to require a donation 
of lands as a condition for the location of county seats, believing 
that the people of the new county should share the profits of the 
lucky land-owner. 

The act further provided that, in the event the county seat was 
located within the bounds of the Saline reservation on the Big Ver- 
milion River — the Saline lands, by act of congress, had become the 
property of the state — the county commissioners should, as soon as 
practicable, purchase of the state the quarter or half section desig- 
nated for the use of the county. And the act further provided, sec- 

B 



322 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

tion 3, that "all courts should be held at the house of James Butler 
until public buildings were erected for the purpose, unless changed 
to another place by order of the county commissioners." 

Boyd and his associates, after a casual examination of the country, 
made their report, by which they located the county seat some six 
miles west of Danville and back a distance from the south side of 
the Salt Fork. A more unfavorable place could hardly have been 
selected ; the surface was cold, flat, clay ground. It is doubtful if 
ordinary wells could have been secured, to say nothing of cellars or 
drainage, which are indispensable for the convenience and health of 
a town. It would have been impossible ever to have attracted enter- 
prising men to such a spot ; and if the county seat had been estab- 
lished there, it never would have grown to the dignity of a city, or 
even attained the respectability of the average modern town. It 
would have remained an unsightly, ragged, sickly village, not unlike 
several of the old county seats in the state, that lingered along for 
years only to die anfl be forgotten. 

Fortunately for the future welfare of the county, Vance, the les- 
see, refused to yield his rights. The citizens generally were very 
much dissatisfied with the site selected, and sent up a remonstrance 
coupled with a prayer for the removal of the county seat to a more 
desirable location, and for relief generally. Accordingly, on the 26th 
day of December, 1826 (private laws of Illinois, 1826-7, page 2,) the 
general assembly passed an act, which recites in the preamble: 
"Whereas, the seat of justice of Vermilion county has been located 
by the commissioners appointed at the last session on land which 
was then and still is leased by the governor for a term of years to 
certain persons for the manufacture of salt ; and whereas, the said 
lessees are unwilling to surrender the same, or any part, for the use 
of the county, in consequence of which no improvements can be 
made thereon ; and the citizens having petitioned for its removal, 
and for remedy whereof,"" "therefore" it was enacted, "that Will- 
iam Morgan, Zachariah Peter and John Kirkpatrick, of Sangamon 
county, be declared commissioners to explore the county and desig- 
nate the place, which, on being located, should forever remain the 
permanent seat of justice of Vermilion county." The same sec- 
tion further provided, that in case the new commissioners "should 
locate the county seat within the Saline reservation, the state would 
relinquish its title to a half quarter section, or fractional section, on 
the Vermilion River, not exceeding eighty acres, in the reservation, 
upon which the county seat might be located, for the use of the 
county, on condition that congress would confirm the same to the 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 323 

county.' 1 On the 31st of January, 1827, the new commissioners 
reported to the county commissioners "that, in their opinion, the 
lands donated by Guy W. Smith and Dan "W. Beekwith, near the 
mouth of the North Fork of the Vermilion River, was the most 
suitable place in the county for such county seat." 

A most fortunate choice it was. A better site could not have 
been selected. In the whole state there is not a spot of ground 
where Nature herself has combined so many advantages of drainage, 
surface soil, water, coal, timber, stone, gravel and all else that is 
required for the successful growth of an inland city ; and the act of 
the commissioners in establishing the county seat here has largely 
contributed to the growth and development of the entire county. 

The thought of making a town at Danville was not original with 
Messrs. Morgan, Peter and Kirkpatrick. The chiefs and head men 
of the " Miami- Piankeshaws " had, about a hundred years before, 
selected it as the place of one of their principal villages, giving it 
the name of Piankeshaw. It is highly probable — indeed, the writer 
has but little doubt, after consulting many authorities, and making a 
personal examination of the country on the Vermilion River below 
and above Danville — that the old village of Piankeshaw, referred to 
in French documents as far back as 1719, and in the subsequent 
accounts of English and early American writers, was strung along the 
north fork from the northwestern city limits to Main street, thence 
along the Vermilion River as far as the extreme of east Danville, 
and extending back, in an irregular line a half a mile or more, from 
the bluffs of the two streams. The old corn hills, grown over with 
blue-grass, heaps of stone where fires had been made, the absence 
of forest, excepting a few large oak trees, and other appearances 
scattered over the area of ground we have described, clearly indicated 
its former occupation to the early white visitants. In fact, the Potta- 
watomie Indians told Col. Guerdon S. Hubbard in 1819 or 1820 that 
it used to be "the big Piankashaw tovm." We will summarize a 
description of the locality at the time it was determined to establish 
the county seat here. Let the reader fancy all the houses in and 
about the city taken away ; remove the fences, gardens and lawns ; 
obliterate the streets and walks, and all other signs of civilization ; 
restore the trees to the surrounding forest, and look upon the land- 
scape as it appeared to Guerdon S. Hubbard in 1819, to Harvey 
Luddington and Jacob Swisher in 1821, or to Alvin Gilbert, Hesi- 
kiah Cunningham, the Leneve Brothers, John H. Murphy, Leander 
Rutledge or William Bandy, a few years later, and before the white 
settlers had made many of their marks upon it. You see a line of 



324 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

stalwart oaks upon the river bluffs, and others, like solitary sentinels, 
scattered at wide intervals over an open plain. Westward of Stony 
Creek, and extending from east Danville northwest, in the direction 
of the woollen factory, are patches of hazel and jack oak, both of 
recent growth. In the vicinity of the high school, extending north 
and west well toward the bluffs, and embracing nearly all of Tinch- 
ertown, is a broad meadow, set in with blue-grass, and having the 
marks of old corn hills plainly visible over many acres of it. Under 
the hill, west of Mill street, and in the other bottom extending from 
the mouth of the North Fork below the red bridge, are other ancient 
corn fields, also overrun with blue-grass. Along the bluffs of the 
North Fork and Vermilion, at a convenient distance from some of 
the numerous springs that bubble out of the hillsides, are scattering 
wigwams formed of bark, or the naked lodge poles of other huts. 
These are only the temporary abode of roving bands of Kickapoos 
or Pottawatomies while on their hunting rounds. Eastward of Ver- 
milion street is, seemingly, a prairie, with a few stunted bushes that 
grow for a single season, only to be burned to the ground b}^ the 
autumnal fires. 

The Piankashaws are gone, and desolation broods over their 
ancient village. Some quarter of a century or more before the white 
settlers came, the rightful dwellers on the Vermilion had been swept 
away by the aggressive advances of their more powerful neighbors, 
the Pottawatomies and Kickapoos. 

Beckwith and Smith having entered into bond to execute a deed 
to the county for the lands, severally agreed by them to be donated 
m the event of their being selected as the place for the county seat, 
on the incoming of the report of the locating commissioners, the 
board of county commissioners, consisting of Asa Elliott, Achilles 
Morgan and James McClewer, ordered the lands to be laid off into 
town lots, and appointed the 10th of April, 1827, as the day when 
the lots would be offered at public sale. Notice of the sale was 
ordered to be published in the Illinois Intelligencer, issued at Van- 
dalia, the state capital, and also in a newspaper at Indianapolis, 
Indiana ; these being the nearest newspapers. The town was laid 
out by the county, through its commissioners. Dan. W. Beckwith, 
the county surveyor, was employed by the commissioners to run out 
one hundred lots. The day of sale having come around, a large 
number of people were collected ; bidding was lively, Harvey Lud- 
dington acting as auctioneer. Forty-two lots were sold, from which 
the county realized nine hundred and twenty-two dollars and eighty- 
seven cents. The average price was about twenty-two dollars per 



HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 325 

lot, a trilling price when compared with their present value, as most 
of the lots sold were on Main and Vermilion streets, in the vicinity 
of the public square. It will be observed, from facts narrated, that 
Danville was not created as a private enterprise. It is, on the con- 
trary, the bantling of the whole county, whose people, in their cor- 
porate capacity, are responsible for its good fame and proper behav- 
ior. We may say that the county has, as yet, had no reason to deny, 
or be otherwise than proud of, its issue. The commissioners who 
laid it out named it after the man — "Dan" W. Beckwith — who 
earliest lived here, adding the "ville" to his christian name. His 
name is often referred to as Daniel or Danel. His name in full was 
Dan, without any other addition. 

The day of the sale was pleasant, and the warm sun invited a 
large number- of rattlesnakes out of their den in the limestone crev- 
ices on the river side at the foot of Clark street. In the afternoon 
the bidders at the sale amused themselves with a "■snake hunt," 
killing seventy-five or eighty, some of them over six feet long, in 
the course of a short time. In this connection the writer will state 
that for years after the settlement at Danville the neighborhood was 
infested with great numbers of these serpents, not to mention black 
snakes, racers, moccasins, and like repulsive, though harmless, rep- 
tiles. The rattlesnakes would rendezvous in their dens on the hill- 
side through the winter, and spread themselves over the adjacent 
country during the summer months. Before the state quarried the 
stone with which the old abutments at the Wabash railway bridge 
are built, the rock ledges from which this material was taken stood 
out in bold relief along the river bluffs at and near Danville. The 
open seams in the ledges afforded a comfortable lodgment for the 
rattlesnakes. The Indians called the rattlesnake their "grand- 
father,''' 1 and through superstition would never permit one to be 
harmed or destroyed. Hence their numbers multiplied rapidly in 
localities favorable for their protection and increase ; and the in- 
coming whites were annoyed, and often frightened, with familiar 
liberties they would take in and about the houses. The writer will 
illustrate with one or two incidents. Mr. Cunningham and John 
Murphy occupied log cabins near together on the west side of Ver- 
milion street, south of the public square. One evening subsequent 
to 1830, Samuel Russel was down there courting the girls. As he 
was being lighted out, the taper which the young lady held in her 
hand reflected upon the shining skin of a rattlesnake coiled up on 
the doorstep at his feet. Recently Mr. Gustavus Pierson, now in 
the city, informed the writer that, many years ago when he was a 



326 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

lad, he, in company with his mother and brother, was spending the 
evening at the house of the mother of the writer, and among the 
other incidents which she related was one to the effect that one 
evening, after dusk, she went out to the wood-pile, and gathered up 
with her hands an apron full of fagots, which she brought into the 
house, and emptied upon the tire by dropping the folds of her apron. 
Immediately a rattlesnake, over two feet long, which she had thrown 
into the fire along with the fagots, crawled out from the flames. 

The government surveys were extended north of the Vermilion 
River in 1821, and the settlement of that part of the country went 
forward with commendable progress. The several township histories 
will show the manner, the time, and by whom. From an' examina- 
tion of that part of the volume it will appear that the two Vermilion 
Rivers were the base, and that the Middle Fork, North Fork and 
the two Stony Creeks were the supporting columns on which the 
population of the county was formed. The early settlers clung to 
the timber. They did not expect or believe the prairies ever would 
or could be settled. Indeed they did not wish it ; and many of the 
early comers were dissatisfied, and sold out their improvements and 
moved to newer counties, when they saw their "cattle range" en- 
croached upon by the advance of farms from the timber line into 
the open prairie. Gradually, however, the prejudice against the 
open prairie was overcome ; people learned that they could live 
entirely away from the timber. Settlements were extended pro- 
gressively from the timber lines, until now the whole intervening 
space is covered with blooming fields. The monotony of the former 
waste, prairie landscape is relieved with school-houses, churches, 
villages, groves, orchards and cheerful farm buildings. Public roads 
and railways, lined in with fence or hedge, have supplanted the 
trails of the Indian and the paths of wild animals. The prairie fires 
no longer light up the evening sky, as in the days of yore. A popu- 
lation noted for their intelligence and thrifty toil have carried for- 
ward the beginning made by the early pioneer, and developed the 
resources of the county, and given it a position among the foremost 
in the state. 

We will now look at Danville, and see how it appeared in the 
second year of its existence. The first houses erected here may be 
assigned to the following respective localities : George Wier, where 
Mill street crosses the L, B. and W. Ry.; Seymour Treat, at the 
woolen factory ; Gilbert's Tavern, a double log-house; at the west 
end of Main street, on the south side; Dan Beckwith's new house 
in Main street, just west across the ravine from Schroeder's chair 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 327 

factory; Beekwith's old pioneer cabin was on the edge of the bluff, 
nearly on a line between the seminary and the Red Bridge ; then 
Amos Williams', on the bluff at the foot of Clark street; next, still 
following the bluffs around, and near the several springs, after the 
fashion of the old Indian town, was a house near the foot of Walnut 
street; northeast from there, and on Vermilion street, were the 
cabins of Hezekiah Cunningham and John H. Murphy ; across the 
street and south of the alley was Dr. Asa R. Palmer's log residence; 
west of Vermilion street and on the north side of the square, was a 
two-story hewn log-house, the largest and best building in the town, 
the property of George Haworth. The Lincoln Hall block was 
occupied with a hewn log-house of lesser pretensions, built by the 
sheriff, William Reed, who designed it for a residence, though, as 
we shall see directly, it was put to a more public use. Part of the 
ground now covered by Mrs. Sch mitt's block was graced with Beas- 
ley's blacksmith-shop, though shortly afterward it was purchased by 
Leander Rutledge, and converted into the first manufactory in the 
county, where the lathe, run by foot, turned out bedstead posts, 
table and chair rounds, to the astonishment of the settlers, when 
they saw how real furniture was made. There were several other 
buildings besides those enumerated, but which the writer, at this late 
day, has not been able to definitely locate. There were not exceed- 
ing eleven or twelve families, including the heads of those we have 
named, living in Danville at this time. The streets had not been 
lined nor cut out as yet. A stranger going through would have seen 
the houses scattered around, without any apparent order, some of 
them hidden in clumps of bushes ; and if the day was pleasant, and 
early in the week, the stranger might have seen Mrs. Rutledge' s 
washing ''out drying' 1 upon the limbs of the small trees on Main 
street, in front of her good man's door. He then could have fol- 
lowed the only traveled road, which led a zig-zag course, across lots, 
in a northwest direction, to the woolen factory. 

The county commissioners' court, like our former county seats, 
itinerated around a good deal before the place for the transaction 
of public business became permanently fixed. The first meeting of 
the Board — composed of John D. Alexander, Achilles Morgan and 
James D. Butler — was on the 6th of March, 1826, at Butler's house, 
near Catlin. On the 18th of the same month another session was 
held there, at which time was selected the first grand jury which 
ever served for the county. We give the names, as the time will fix 
a date prior to which we may know the citizenship of some of the 
early settlers, who served the county in a responsible, judicial capac- 



328 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

ity, viz : John Haworth, Henry Canaday, Barnett Starr, Robert 
Dixon, Edward Doyl, John Cassaday, James McClewer, Alexander 
McDonald, Henry Johnson, Henry Martin, Jonathan,. Haworth, 
William Haworth, Jacob Brazelton, Peleg Spencer, sr., Isaac M. 
Howard, Robert Trickle, John Current, John Lamm, Francis Whit- 
comb, Amos Wooden, Jesse Gilbert, Cyrus Douglas, Harvey Lud- 
dington and George Beckwith. 

At the September term, 1826, a new board appears, the names 
of Asa Elliott and James McClewer taking the place of Butler and 
Alexander. On the first Monday of June, 1827, the commissioners 
met at the house of Asa Elliott ; and, on the first Monday of Sep- 
tember following, at the house of Amos Williams, in Danville. Here 
the affairs of the county were conducted until the county purchased 
the log-house built by Reed, on the Lincoln Hall lot, with the design 
of fitting it up for public use'. This was the first court-house. It 
did not stand on the corner now known as Short's Bank, as supposed 
by some, but on the west side of the same lot near the alley. It 
was one story high, with space for a low attic above, about sixteen 
feet square, and made out of heavy logs, hewn inside and out. Sub- 
sequently the county sold it, with the lot, to Hezekiah Cunningham, 
who agreed to provide the county, for the term of two years, unless 
the new court-house should be completed before that time, with a 
place for holding courts, etc., in the upper story of the large frame 
building erected by Cunningham and Murphy, on the southwest cor- 
ner of the Public Square, and which was only removed a few years 
ago to make place for the splendid brick block of E. B. Martin. The 
first court-house was removed, some years after Cunningham pur- 
chased it, to a lot on the corner of North and Hazel streets, where, 
in after years, it was weather-boarded, and formed the prominent 
feature of the wings attached to it on the east and north by James 
Parmer. It, with its attachments, remained here until May or June, 
1876, when the whole was destroyed by fire. 

At the December term, 1830, the county board ordered notice to 
be given for the reception of plans and bids for a permanent court- 
house. Nothing, however, was done until December of the follow- 
ing year, when notice was again given, declaring that at the next 
term of the court bids would be received. The records show that 
work was begun on the new court-house early in 1832, and prosecuted 
with vigor throughout that year. Guerdon S. Hubbard — still living, 
and well known to all our old citizens — was the contractor ; and 
John H. Murphy, the active superintendent in charge of the work, 
to whom special credit is due for the interest he manifested in, and 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 329 

the integrity with which he discharged his trust. The brick were 
mostly made by Norman D. Palmer, at his farm, northwest of the city. 
The building was completed in 1833, and was used for nearly forty 
years by the county, and until its destruction by fire in 1872. It 
stood on that part of the Public Square, now included between the 
wings of the present court-house, on the east and north, and the side- 
walks of Main and Vermilion streets on the south and west. It was 
a two-story brick building, some forty or fifty feet square, with main 
entrances on the south and west sides, and a door on the north. The 
lower story was in one room for court purposes ; the upper part was 
divided into four rooms for the convenience of juries, etc. 

The old building in its time was honored by the presence of some 
of the most noted persons in our nation, called thither either in the 
capacities of judges or counsel. Judge Treat, now of the United 
States circuit court, Judge David Davis, of the United States senate, 
presided here as our circuit judges. Col. E-. D. Baker, afterward 
governor of Oregon, and who was killed at Ball's Bluif, Virginia, 
during the rebellion, and Edward Hannigan, of Indiana, whose repu- 
tation as an orator was national, have filled its walls with their elo- 
quence. Here has the musical voice of Leonard Swett, the sparkling 
wit of Usher F. Linder, and the dramatic magnetism of D. W. Vor- 
hees, often charmed jurors and spectators. The immortal Lincoln, 
during the many years he itinerated the circuit, regularly attended 
the Vermilion courts, and in the course of a long, successful and 
scrupulously honest practice of his profession, became personally 
acquainted with, and warmly attached to, almost every man in the 
county. 

In due time after the old court-house burned the board of super- 
visors began maturing plans for a new building. First they appoint- 
ed a committee, consisting of two of their number, — Bradley Butter- 
field, of Butler township, and Henry Talbot, of Sidell, with whom they 
associated the writer, making a committee of three. Under their 
instructions the committee examined three court-houses in Illinois, 
one in Michigan and two in Indiana, and spent much other time in 
collecting information as to what errors should be avoided and what 
advantages should be secured in the construction of the new court- 
house. It was the announced desire of the board of supervisors 
that the new building should be located on the spot it now occupies, 
the county having owned the ground since the donation in 1827. 
The peculiar shape of the ground, being barely sufficient for it, 
necessarily determined the shape of the building, a fact which the 
committee took pains to impress upon the several architects whom 



330 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 



they invited to submit plans. This explanation is made to answer 
the ever-recurring inquiries, Why was the new court-house built in 
the shape it is ? Why was it not constructed after the usual manner 
of public buildings \ The limited quantity of ground owned by the 
county, and the number and size of the rooms required for courts, 
offices, vaults, etc., for the present and future wants of the county, 
would admit of a structure of no other form or proportion. The 
committee found only one architect,- — E. E. Myers, of Detroit, Mich- 
igan, — out of the twelve or thirteen with whom they conferred, who 
successfully solved the problem, and his plans the committee recom- 
mended to the board, by whom they were unanimously adopted, 
after first having examined those of the other architects. The build- 




VEKMILION COUNTY COURT-HOTSE. 



ing was erected under the supervision of an efficient committee, 
whose names appear in another part of this work. The supervisors 
as a body, as well as those of their members who comprised the com- 
mittee, are to be commended for the zeal and fidelity with which they 
managed the public funds in erecting both the new court-house and 
the jail. It can be said to their credit, — an unusual thing in the 
history of many other counties in the construction of public build- 
ings, — that not a dollar was misapplied, and the contractors in both 
instances were strictly held to the terms of their engagements, and 
no part of the work, from foundation to top, was allowed to be 
slighted in the least. Indeed, Vermilion county, as a rule that has 
scarcely had an exception, has been singularly fortunate in the char- 
acter, ability and integrity of her public servants. 

EARLY SCHOOLS. 

The first school in Danville was taught in Haworth's smoke- 
house, a little structure ten or twelve feet square. It was made of 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 331 

logs, without a floor, and its only openings were the door and a 
square hole cut at the opposite side for light and ventilation. It 
stood west of Haworth's house, and back some distance north from 
the line of the sidewalk, on the ground now partially covered by 
the room occupied by Baum's drug store. Mrs. Lucy Russell, wife 
of Sam. Russell, and a daughter of Solomon Gilbert, was one of 
the scholars, as were also her brother, Othneal Gilbert, and two or 
three of her sisters. Dr. Norten Beckwith was the teacher. The 
scholars numbered some eight or ten. After this a school-house — 
the first built expressly for that purpose — was constructed upon a 
lot on south Hazel street, and northwest from Wright's mill, set 
apart by the county commissioners for educational purposes. It was 
made of small logs, about twelve by fifteen feet in size, covered 
with clapboards, the chimney was upon the outside, built up with 
stone and sticks, and mudded after a fashion of a "Kentucky 
cabin," the opening occupied nearly the whole of one side of the 
building. At first it had no floor; subsequently a floor was laid 
with "puncheons,''' as the outside slab or first cut sawed off of a 
log was called. The seats were made of the same material, smooth 
side up, supported on wooden legs. Among the teachers who taught 
here at different times can be named Harvey Luddington and Enoch 
Kingsbury. Uncle Harvey also taught a Sunday-school here. At a 
later day James A. Davis reached Danville, without anything except 
the wearing apparel upon his person, having lost all his effects com- 
ing up the Wabash on a boat. Among strangers, and out of means, 
but with a determination that has always inspired him to do some- 
thing, he looked around at once for a job. Dr. Beckwith finding 
that Davis possessed a remarkably good education, said he was just 
the man that Danville needed. He wrote up a paper and circulated 
it through the town, and raised a list of scholars, and Davis opened 
a school at once in the log cabin. Being a man of energy and a 
thorough disciplinarian, this sterling Englishman soon acquired the 
reputation of a successful teacher, which he so worthily retained in 
the county for many years afterward. 

From Vermilion street a little way south of the square, a trail 
led off southeast across lots to the school-house. It was obscured 
by thick hazel bushes, whose branches interlocked overhead. The 
teachers and scholars (as Mr. Davis, Mr. Luddington, Mrs. Manning, 
Mrs. Russell and others have told the writer) would have to part the 
bushes in some places with their hands to effect a passage. 

The temporary first school-house was burned up. A Mr. Henry 
Blunt had collected some two hundred venison hams and stored 



332 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

them in Haworth's smoke-house, where he was smoking and drying 
them, intending to ship them to New Orleans by flat-boat. Some 
of the mischievous men about the town (and they were all alike in 
that respect, and did not stop at carrying with a high hand if any fun 
was to be had out of the undertaking) amused Blunt at a neighbor- 
ing grocery one evening, while their confederates fired the building. 
The alarm was not given until the blaze was fairly under way, when 
Blunt and those keeping his company hurried over, too late to save 
the property. Blunt supposed, of course, that the fire was acci- 
dental, and had caught from the smudge with which he was curing 
his meat. Although his anticipated speculation was spoiled, yet 
venison half roasted or otherwise was quite cheap in Danville. The 
market was fairly glutted with it. 

The next school-house was the one built by Amos Williams, on 
his own ground, and at his own expense, on the west side of Frank- 
lin street, just north of Leonard's planing-mill. This was fully 
twenty feet square, some twelve or fourteen feet high in the clear, 
and constructed out of logs hewn inside and out. It had a door 
and two windows fronting east, and was further lighted with a row 
of three or four 8 X 10 window lights in width, and extending nearly 
the length of the three other sides. The floor was made of sawed 
plank, matched and evenly laid. In winter time a stove occupied 
the center of the room. A double row of seats (one of which was 
in front, low down, next to the floor, and the other raised up like a 
gallery, some three or feet back of and above the first, with the 
wall behind and sloping desks in front) extended around three sides 
of the room, with openings cut near the middle of each row, and 
provided with steps, so the scholars could ascend to the higher plat- 
form. Here the " three months* schooV* was held for many years, 
and until a better system of education was adopted, and more pre- 
tentious buildings were constructed. 

If the boys, — who for the most part ran wild in the streets, — 
should see a stranger coming into town dressed in gloss-worn 
breeches and a shabby-genteel coat, with the ancient rents neatly 
patched, and his other worldly effects tied up in a bandana handker- 
chief, and suspended at the end of a walking-stick over his shoulder, 
they would become alarmed. There was no mistaking the appear- 
ance and garb of the itinerant school-master, and if he could cipher 
as far as the rule-of-three his presence foretold that a "three-months 
school" would probably be taken up. Soon after this the "Street 
Arabs" might be seen gathered at the old school-house, the smaller 
ones, in tow-linen breeches, seated in a row upon the lower benches, 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 333 

their bare feet blackened and cracked open with seams from exposure 
to wind and weather. The larger boys were perched upon the seats 
above. Here the unruly were regularly thrashed through the rudi- 
ments, and were always in a state of semi-rebellion, while those,— 
and they were very few, — who were more submissive and well be- 
haved were allowed to do pretty much as they pleased, so far as get- 
ting their lessons well was concerned. There was little or no confidence 
or sympathy between teacher and scholar. As a rule, the former was 
brutal, and believed, as he practiced to the letter, the doctrine that 
' l to spare the rod was to spoil the child, ' ' while the latter resented 
as they smarted under such inhuman treatment. Those who have 
survived this kind of an education can and do congratulate the chil- 
dren of to-day as they contrast the past with the present system of 
teaching. The "big girls" also occupied places upon the higher 
seats. A few of these u big girls, 1 ' — at least, they then seemed quite 
large to the writer, — are still living. Among them might be men- 
tioned the wives of Judge Davis, Hon. J. G. English, Dr. Woodbury 
and Mr. Manning. In another part of the work has been noted the 
progress made in the manner of conducting schools since the time 
when the children were emancipated from the tyranny of the "trav- 
eling school-master.' 1 

DAN W. BECKWITH. 

The name of this pioneer is so frequently referred to in connec- 
tion with the early settlers that the writer may here state that Dan 
W. Beckwith was born in 1795, in the present limits of Bedford 
county, Pennsylvania. His father was among the Connecticut set- 
lers, from New London, in the valley of the Wyoming, and his 
mother was a survivor of the Wyoming massacre, being a little girl 
at the time the Indians destroyed the inhabitants of the valley. Dan 
was one of a family of six brothers and two sisters. Three of his 
brothers lived in Vermilion county at an early day, viz : Jefferson 
H., called Hiram; Norten, the doctor; Sebastian and George M. 
George and Dan left New York state, whither their father had emi- 
grated from Pennsylvania some years before, and reached Fort Har- 
rison as the so-called Harrison Purchase was being surveyed, in the 
summer of 1816. From Yigo county the two brothers went on to the 
North Arm prairie in 1818, and were living with Johnathan Mayo's 
family at the time Illinois was admitted as a state into the Union. 
From there they came to the salt works in the fall of the next year. 
George was a citizen of the county until 1834, when he opened a 
farm on the Kankakee, a mile below the mouth of Rock Creek, 



334 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

where he died some twenty years ago. Dan W. died at Danville in 
December, 1835. The writer has no personal recollection of him ; 
but from descriptions given by many citizens still living, the deceased 
was a man fully six feet two inches in height, broad, square shoul- 
dered and straight, spare of flesh, though muscular, and weighing 
when in health about a hundred and ninety pounds. He was, like 
his brother, an expert axrnan, and a pioneer, as his people for three 
generations back before him had been. His first mercantile venture 
was an armful of goods suitable for Indian barter, which he kept in 
a place partly excavated in a side of the hill at Denmark, as early, 
probably, as the year 1821. Subsequently he built a log hut on the 
brow of the hill, a little west of south of the Danville Seminary. 
His next store room was just west of the elm tree at the west end of 
Main street. He was county surveyor from the time of the organi- 
zation of the county until his death. 

GURDON S. HUBBARD. 

The writer deems it but just to refer to another early settler, 
whose name, like the last, is not found in the township histories. 
"We allude to Col. Gurdon S. Hubbard. He is a native of Vermont. 
At the age of sixteen years he left Montreal, to come west and en- 
gage in business for the American Fur Company, whose headquarters 
were at Mackinaw. He reached Chicago some time in October, 
1818, by way of the lakes, following the route of the great discov- 
erer La Salle. He crossed our county early the following year. The 
trading posts of the Illinois brigade of the American Fur Company 
were on the Iroquois, the Embarrass and Little "Wabash. Mr. Hub- 
bard followed the Indians in their hunting rounds, and in this way 
acquired an early knowledge of all the country between the "Wabash 
and Illinois Rivers, as far north as Chicago and as far south as Vin- 
cennes. In 1824 he succeeded Antonin Des Champs, who for nearly 
forty years before had charge of the company's trade between the 
Illinois and Wabash, and abandoned the posts on the Illinois, and 
introduced pack-horses in the place of boats, using the "Hubbard's 
trace," as his trail from Chicago to the salt works was called, to 
conduct the fur trade. In 1827 he abandoned the posts on the Em- 
barrass and Little "Wabash, and shortly after constructed the first 
frame building — a store house — ever erected in Danville or the 
county. It is still standing on the south side of the public square, 
opposite Martin's block. This became the headquarters of the 
Indian fur trade in this part of the country. Among his clerks were 
Samuel Russell and "William Bandy, both living. He had also with 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 335 

him three Frenchmen, viz : Noel Vassar, Nicholas Boilvin and 
Toussaint Blean. Boilvin married a daughter of Dr. Woods, and 
Bleau a daughter of Dr. A. R. Palmer. 

The Indians would tile into town on their ponies, sometimes fifty 
or a hundred, with their furs, their squaws and pappooses, when 
trade at-IIubbard's corner would be unusually lively for a few days. 
The Indians would camp on the bluff east of Walnut street or farther 
down toward the railway bridge, where they would enjoy themselves 
and feast on bread made out of flour, and upon meat and other 
luxuries, for which they had exchanged their furs. Mr. Bandy re- 
lates many ludicrous incidents that occurred during his connection 
with Hubbard's trading house. 

In 1832, the fur trade having declined on account of the scarcity 
of fur-bearing animals in, and the dispersion of the Indians from, 
this section of country, Col. Hubbard converted his stock into 
white goods, — as merchandise suitable for white people were called 
to distinguish them from the kind adapted to the Indian trade. 
During the same year he sold out his stock to Dr. Fithian, and in 
1833 took up his permanent residence in Chicago, where he still 
lives, hale and genial as ever. The old records of the county, and 
the archives of early laws at Springfield, abundantly illustrate the 
activity and energy of this remarkable and public-spirited man. 
While a citizen of this county he was always foremost in every en- 
terprise calculated to develop the infant resources of the county, 
and he has retained the same commendable reputation at Chicago 
for now almost a half century. As canal commissioner he cast the 
first shovel of earth out of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Few 
hands have aided more than his in building up that great city ; and 
no man did more than he to give Vermilion county and Danville a 
start. 

We will now again go back in point of time, as, for the sake of 
convenience and brevity, it is preferred in this chapter to treat mat- 
ters topically, rather than in chronological order, and note some 
troubles with the Indians, in which citizens of Vermilion county bore 
an honorable part. The first of these was in 1827, in the so-called 
"Winnebago war," and the second in 1832, in the " Blackhawk 
war." The Winnebagoes, a tribe that occupied the country in 
northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, between Green Bay and 
the Mississippi, became greatly outraged at indignities committed 
by some brutish, unprincipled white men in charge of two keel 
boats ascending the Mississippi river, near Prairie du Chien. We 
take the following extract from Ex-Governor "Reynolds' Life and 



336 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Time'': The boatmen landed at a camp of Winnebagoes, not far 
above Prairie du Cliien. The boatmen made the Indians drunk — and 
no doubt were so themselves, — when they captured some six or 
seven squaws, who were also drunk. These squaws were forced on 
the boats for the most corrupt and brutal purposes. But not satis- 
fied with this outrage on female virtue, the boatmen took the squaws 
with them in the boats to Fort Snelling, and returned with them. 
When the Indians became sober, and realized the injury done them 
in this delicate point, they mustered all their forces, amounting to 
several hundred, and attacked the boats in which the squaws were 
confined. The boats were forced to approach near the shore in a 
narrow pass of the river, and thus the infuriated savages assailed one 
boat, and permitted the other to pass down during the night. It 
was a desperate and furious fight for a few minutes, between a good 
many Indians, exposed in open canoes, and only a few boatmen, 
protected to some extent by their boat. The savages killed several 
white men and wounded v many more, leaving barely enough to navi- 
gate the boat. The boat got fast on the ground, and the whites 
seemed doomed ; but with great exertion, courage and hard fighting 
the Indians were repelled. In the battle the squaws escaped to their 
husbands, and, no doubt, the whites did not try to prevent it. Thus 
commenced and ended the bloodshed of the "Winnebago war." 
Blood had been shed, and, as a consequence, every Winnebago be- 
came the enemy of every white person. War parties were fitted 
out, who attacked, indiscriminately, every white person within their 
reach. One of these parties, led by the distinguished "Red Bird," 
killed and scalped two men and a child, and the inhabitants within 
the territory above described became at once greatly alarmed. The 
Pottawatomies about Chicago and westward of there sympathized 
with the Winnebagoes, and were upon the eve of openly joining 
them. The federal government ordered a movement of troops under 
Gen. Atkinson, while Gov. Edwards, of Illinois, ordered out a regi- 
ment, with instruction for them to march to Galena. It was while 
these movements were being matured and executed that the inhab- 
itants at Fort Dearborn became greatly distressed over their threat- 
ened destruction, and dispatched Col. Hubbard to Vermilion county 
for troops. Col. Hubbard left Chicago in the afternoon, and reached 
his trading-post, on the Iroquois, that night in the rain. He pushed 
on to Sugar Creek, which he found swollen beyond its banks, which 
obliged him to wait until daylight. The same day he reached Spen- 
cer's, two miles south of Danville, from whence runners were dis- 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 337 

patched to the settlements on the little Vermilion. Here follows 
the narrative of H. Cunningham. 

hezekiah Cunningham's narrative relating to the winnebago 

war. 

Here follows the narrative of Mr. Cunningham : I was out in the 
Winnebago war. Myself, Joshua Parish, now living at Georgetown, 
Abel Williams, living near Dallas, and almost ninety years old, and 
Gurdon S. Hubbard, of Chicago, are the only survivors, according 
to the best of my present information. 

In the night-time, about the 15th or 20th of July, 1827, I was 
awakened by my brother-in-law, Alexander McDonald, telling me 
that Mr. Hubbard had just come in from Chicago with the word that 
the Indians were about to massacre the people there, and that men 
were wanted for their protection at once. The inhabitants of the 
county capable of bearing arms had been enrolled under the militia 
laws of the state, and organized as "The Vermilion County Battal- 
ion," in which I held a commission as captain. I dressed myself and 
started forthwith to notify all the men belonging to my company to 
meet at Butler's Point (six miles southwest of Danville), the place 
where the county business was then conducted and where the militia 
met to muster. The captains of the other companies were notified, 
the same as myself, and they warned out their respective companies 
the same as I did mine. I rode the remainder of the night at this 
work up and down the Little Vermilion. 

At noon the next day the battalion was at Butler's Point. Most 
of the men lived on the Little Vermilion River, and had to ride or 
walk from six to twelve miles to the place of rendezvous. Volunteers 
were called for, and in a little while fifty men, the required number, 
were raised. Those who agreed to go then held an election of their 
officers for the campaign, choosing Achilles Morgan, captain ; Major 
Bayles, first lieutenant, and Col. Isaac R. Moores as second. The 
names of the private men, as far as I now remember them, are as 
follows : George M. Beckwith, John Beasley, myself (Hezekiah Cun- 
ningham), Julian Ellis, Seaman Cox, James Dixon, Asa Elliot, Francis 
Foley, William Foley, a Mr. Hammers, Jacob Heater, a Mr. Davis, 
Evin Morgan, Isaac Goen, Jonathan Phelps, Joshua Parish, William 
Reed, John Myers ("Little Vermilion John"), John Saulsbury, a 
Mr. Kirkman, Anthony Swisher, George Swisher, Joseph Price, George 
Weir, John Vaughn, Newton Wright and Abel Williams. Many of 
the men were without horses, and the neighbors who had horses and 
did not go loaned their animals to those who did. Still there were 



338 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

five men wlio started afoot, as there were no horses to be had for 
them. We disbanded, after we were mustered in, and went home 
to cook five days' rations, and were ordered to be at Danville the 
next day. 

The men all had a pint of whisky, believing it essential to mix a 
little of it with the slough water we were to drink on our route. Abel 
Williams, however, was smart enough to take some ground coffee 
and a tin cup along, using no stimulants whatever. He had warm 
drinks on the way up to Chicago, and coming back all of us had the 
same. 

We arrived at the Yermilion River about noon on Sunday, the day 
after assembling at Butler's Point. The river was up, running, bank 
full, about a hundred 'yards wide, with a strong current. Our men 
and saddles were taken over in a canoe. We undertook to swim our 
horses, and as they were driven into the water the current would 
strike them and they would swim in a circle and return to the shore 
a few rods below. Mr. Hubbard, provoked at this delay, threw off 
his coat and said, "Give me Old Charley," meaning a large, steady- 
going horse, owned by James Butler, and loaned to Jacob Heater. 
Mr. Hubbard, mounting this horse, boldly dashed into the stream, 
and the other horses were quickly crowded after him. The water 
was so swift that "old Charley" became unmanageable, when Mr. 
Hubbard dismounted on the upper side and seized the horse by the 
mane, near the animal's head, and swimming with his left arm, 
guided the horse in the direction of the opposite shore. We were 
afraid he would be washed under the horse, or struck by his feet and 
be drowned ; but he got over without damage, except the wetting of 
his broadcloth pants and moccasins. These he had to dry on his 
person as we pursued our journey. 

I will here say that a better man than Mr. Hubbard could not 
have been sent to our people. He was well known to all the settlers. 
His generosity, his quiet and determined courage, and his integrity, 
were so well known and appreciated that he had the confidence and 
goodwill of everybody, and was a well-recognized leader among us 
pioneers. 

At this time there were no persons living on the north bank of 
the Vermilion River near Danville, except Robert Trickle and 
George Weir, up near the present woolen factory, and William Reed 
and Dan Beckwith ; the latter had a little log cabin on the bluff of 
the Yermilion, near the present highway bridge, or rather on the 
edge of the hill east of the highway some rods. Here he kept store, 
in addition to his official duties as constable and county surveyor. 






HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 339 

The store contained a small assortment of such articles as were suit- 
able for barter with the Indians, who were the principal customers. 
We called it "The Saddle-bags Store," because the supplies were 
brought up from Terre Haute in saddle-bags, that indispensable 
accompaniment of every rider in those days, before highways were 
provided for the use of vehicles. 

Mr. Reed had been elected sheriff the previous March, receiving 
fifty-seven out of the eighty votes that were cast at the election, and 
which represented about the entire voting population of the county 
at that time. Both Reed and Dan wanted to go with us, and after 
quite a warm controversy between them, as it was impossible for 
them both to leave, it was agreed that Reed should go, "and that 
Beckwith would look after the affairs of both until Reed's return. 
Amos Williams was building his house at Danville at this time, the 
sale of lots having taken place the previous April. 

Crossing the North Fork at Denmark, three miles north of Dan- 
ville, we passed the cabin of Seymour Treat. He was building a 
mill at that place, and his house was the last one in which a family 
was living until we reached Hubbard's trading post, on the north 
bank of the Iroquois River, near what has since been known as the 
town of Buncombe, and from this trading house there was no other 
habitation, Indian wigwams excepted, on the line of our march until 
we reached Fort Dearborn. 

It was a wilderness of prairie all the way, except a little timber 
we passed through near Sugar Creek and at the Iroquois. 

Late in the afternoon we halted at the last crossing of the North 
Fork, at Bicknell's Point, a little north of the present town of Ross- 
ville. Here three of the footmen turned back, as the condition of 
the streams rendered it impossible for them to continue longer with 
us. Two men who had horses also left us. After a hasty lunch we 
struck out across the eighteen-mile prairie, the men stringing out on 
the trail Indian file, reaching Sugar Creek late in the night, where 
we went into camp on the south bank, near the present town of 
Milford. 

The next day before noon we arrived at Hubbard's Trading 
House, which was on the north bank of the Iroquois, about a quar- 
ter of a mile from the river. A lot of Indians, some of them half 
naked, were lying and lounging about the river-bank and trading 
house ; and when it was proposed to swim our horses over, in ad- 
vance of passing the men in boats, the men objected, fearing the 
Indians would take our horses, or stampede them, or do us some 
other mischief. Mr. Hubbard assured us that these savages were 



340 . HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

friendly, and we afterward learned that they were Pottawatomies, 
known as "Hubbard's Band," from the fact that he had long traded 
with and had a very great influence over them. 

It is proper to state here that we were deficient in arms. We 
gathered up squirrel-rifles, flint-locks, old muskets, or anything like 
a gun that we may have had about our houses. Some of us had no 
fire-arms at all. I myself was among this number. Mr. Hubbard 
supplied those of us who had inefficient weapons, or those of us who 
were without them. He also gave us flour and salt pork. He had 
lately brought up the Iroquois River a supply of these articles. We 
remained at Hubbard's Trading House the remainder of the day, 
cooking rations and supplying our necessities. The next morning 
we again moved forward, swimming Beaver Creek, and crossing the 
Kankakee River at the rapids, just at the head of the island near 
Momence; pushing along, we passed Yellowhead's village. The 
old chief, with a few old men and the squaws and pappooses, were 
at home ; the young men were off on a hunt. Remaining here a 
little time we again set out, and, going about five miles, encamped at 
the point of the timber on Yellowhead's Creek. The next morning 
we again set out, crossing a branch of the Calumet to the west of 
the Blue Island. All the way from Danville we had followed an 
Indian trail, since known as "Hubbard's trace." There was no 
sign of roads ; the prairies and whole country was crossed and re- 
crossed by Indian trails, and we never could have got through but 
for the knowledge which Mr. Hubbard had of the country. It had 
been raining for some days before we left home, and it rained almost 
every day on the route. The streams and sloughs were full of 
water. We swam the former and traveled through the latter, some- 
times almost by the hour. Many of the ponds were so deep that 
our men dipped up the water to drink as they sat in their saddles. 
Col. Hubbard fared better than the rest of us — that is, he did not 
get his legs wet so often, for he rode a very tall, iron-gray stallion, 
that Peleg Spencer, sr., living two miles south of Danville, loaned 
him. The little Indian pony which Hubbard rode in from the Iro- 
quois to Spencer's was so used up as to be unfit for the return journey. 

We reached Chicago about four o'clock on the evening of the 
fourth day, in the midst of one of the most severe rainstorms I ever 
experienced, accompanied by thunder and vicious lightning. The 
rain we did not mind ; we were without tents, and were used to wet- 
ting. The water we took within us hurt us more than that which 
fell upon us, as drinking it made many of us sick. 

The people of Chicago were very glad to see us. They were ex- 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. ' 341 

pecting an attack every hour since Col. Hubbard had left them, and 
as we approached they did not know whether we were enemies or 
friends, and when they learned that we were friends they gave us a 
shout of welcome. 

They had organized a company of thirty or fifty men, composed 
mostly of Canadian half-breeds, interspersed with a few Americans, 
all under command of Capt. Beaubien ; the Americans, seeing that 
we were a better looking crowd, wanted to leave their associates and 
join our company. This feeling caused quite a row, and the officers 
finally restored harmony, and the discontented men went back to 
their old command. 

The town of Chicago was composed at this time of six or seven 
American families, a number of half-breeds, and a lot of idle, vaga- 
bond Indians loitering about. I made the acquaintance of Robert 
and James Kinzie, and their father, John Kinzie. 

"We kept guard day and night for some eight or ten days, when 
a runner came in — I think from Green Bay — bringing word that 
Gen. Cass had concluded a treaty with the Winnebagoes, and that 
we might now disband and go home. 

The citizens were overjoyed at the news, [and in their gladness 
they turned out one barrel of gin, one barrel of brandy, one barrel 
of whisky, knocking the heads of the barrels in. Everybody was 
invited to take a free drink, and, to tell the plain truth, everybody 
did drink. 

The ladies at Fort Dearborn treated us especially well. I say 
this without disparaging the good and cordial conduct of the men 
toward us. The ladies gave us all manner of good things to eat ; 
they loaded us with provisions, and gave us all those delicate atten- 
tions that the kindness of woman's heart would suggest. Some of 
them — three ladies, whom I understood were recently from JSTew 
York — distributed tracts and other reading matter among our com- 
pany, and interested themselves zealously in our spiritual as well as 
temporal welfare. 

We started on our return, camping out of nights, and] reaching 
home on the evening of the third day. The only good water we 
got going out or coming back was at a remarkable spring bursting 
out of the top of a little mound in the midst of a slough, a few miles 
south of the Kankakee, I shall never forget this spring ; jt was a 
curiosity, found in the situation I have described. 

In conclusion, under the bounty act of 1852 I received a warrant 
for eighty acres of land for my services in the campaign above nar- 
rated. 



342 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

THE BLACK HAWK WAR. 

Were the writer so inclined, it would not be proper, in a mere 
local history, to enter into all the causes that led to the so-called 
l " Black Hawk "War," or detail the movements of the opposing 
forces over the wide extent of country in which the several cam- 
paigns of that war were conducted. It will he necessary, however, 
to premise some facts relating to that war, in order that the reader 
may the more readily understand the connection which citizens of 
this county may have had with it. 

As stated in the general history, the Sauk and Fox Indians owned 
the territory north of Rock River, by conquest from ancient Illinois 
tribes. Their principal village for a long period of time was on the 
north side of Rock River, near its junction with the Mississippi, and 
the most populous Indian town within the borders of our state. In 
1804 a few Indians of this tribe went to St. Louis, where they made 
a cession of lands to the United States, embracing a large extent of 
country, and including the principal village. Subsequently a second 
treaty was made, by which the terms of the first were substantially 
ratified. "Black Hawk," a chief of great distinction, claimed that 
neither himself nor the band of which he was the leader, all of them 
residing at this village, had any knowledge of this treaty. In 1828,. 
the government having previously surveyed, sold to private parties 
a quantity of land in and around "Black Hawk's village." The 
white settlers and Indians soon came in collision. Black Hawk's 
band refused to leave. They destroyed the crops of the white set- 
tlers, and acted generally in a menacing manner, claiming that the 
white people had no business there. The squatters, in turn, pulled 
down the fences where the Indian squaws had planted their corn, 
and let their stock destroy the crops. The governments, national 
and state, interfered with a military force, and, without going to the 
the extremity of physical force, Black Hawk's band, in 1831, were 
finally driven across the Mississippi. 

Black Hawk had no love at all for the people of the United 
States. His band were active partisans on the side of the British in 
the war of 1812. In the winter of 1831-1832, after having solemnly 
agreed the year before that they would remain peaceably on the west 
side of the river, Black Hawk and his band recrossed the river and 
took possession of their ancient village, having with them, says ex- 
Gov. Reynolds, "about five hundred warriors, and women, children 
and dogs in proportion." Black Hawk had brought his women 
and children, cooking utensils and all of the personal property of 
his band along with him, a circumstance that gives great plausibil- 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 343 

ity to his often-repeated avowal, that his intentions were peaceable, 
and that if his women were not permitted to plant a crop in their 
old fields, he intended to accept the invitation of the Winnebagoes 
and plant corn near some of their villages. His presence on the 
east side of the Mississippi caused the greatest alarm. In fact, the 
memorials and petitions addressed to the governor for protection, 
together with his own naming proclamations based thereon, spread 
a panic throughout the whole country. The frontier was threat- 
ened, and the governor promptly called out the militia to protect 
it. A force of mounted volunteers was soon collected, embracing 
in its numbers many of the best and most influential citizens in the 
state. A concentration of forces, says Benjamin Drake in his "Life 
of Black Hawk," was made at Dixon's Ferry, on Bock Biver, about 
thirty miles below the encampment of Black Hawk and his party. 
Had a conference now been sought with the Indians, their prompt 
submission cannot be doubted. Black Hawk, whatever might have 
been his previous expectations, had received no addition of strength 
from other tribes ; he was almost destitute of provisions ; had com- 
mitted no act of hostility against the whites, and with all his wo- 
men, children and baggage, was in the vicinity of an army, princi- 
pally of mounted volunteers, many times greater than his own band 
of braves. He would probably have been glad of any reasonable 
pretext for retracing his precipitate steps. Unfortunately, no effort 
for a council was made. A body of impetuous volunteers dashed 
on, without caution or order, to Sycamore Creek, within three miles 
of the camp of Black Hawk's party. He instantly sent a white 
flag to meet them, for the purpose of holding a council, and agree- 
ing to return to the west side of the Mississippi. Unfortunately for 
the cause of humanity, as well as the good faith of the United States, 
this flag was held to be but a decoy. The bearers of it were taken 
into camp. " Shortly after, " says Gov. Reynolds, " six armed In- 
dians appeared on horseback. Without orders some officers and a 
few soldiers immediately gave chase, following the armed Indians 
some three or four miles, in which two Indians were overtaken 
and killed. During the skirmish, which extended some four or five 
miles over the smooth prairie between the encampment and the 
mouth of Sycamore Creek, the volunteers at the camp, knowing 
that blood was shed, attempted to kill the three unarmed Indians 
who had been* taken into custody as hostages under the protection 
of the white flag. One Indian was killed, but in the dark and con- 
fusion the other two escaped unhurt." While this fight was going 
on, Black Hawk (wholly ignorant that hostilities had begun, and 



344 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

not even anticipating any) was at his camp at the time entertaining 
a number of his Pottawatomie friends with a feast on dog meat. 
'"The retreating Indians," says Gov. Reynolds, "had almost 
reached Black Hawk's camp, where the feast was broken up by 
the whooping, yelling Indians with the whites at their heels. The 
uproar alarmed Black Hawk and the Indians at the feast, and they, 
in a hasty, tumultuous manner, snatched up their arms, mounted 
their horses and rushed out in all the fury of a mad lioness, in 
defense of their women and children. Black Hawk took a pru- 
dent and wise stand, concealing himself behind some woods, it 
being then nearly dark, and suffered the straggling forces of Maj. 
Stillman to approach him. This aged warrior and his baud (all he 
could muster at the moment)," continues Gov. Reynolds, "marched 
out from their concealment and fell with fury and havoc upon the 
disorderly troops of Stillman, who were scattered for miles over the 
prairie. It was a crisis — they fought in defense of all they held 
most sacred on earth. Black Hawk turned the tide of war and 
chased the whites with great fury." Such were the circumstances 
under which the first blood in the Black Hawk war was shed, and 
the battle became known as " Stillman' s Defeat." 

Emboldened by his brilliant success in this engagement, and 
finding that he would not be permitted to capitulate, he sent out 
his war parties, removed his women and children up Rock River, 
and a regular border war was commenced. The murders which his 
men committed upon the frontier settlers naturally increased the 
alarm throughout the state, additional volunteers rushed to the seat 
of war, and the commanding general commenced his military oper- 
ations for a regular campaign. One of Black Hawk's war parties, 
striking across the country southeast from Sycamore Creek, fell 
upon the Hall family at the mouth of Indian Creek, on Fox River, 
a few miles above Ottawa, and most brutally murdered them all 
except two girls, whom they carried off into captivity. At this 
time there were a few infant settlements, above Ottawa, and upon 
the Du Page River, at Naperville, and along Hickory Creek that 
empties into the Des Plaines, near the present city of Joliet. There 
were no people living nearer those neighborhoods, south and east, 
than the settlements in Vermilion county. Hence, the endangered 
settlements looked in this direction as the speediest source of relief. 
The reader will bear in mind that in those days there were no means 
of quick transmission of intelligence, and that the people in this 
part of the state (beyond a few who took the Springfield papers 
may have known that Black Hawk was again in Illinois) had no 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 345 

knowledge of the hostile acts which we have enumerated until in- 
formed in the following manner: Mr. Kingsbury was conducting 
religious services in the upper story of Cunningham's store (which 
was used for such as well as for court purposes). The inhabitants 
of the Fox River country and Hickory Creek were fleeing from 
their homes, says the Rev. R. S. Beggs, in his interesting book, 
through fear of the dreaded enemy. They came with their cattle 
and horses, some bare-headed and others bare-footed, crying, "the 
Indians ! " "the Indians ! " Those that were able hurried on with 
all speed for Danville. Two or three of them, one without a hat, 
found their way to Danville, and on that bright sabbath day, all 
breathless with fatigue and fear, alarmed the town and broke up 
Mr. Kingsbury's meeting with the dreadful stories. Fast on this 
came the word that Stillman had been defeated. This was soon 
exaggerated into rumors, supposed at the time to be well grounded, 
that all of the white troops had been killed or scattered, and that 
all of the Indians, having joined Black Hawk's victorious warriors, 
would soon be down upon us, destroying, burning and killing in 
every direction. 

True there was, as it was afterward learned, no cause for all of 
this alarm ; but at the time the people acted in the full belief that the 
hour was one of extremest peril. The flying fugitives must be re- 
lieved at once from the murderous pursuit of the Indians. Not a 
moment was to be lost. A call was made for a forlorn force to 
go to their assistance. " Volunteers were called for, and in less 
than two hours," says Col. Othneal Gilbert, "thirty-one of us were 
ready and on the march to save the settlers." The families of the 
advance expedition hastily cooked them some provisions ; shot-guns, 
squirrel-rifles, flint-lock muskets, and other inferior weapons, were 
got together hastily, with which the company were armed. Those 
who had no horses were promptly provided by other citizens, who 
cheerfully loaned them. A meeting was held by the members of 
the company for the election of officers, as was customary in all 
volunteer expeditions, and commanders chosen for the occasion 
without regard to the position they may have held in the regularly 
enrolled militia. Dan Beckwith, major of the Vermilion county 
militia, was elected captain, and by three o'clock in the afternoon 
the men were on the way toward Joliet. Night overtook them at 
Bicknell's Crossing of the North Fork, where they went into camp. 
The next morning they went out upon the great prairie, and in the 
course of the day got between the retreating families, which they 
met coming this way, and the Indians, who were supposed to be 



346 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

in close pursuit. After passing the fugitives, and seeing no sign 
of Indians, they pursued their course northward still farther for 
several hours, when they deflected their line of march more to the 
west, crossing the Iroquois near Spring Creek, that being the more 
direct route to Hickory Creek. They went into camp late, at the 
close of a hard day's march. During the next day they crossed the 
Kankakee River, near the present city of that name, and held their 
way toward the settlements supposed to be in the greatest danger. 
Hoping still to render assistance to other settlers, or rescue their 
property. They went on to Hickory Creek, and scoured the country 
and groves in that direction. They saw nobody, white or red, ex- 
cept some Pottawatomies along the Kankakee, who were friendly 
and personally .known to the officers and many of the men. Aside 
from the fatigue and privations endured, the men met with no 
incident or loss going or coming. However, they were very near 
one of Black Hawk's war parties, secreted, as they afterward learned, 
in a grove — supposed from its description to be "the twelve mile 
grove." One evening Dr. Fithian and George Beckwith were sent 
out as spies to reconnoiter this grove, with instructions to return to 
a designated spot, where it was intended the company should go 
into camp for the night. The dusk had fallen as the spies were per- 
forming the work assigned. They approached quite near the grove, 
when, from some cause they could not explain, their horses were 
seized with a fright that rendered them entirely beyond the control 
of their riders. They became frantic at every effort to urge them 
forward. By this time it was so dark that the scouts deeming it 
imprudent to penetrate the grove, returned toward the place where 
they expected to find their comrades. The latter were alarmed at 
the protracted absence of their scouts, not knowing what had be- 
come of them ; and as they approached, the sound of their horses' 
feet aroused the camp, now all strung with a sense of danger. "Who 
goes there? " rang out in the still night air. Dr. Fithian says that 
immediately on hearing the challenge, his ear also caught the click- 
ing sound of the guns as they were being cocked all along the line, 
a few rods in front of them. He answered, quickly as he could, 
in a choking way, "friends !" to which the reply instantly followed: 
"If friends, advance at once and give the counter-sign, or we wil 
blow you to h — 1." 

Dr. Fithian tells the writer that Major Beckwith interviewed Black 
Hawk after the war, at Jefferson's barracks, while the latter was held 
a prisoner. Black Hawk there told the Major that a band of his 
warriors had been watching the movements of Beckwith 's men dur- 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 347 

ing the day, and that they were secreted in the grove named on the 
evening that Fithian and his companion reconnoitered it. The details 
here given of the first expedition that went out in the Black Hawk 
war is taken from the accounts given to the writer by Alvan Gilbert, 
whose lamented death is only of recent occurrence, Dr. William 
Fithian and Samuel Russell, who still survive. They all actively par- 
ticipated in the events respectively narrated by them. The eminent 
standing of these gentlemen is so well known that any comments of 
the writer would be superfluous. 

In the meantime, while the advance corps were out, the Yermil- 
ion county militia were concentrated at Danville, and put upon the 
march. Previous to this Col. Isaac R. Moores had been notified by 
Gov. Reynolds to have his regiment, the Vermilion county militia, 
in readiness, in the event their services should be required. No 
marching orders had been given, and no intimation of hostilities had 
been received. Immediately on the alarm the volunteers got in 
readiness, and Col. Hubbard furnished several four-horse wagons, 
loaded with provisions, for their subsistence. The force consisted of 
three hundred mounted men. Every part of the county was repre- 
sented in this body by many of its best citizens, — Col. Hubbard 
among the number, — under command of Col. Moores, John II. Mur- 
phy acting as his Aide. Many names of these patriotic citizen-sol- 
diers will be found in the several township histories and biographical 
sketches, prepared by other writers. The route of the regiment was 
by way of "Hubbard's trace " to his trading-post on the Iroquois, and 
from thence northwest by another Indian trail to Joliet. The first night 
out the regiment encamped at Bicknell crossing. The next morning, 
after they had gotten well out on the prairies, they saw ahead of 
them Major Beckwith's command, filing over the dividing ridge, on 
their return. The meeting was very cordial on both sides. Most of 
Beckwith's company fell right in with the regiment and went on. A 
few others, Beckwith among them, returned to Danville to see their 
families for a moment, when they hastened back, overtook and joined 
the regiment. From Joliet Capt. Morgan L. Payne, and his com- 
mand, were dispatched north gome thirty miles on Du Page River, 
with instructions to there erect a block-house and protect property 
which had been abandoned by the inhabitants in their flight. Col. 
Moores also commenced a fortification at Joliet, and was prosecuting 
this work when his command was ordered to Ottawa, the headquar- 
ters of Gen. Atkinson. By this time a much larger force of volun- 
teers had been mustered in than the state needed. Black Hawk's 
Indians, except a few straggling war parties, were being closely pur- 



348 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

sued up Fox River toward the Four Lakes country, as the little lakes 
in the vicinity of Madison, Wisconsin, were then called. There was 
no use or room for any more troops, and Col. Moores' regiment was 
discharged and, except Payne's command, allowed immediately to 
•return home. 

The writer will relate a few incidents, the first as told by Col. 
Hubbard and Dr. Fithian. As the regiment was moving from 
Joliet to Ottawa, Dr. Fithian, Bolilvin, Col. Hubbard and several 
others struck across the prairie in advance of the troops, Hubbard 
leading the way, as he was well acquainted with the country. On 
their way they saw a place where the grass was disturbed, as if by 
parties who had followed a course nearly at right angles to the direc- 
tion Hubbard's squad was pursuing. The latter at once followed 
this trail, while the regiment, which had now come up, was halted. 
Soon a pair of saddle-bags was found, then a prayer book, then a 
miniature portrait. The tall grass was bent and broken down, as if 
a fearful struggle had taken place. A camp kettle was picked up, 
and just beyond the mutilated remains of a white man. The body 
was that of the Dunkard and itinerant preacher, Payne, a man well 
known to the early settlers between the Wabash and Illinois Rivers, 
as a harmless and eccentric religious enthusiast. He had left the 
vicinity of Naperville having no fears of the Indians, whom he said 
would do him no harm. When his friends, tried to dissuade him 
from crossing the county at such a dangerous time, he said, even if 
the Indians should show an unfriendly disposition, his fine gray 
mare could outrun any Indian pony. He was mistaken ; for falling 
in with one of Black Hawk's war parties, he was by them most foully 
murdered. The Indians scalped off his long flowing white beard, 
which extended quite to his loins, and fastened it to a pole. On the 
top of the pole, stuck upright in the ground, they fastened a whisp 
of grass, pointing in the direction they had gone. The beard and 
the grass waved defiantly, as much as to say, "We killed this man. 
This is our trail. If you white people do not like it, just come on 
and help yourselves if you can." 

Capt. Payne, according to instructions, built a fort and block- 
house not a great way from Naperville, and inclosed them with 
about one half acre of ground, with a palisade about ten feet high. 
The fort was erected about forty rods from the Du Page River, a 
short distance west of a large spring. The day after the company 
arrived at Naperville, William Brown and a boy some fifteen years 
old were detailed to go with a wagon to Butterfield's pasture, some 
two miles from camp, and bring in a lot of clapboards that had been 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 349 

made there by some citizen before the Indian disturbances. A party 
of rive Indians fired upon Brown and the boy. Brown was killed 
and scalped, the boy escaped to the camp. The Indians captured 
the wagon and horses. They cut the harness to pieces, and ran the 
wagon against a tree, and broke one of the fore wheels. It was the 
only wagon the company had. It was mended by Leander Rutledge, 
and the harness was repaired by somebody else of the company, and 
both were brought home. The horses, which were the property of 
Peleg Spencer, sr., were taken off by the Indians. Young Brown 
was the only person from this county killed by the enemy. He was 
the son of a widow lady living near Kyger's Mill. The inhabitants 
about JSTaperville had fled, seemingly with great precipitation, aban- 
doning their property. Mr. JSTapcr had left his store unlocked, with 
a large quantity of goods inside. Cattle and other live stock were 
roaming about. Mr. Samuel Russell who was assisting in the quar- 
termaster's department, informs the writer that Payne's command, 
as well as the other companies of the regiment in charge of Col. 
Moores, would take cattle as their necessities required, and issue 
requisitions for future payment when the owners might be found. 
Some seventy women and children, who had escaped to Chicago on 
the first attack from the Indians, when the cholera broke out in 
Chicago, were conducted back to Naperville, and placed within the 
fort for safety. Within a short time after the discharge of Col. 
Moores' forces, Capt. Payne's command was also relieved, when 
they returned home, after an absence of between thirty and forty 
days. For the account here given of the movements of Capt. Payne 
the writer is indebted to Leander Rutledge and Greenville Graves, 
both members of Payne's company, and still living. 

The early citizens of Vermilion county and Danville, like the 
present inhabitants, were not lacking in enterprise. We will give a 
few illustrations in support of this assertion. On the 3d of January, 
1831, they memorialized the governor to secure the location of a gov- 
ernment land office at Danville. The land office was secured. Samuel 
McRoberts was the first receiver and J. C. Alexander the register. The 
land office remained at Danville for a period of nearly twenty-five 
years, and contributed largely toward attracting settlers to the county. 
In 1832 a postal route was established from Chicago, via Danville, to 
Vincennes, and in 1836 from Danville, via Decatur, to Springfield, 
and in the same year another postal route was secured from Danville 
to Ottawa, and a fourth route from Indianapolis, via Danville (Indi- 
ana), Rockville, Montezuma and Newport, to Danville. A few years 
later still another mail route was established between Springfield and 



350 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

La Fayette, via Danville. In this way was Danville and the county 
connected with the principal mail routes through the forethought 
and energy of her citizens. Tlie reader will bear in mind that our 
county and city labored under serious disadvantages as long as the 
water or river routes were the only highways of commerce. Being 
back from the Wabash our farmers and the business men in Danville 
were compelled to take their products to river towns and haul all 
merchandise and other commodities back. The whole country as far 
west as the Sangamon was thus made tributary to and wholly de- 
pendent upon La Fayette, Attica, Covington, Perry ville, Eugene and 
Clinton for their supplies. It was not until after the modern system 
of transportation by railroads was successfully inaugurated that we 
were released from our bondage to the Wabash river or the canal 
running alongside of it. Had the people been less enterprising it is 
doubtful if their condition to-day would have been any better, and 
that railways were not sooner secured was only because the country 
was not then sufficiently developed to justify a construction of these 
costly highways. 

First the Danville people tried to slack-water the Vermilion and 
render it navigable to its mouth. Failing in this, they petitioned 
congress, in company with citizens of other counties, as early as 1831 
to grant a strip of land between Vincennes and Chicago for a rail- 
road. In 1835 a charter was secured for the Chicago & Yincennes 
Railway, and among the charter members appear the names of Grur- 
don S. Hubbard (who a few years before had taken up his residence 
at Chicago), John H. Murphy and Isaac R. Moores, of Danville. 
The same year a charter was secured for a railroad from Quincy to 
the Indiana state line in the direction of La Fayette, via Springfield, 
Decatur and Danville, under the name of the "Northern Cross Rail- 
road." This is now none other than the great Wabash. 

THE GREAT WABASH. 

At this time our county was ably represented in the legislature 
by Dr. Fithian. He predicted the financial ruin that would surely 
overwhelm the state if the legislature persisted in its wild scheme of 
general internal improvements — a project with which the people of 
the state then seemed infatuated. When he saw he could not pre- 
vent the plan from being carried into effect, and that the public 
money was going to be wasted, anyway, he skillfully managed that 
work should begin at once on that part of the "Northern Cross" 
running through his county. Accordingly, a large portion of the 
$1,800,000 appropriated to the "Northern Cross" was expended in 






HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 351 

1837, 1838 and 1S39 in grading the road-bed from the Champaign 
county line east to the Yermilion, and in the heavy cuts and fills 
adjacent to that stream, and in erecting the three large abutments of 
piers standing in or near the river itself. Thus the heaviest and 
most expensive part of the road east of the Sangamon was practi- 
cally finished before the "crash" came, which put an end to the 
"system." Here matters rested until 1853, when the project of 
extending the railroad from Decatur east across the state was again 
taken up. The heavy work previously done by the state in Yermilion 
county was too valuable to be thrown away. It was the lodestone 
that drew the iron rails to Danville. This is not all • another rail- 
road corporation was building a line from Toledo up the Mauraee 
and down the Wabash. Its projectors had intended, originally, to 
keep down on the east side of the Wabash, through Covington, and 
make their St. Louis connection by way of Paris. Luckily its pro- 
jectors met the parties who were extending the Great Western rail- 
road — as the new organization was called — in New York, and 
learning that the latter road was assured of an early completion to 
Danville, the former corporation changed their route and crossed 
the Wabash at Attica and came on to Danville. The writer may 
state, what he knows to be true, that it was the intention of the 
Wabash road to make Danville its terminal point. They did in fact 
operate the section between Danville and the state line for a spell, 
in conformity with its agreement. The two corporations disagreed 
about a trivial matter, when the Wabash company withdrew to the 
state line, compelling the Great Western to follow them. Here they 
remained for eight years, and until the consolidation of the two 
roads in 1865, when Danville again became the end of a running 
division. 

The first engine that ever ran into Danville was The Pioneer. 
It crossed the bridge over the Yermilion River in the latter part of 
October, 1856. The writer had the satisfaction of riding over on the 
engine with the engineer. The connection with the Wabash con- 
struction train was made some five miles northeast of Danville, in 
Makemson's timber, one cold drizzly day well on toward the last 
of November. The writer was on the ground, as were a large num- 
ber of other citizens, to see the last spike driven. The next day the 
Wabash engines were in our town, waking up its quiet streets to 
new life and busy stir, which has since continued with an ever in- 
creasing activity. 



352 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

CHICAGO & EASTERN ILLINOIS. 

Although this is a comparatively new road it must not be pre- 
sumed that consequently it should be placed among the list of unim- 
portant lines, for just the very opposite is the fact. However much 
older roads have assumed in the credit of opening up and developing 
this part of the state, no less can, in justice, be said of the line under 
consideration. Let any one take a map of eastern Illinois published 
prior to 1870, and he will observe that much of what is now known 
as the most desirable portions of the state was entirely without rail- 
road facilities. Some places through which this line now passes were 
forty miles from a railroad station. It will therefore be seen under 
what disadvantages this part of the country labored, and a good 
reason will easily be discovered for its tardy development. Then, 
also, the country including this county and much more valuable 
country was cut off entirely from communication with the great me- 
tropolis of the west, Chicago. It is, therefore, not surprising that 
so complete and prosperous a road as the Chicago & Eastern Illinois 
railroad should be built up in eight years, for its construction was 
an urgent necessity, and it takes no philosopher to comprehend that 
the causes which led to the building of the road will ultimately 
make it the most important line passing through this section. While 
numberless roads have been projected, and many built, in different 
portions of the state, wherever local pride or an itching for speculation 
could secure the needed aid, with few exceptions they have not only 
proved failures, but have bankrupted and disgusted their patrons. 
This line, however, unlike nearly all born under the peculiar law passed 
by the Illinois legislature but a short time before, has gradually from 
the first gained in public favor, and though it received large donations 
from the townships through which it was built, there are few persons, 
and perhaps none, who regret having aided so worthy an enterprise. 

The leading citizens of this county had long felt the necessity of 
a direct outlet for travel and commercial purposes with Chicago, and 
to that end, in 1868, a bill was passed by the legislature which au- 
thorized the townships through which it was proposed to run, to 
vote bonds in aid of its construction. Among the prominent ones in 
this county who interested themselves in the project were John L. 
Tincher, H. W. Beckwith and Alvan Gilbert. It was through Mr. 
Tincher's influence that the charter was obtained. The people gen- 
erally in the eastern part of the county were interested and anxious 
for the success of the enterprise. Danville township voted $72,000 
for the construction of the road, and $75,000 for the erection of the 
car-shops, which are located at that city. Ross township also voted 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 353 

$24,00(1, and Grant $18,000. In 1871 the road was completed to 
Danville. J. E. Young, of Chicago, was the contractor, and built 
the road. The 'road was originally bonded for $5,000,000, which 
represents the supposed value at that time, but in consequence of 
great shrinkages in all stocks about that time and since, its actual 
value is probably somewhat less at present. In 1874 the company 
failed, and the property was placed in the hands of a receiver, in the 
person of Gen. A. Anderson, who continued to manage the affairs 
of the line until 1877. On the 17th of April of the year named the 
road was sold to a new corporation for $1,450,000. The present 
officials of the new corporation are F. AY. Huidekoper, of Meadville, 
Pennsylvania, president ; Thomas W. Shannon, of New York, vice- 
president ; A. S. Dunham, secretary ; J. C. Calhoun, treasurer ; O. 
S. Lyford, general superintendent ; Robert Forsyth, general freight 
agent. Mr. Dunham has been connected with the road ever since 
the formation of the first company. Mr. J. G. English, of the 
city of Danville, is a member of the board of directors. 

In 1872 the company then in existence began the construction of 
a branch from Bismark, in Newell township, to Brazil, Indiana. The 
road is completed and in running order to the coal-fields in Fountain 
county. 

The machine-shops referred to have been built in the northeastern 
part of the city of Danville, and are in successful operation, employ- 
ing about two hundred hands. 

The whole enterprise may now be said to be on a solid basis, and 
systematically and successfully conducted. Large expenditures are 
being made for repairs and for the purchase of new material and steel 
rails. The business of the line, through the discreet management 
of its present officers, and by a liberal course toward its patrons, is 
already very large and rapidly increasing. 

Without taking up space to note the many preliminary meetings, 
conferences, etc., covering a period of four or five years, in which 
many citizens of Danville spent a good deal of time and money 
in aid of the "Indianapolis, Crawfordsville & Danville," and the 
"Danville, Urbana, Bloomiugton & Pekin" railroads, we may say 
that the first was extended as far west as Crawfordsville late in the 
year 1869, while the latter was completed from Pekin to Danville in 
January, 1870. Trains ran from Danville to Pekin for a period of 
some nine months. In the meantime the gap between Crawfords- 
ville and Danville was closed up. The connection of the rails was 
made <>n the prairie some eight miles east of Danville in September, 
1870, and through trains were put upon the road shortly afterward. 



354 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

In November of the following year the route from the Ohio 
at Evansville to Lake Michigan, at Chicago, was established by the 
completion of the Evansville, Terre Haute & Chicago and Chicago, 
Danville & Vincennes railroad lines. Within the next year the 
La Fayette, Bloomington & Muncie railroad was extended across 
the northern part of our county, connecting that most enterprising 
portion of our population with an eastern outlet for the products 
of their well-tilled and bountiful fields. 

Another enterprise in the way of railroad transportation deserves 
special mention, not so much for the encouragement it received from 
citizens of the county, as for the pluck and persistent efforts of its 
projectors in putting through an enterprise in the face of the most 
discouraging obstacles. We allude to the "narrow-gauge," built 
almost entirely through the unaided efforts of Mr. Gifford, and the 
Penfield Brothers, of Rantoul. This line opens up to market a 
wide belt of rich agricultural country, extending the entire width 
of our county ; and the annual shipments of live stock and grain 
would astonish citizens, if they would take the pains to consult the 
statistics of the business of this company, and see the enormous 
tonnage of this seemingly little, though important line. 

To the above railroad lines has been added still another, — largely 
aided by local subscription, — the Paris & Danville, giving the 
southern townships of the county long needed facilities. 

Here, then, we have Vermilion county traversed east and west 
by no less than four of these great and indispensable arteries of 
communication, and by another trunk line traversing the entire 
\ength of the county north and south, making in all over one hun- 
dred and thirty miles of completed track within the limits of the 
county, which is only twenty-two miles broad by forty-two miles 
long. There are few, very few, other counties in the state so abun- 
dantly supplied with railroad facilities as Vermilion, yet the enter- 
prise of our people is not supplied ; their demands require still 
more railroads ; and the writer here predicts the early completion 
of two other roads, one from the southwest part of the county, 
putting Sidell and Carroll townships in communication with the 
focal system at Danville; and the other — a branch line — from 
Marysville to Danville. Then every part of the county will be 
connected — without more than one transfer — with Chicago, Toledo, 
Indianapolis, Evansville, Cairo, Cincinnati and St. Louis, and through 
these with all the tide-water ports of the Gulf and the Atlantic. 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 355 



TWENTY-FIFTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS. 

CONTRIBUTED BY CAPTAIN ACHILLES MARTIN. 

The 25th 111. Vol. Inf., three companies of which (A, B and D) 
were from Vermilion county, was organized in Vermilion county, 
June 1, 1861, and mustered into service at St. Louis, Missouri, 
August 4, 1861, and from there transported by rail to Jefferson 
City, Missouri, and thence to Sedalia, Missouri, and marched to 
Springfield, Missouri, under Gen. Fremont, in pursuit of Gen. 
Price's army, and from thence to Rolla, Missouri, where, with a 
portion of Fremont's army, it spent the early part of the winter 
of 1861 and 1862, but returned to Springfield, Missouri, in Feb- 
ruary, 1862, under command of Gen. Siegel, and pursued Gen. 
Price's army to Benton ville, Arkansas, where, on the 6th, Yth and 
8th of March, 1862, the memorable battle of "Pea Ridge" was 
fought. The 25th Reg., having been held in support until early 
morn of the third day, took the front under the immediate com- 
mand of Gen. Siegel, in support of the artillery which opened the 
engagement. After a fierce contest with grape, canister and shell 
at short range, the enemy's batteries were silenced, and the mem- 
orable order, "Up, 25th, Minutes ! Col. Minutes!" was given by 
Gen. Siegel in person, and the next moment the regiment, under 
the most terrific fire of musketry, with other troops, charged the 
enemy in a thick wood, where, after a fierce and deadly contest, the 
enemy's lines gave way, and the whole army was soon in full 
retreat, and thus was victory brought out of what but a few hours 
before was considered, by the general commanding, a defeat. The 
regiment was highly complimented for its gallantry in this (its first) 
engagement. Then, in connection with the army, it took up the line 
eastward, where, after a long and tedious march, it arrived at Bates- 
ville, in Arkansas, and was there detached from the army, and, with 
nine other regiments under command of Gen. Jeff. C. Davis, marched 
eastward to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, a distance of two hundred and 
fifty miles in nine days, having made an average of about twenty- 
eight miles per day. The regiment then, by river transportation, 
joined Gen. Halleck's army in the siege of Corinth, Mississippi, 
which place was soon evacuated by the enemy ; and after a short 
stay in Mississippi marched eastward under command of Gen. Buell 
by way of Nashville, Tennessee, to Louisville, Kentucky, a distance 
of nearly five hundred miles, in the month of August, in the most 
extreme heat and drouth. Here a few days were spent in reorgan- 



356 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

izing the army, when it was ordered in pursuit of Gen. Bragg' s 
army, then invading Kentucky. Later, the battle of Perryville, or 
Chaplain Hills, was fought between a portion of the two armies, 
wherein the 25th Reg., and more than sixty thousand other well- 
equipped soldiers, were compelled to act as spectators in the slaugh- 
ter of a portion of our army under command of Gen. McCook, 
because, the general commanding said, that McCook had brought 
on the engagement without his orders. After this battle the regi- 
ment returned to Nashville, Tennessee, and Gen. Rosecrans put in 
command of the army then known as the Army of the Cumberland, 
which remained at Nashville until the last of December, 1862, when 
it was advanced to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and met the enemy 
under command of Gen. Bragg at Stone River, Tennessee, on the 
30th of December, 1862, and at the dawning of the 31st the enemy 
attacked in great force". The 25th Reg. being in the unfortunate 
right wing of our army, was soon sharply engaged, when the charge 
grew fierce and deadly. The line on the left of the 25th gave way, 
and being fiercely assailed in front and left, the regiment was com- 
pelled to change front under a most withering fire. Here the color- 
bearer was stricken down and the flag lay on the ground, when Col. 
Williams, of the regiment (than whom no more worthy patriot has 
died), raised the colors with his own hands, and having indicated 
the new line to be formed, he planted the flag firmly, and uttered in 
loud tones his living and dying words: "Boys, we will plant the 
flag here and rally around it, and here we will die ! " The next 
moment, with flag-staff in hand, he fell. The regiment, after twice 
repulsing the enemy in front, finding itself flanked on both right 
and left, retired from its position and fell to the rear, leaving more 
than one-third of its number dead and wounded on the field. The 
enemy was finally checked, and the battle continued sullenly until 
the 2d of January, 1863, when Gen. Breckenridge made his cele- 
brated assault on the left wing of our army. The charge was brill- 
iant beyond comparison. The shock of battle was terrific. Our 
left was broken, defeated and driven back. Fresh troops were in 
like manner swept away like chaff before the wind. Fifty pieces of 
artillery were brought to bear on the enemy's right. The earth 
trembled and shook as a leaf in the storm beneath the iron mon- 
sters, as they poured their storm of death into the advancing col- 
umn, and yet their onward march was as the march of destiny, 
until the shout from Gen. Negley rang out — "Who'll save the 
left?" "The 19th 111.," was the reply — the 25th 111. being 
close in their support. They did save the left, and the 25th held 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 357 

the front thus earned until the retreat of the enemy, while the 
heaps of the enemy's dead testified to gallantry worthy of a better 
cause. The regiment, in connection with the army, next marched 
south in pursuit of Gen. Bragg' s army till it reached the Tennessee 
River, near Stevenson, Alabama. To cross this river in the face of 
the enemy and lay the pontoon bridge was given in charge of this 
regiment alone ; consequently, at early morn our shore was lined 
with skirmishers and a battery of artillery, while the regiment em- 
barked in pontoon boats and rowed away to the opposite shore a 
mile distant, drove the enemy back, laid the bridge and was cross- 
ing the entire army over by eleven o'clock a.m. The sight of this 
little circumstance was extremely grand, but the danger great. The 
regiment next crossed over Sand Mountain and Lookout Mountain 
and entered into the valley, again engaging the enemy in the terri- 
ble battle of Chickaniauga, Georgia, where it left more than two- 
thirds of its number among the dead and wounded on the field, all 
of whom fell into the hands of the enemy. This battle, for severity, 
stands second to none in the history of the war, and no regiment iu 
the engagement suffered greater loss than the 25th 111. The regi- 
ment was next called to meet the enemy at the battle of Chattanooga, 
under command of Gen. U. S. Grant, and when the order came to 
storm Mission Ridge, the 25th Reg. was assigned the front, or skir- 
mish line, where it advanced slowly until within a few rods of the 
enemy's guns, when, with a simultaneous charge, in connection with 
the 35th 111., carried the enemy's works, captured their batteries, 
broke their lines on Mission Ridge, and made way for a magnifi- 
cent victory. Along the entire line here again the carnage was great, 
but the achievements brilliant in the extreme. The regiment was 
then ordered to east Tennessee, where it spent the winter in various 
unimportant campaigns, and in the spring of 1864 rejoined the Army 
of the Cumberland, near Chattanooga, under command of Gen. 
Sherman, and started on that memorable campaign to Atlanta, 
Georgia, at which place it terminated its service and returned home 
to be mustered out. 

During the months of this campaign, the endurance of both offi- 
cers and men of the regiment was taxed to its utmost — it was one 
long and tedious battle, often violent and destructive, then slow and 
sullen, both armies seeking advantage by intrenching, manceuvering, 
flanking and by sudden and by desperate charges, the 25th 111. bear- 
ing its equal burden of the toils, the dangers and losses, as will more 
fully appear from the following order or address, delivered by Col. 



358 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

W. H. Gibson, commanding the brigade, on its taking leave of the 
army, at Atlanta, Georgia, August 20, 1864, to wit : 

"Soldiers of the Twenty-fifth Illinois Volunteers : As your term of 
three years' service has expired, and you are about to proceed to your 
state to be mustered out, it is fitting and proper that the colonel com- 
manding should express to each and all his earnest thanks for the 
cheerful manhood with which, during the present campaign, you have 
submitted to every hardship, overcome every difficulty, and for the 
magnificent heroism with which you have met and vanquished the 
foe. Your deportment in camp has been worthy true soldiers, while 
your conduct in battle has excited the admiration of your companions 
in arms. Patriotic thousands and a noble state will give you a recep- 
tion worthy of your sacrifice and your valor. You have done your 
duty. The men who rallied under the starry emblem of our nation- 
ality at Pea Ridge, Corinth, Chaplain Hills, Stone River, Chicka- 
mauga, Mission Ridge, Noonday Creek, Pinetop Mountain, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Chattahoochee, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta having 
made history for all time and coming generations to admire, your 
services will ever be gratefully appreciated. Officers and soldiers, 
farewell. May God guarantee to each health, happiness and useful- 
ness in coming life, and may our country soon merge from the gloom 
of blood that now surrounds it and again enter upon a career of 
progress, peace and prosperity." 



THIRTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS. 

CONTRIBUTED BY GEN. J. C. BLACK. 

This regiment was recruited in the counties of Lake, La Salle, 
McIIenry, McLean, Cook, Vermilion and Rock Island, and was or- 
ganized at Chicago, and mustered into the United States service on 
the 18th of September, 1861. Its colonel was Julius White, since 
major-general ; its major was J. C. Black, now of Danville, Illinois, 
who recruited and took to camp Co. K from Vermilion county. The 
muster role of Co. K showed representatives from many of the old 
families of Vermilion county : Fithian, Bandy, English, Morgan, 
Clapp, Brown, Henderson, Allison, Conover, Black, Culbertson, 
Johns, Canaday, Lamm, Myers, Payne, Songer, Thrapp, Delay, 
Folger, Gibson, Liggett, and others. Some of these representatives 
died in service ; some returned home full of the honors of a well- 
rendered service, and are to day prominent among our business and 
professional men. Peter Walsh, the late prosecuting attorney; 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 



359 



William P. Black, of Chicago ; William M. Bandy, editor of the 
"Post," Danville; W. H. Fithian, of Fithian, Illinois; George H. 
English, and many are farming in this vicinity. These are of the 
living. Among the dead we recall Fitzgeral, Marlatt, Reiser, Snider, 
Adkins, Barnard, Hyatt, Henderson, Stute, Brewer, Conover, George 
Johns and Jas. Culbertson. These died without fear and without 
reproach. 




THE LEFT WING OF THE 37tH ILLINOIS KEGIMENT AT PEA RIDGE. 



Co. K. was distinctively the boys' company ; its recruits were 
most of them under age at the time of enlistment. In the Memorial 
Hall at Springfield, Illinois, are found only two captured flags ; one 
was taken from the Mexicans at Buena Vista, the other was taken 
from the rebels at the battle of Pea Ridge by the 37th 111. Vol. Inf. 
"The boys" did their share wherever they went. Mustered into 
service on the 18th of September, they entered the Department of 
the Missouri the next day, and took part in Hunter's campaign 
against Price in southwestern Missouri, marching to Springfield and 
back to Laurine Caulmint. In the dead of winter, breaking up their 
encampment, they joined in Pope's campaign against the guerrillas. 
In the spring of 1862 the 37th set out on the route for northwestern 
Arkansas, and participated in the bloody battle of Pea Ridge on the 
6th, 7th and 8th of March, which raged with especial fury on the 
7th, near Lee town, when the 37th received the charge of McCul- 



360 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

lough's and Mcintosh's column, and when in thirty minutes it lost 
one hundred and twenty men out of an effective present force of 
seven hundred and fifty ; but the charge was broken, and the enemy 
withdrew. 

After this battle Gen. Custer was ordered to Batesville and 
Helena with the entire force, except the 37th 111., one battalion of 
the 1st Mo. Cav., and one section of the Peoria battery; and until 
June this force was kept in the extreme front in the enemy's coun- 
try, fifty-five miles in advance of any assistance, feeling the pulse of 
rebeldom beating daily in this its farthest extremity. Marching and 
counter-marching over one hundred miles frontage of mountainous 
region, ambushed and bushwhacked day and night, it kept the flag 
at the front, and always flying. In the summer of 1862 the 37th 
joined the larger forces. It bore its share in the marches and skir- 
mishes in southwestern Missouri, and finally, on the 7th day of De- 
cember, assisted in the terrible fight and brilliant victory at Prairie 
Grove, where, in the capture of a battery and the assault upon the 
enemy in their chosen position, the 37th, reduced to three hundred 
and fifty men, lost seventy-eight killed and wounded ; but they took 
the battery. It returned to St. Louis from there, and were sent to 
Cape Girardeau, whence it started after Gen. Marmaduke, over- 
taking him on the banks of the St. Francis River at Chalk Bluffs. 
The fight at this point freed southeast Missouri of all rebel forces, 
and won for the 37th high praise in the reports of the commanding 
general. They then returned to St. Louis, and joined the forces 
under Gen. Grant, and participated in the siege of Vicksburg. 

From this time on, the path of the 37th was away from its Ver- 
milion county comrades, the 25th, 35th, 79th, 125th Inf., 4th Cav., 
and the old 12th Reg., some of whom swung across the continent, 
via Chattanooga and Atlanta, to the sea. The 37th marched to the 
south ; it fought and beat the rebels at Yazoo City, joined in the 
campaign after Forrest from Memphis, and after chasing him out of 
Tennessee via Mississippi, returned and took part in the Red River 
campaign ; in the meantime bearing a light share in the fight near 
Morganzia Bend. From Duvall's Bluff the regiment was sent, via 
New Orleans, to Barrancas and Pollard ; thence to Mobile, and 
participated in the last great siege of the war, and in its last 
great battle; for Lee surrendered at 10 o'clock a.m., and at 5.45 
p.m. of the same day the federal troops assaulted and captured 
the Blakele} r batteries. The time occupied from the firing of the first 
gun until they were in possession was ten minutes ; the loss was six 
hundred men on the Union side ; captured, three thousand prison- 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 361 

ers, forty-two cannons and the city of Mobile. In this charge the 
37th was the extreme left regiment, and Co. K was the extreme left 
of the entire line, which advancing in a semicircle, struck the rebel 
works almost at the same instant along the whole front, the right 
and left being a little in the advance. After this engagement the 
37th was removed to the Department of Texas, where it remained 
until August, 1866, being among the last of the United States vol- 
unteers discharged from service. 

The 37th veteranized in 1864. It was in the service five years 
from the time of recruiting ; it marched and moved four times from 
Lake Michigan to the gulf; it moved on foot nearly six thousand 
miles, and journeyed by water and land conveyance nearly ten thou- 
sand miles more ; it bore its part in thirteen battles and skirmishes, 
and two great sieges. The survivors of Co. K are in Oregon, Cali- 
fornia, Texas, Missouri and Illinois. They, like the vast mass of 
their fellow volunteer soldiers, are, most of them, respected and 
useful citizens. May their age grow green and be honorable, and 
their days full of prosperity, is the wish of the chronicler. 



SEVENTY-THIRD REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS. 

CONTRIBUTED BY W. H. NEWLIN AND W. R. LAWRENCE. 

Under the call of the President for three hundred thousand vol- 
unteers, July 6, 1862, Illinois was required to furnish nine regiments. 
Upon this call the 73d regiment was organized, of which companies 
C and E were from Vermilion county. Six days after the call, Pat- 
terson McNutt, Mark D. Hawes and Richard N. Davis began to 
recruit a company of infantry in and about Georgetown, and, soon 
after, Wilson Burroughs, Charles Tilton and David Blosser com- 
menced raising a company near Fairmount. McNutt' s company, 
consisting of eighty-live men, were assembled on the 23d at George- 
town, where they were sworn in by 'Squire John Newlin. After 
this ceremony, McNutt, Hawes and Davis were elected captain, first 
and second lieutenant, respectively. The next day the men went to 
the Y, the present site of Tilton, where they were furnished trans- 
portation to Camp Butler, arriving there the next morning. With 
the exception of a few squads, this was the first company in this 
camp under that call. Early in August twenty-one recruits arrived 
from Georgetown, making the total number one hundred and six. 
About this time Capt. Burroughs, having organized his company, 



362 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

arrived with seventy men, which, being recruited from Capt. Mc- 
Nutt's company, made their complement. 

The first military duty done at this camp was guarding about 
three thousand prisoners, who had been captured at Fort Donelson. 

Toward the latter part of August steps were taken to organize 
the regiment, and this was accomplished on the 21st, the regiment 
numbering eight hundred and six men ; James F. Jaques being 
chosen colonel, Benjamin F. North cott, lieutenant-colonel; ¥ra. A. 
Presson, major ; R. R. Randall, adjutant, and James S. Barger, 
chaplain. This has been known as the "preachers' regiment," on 
account of the fact that all of the principal officers were ministers of 
the gospel. The regiment was the second mustered into service 
under the call. Of this regiment McNutt's company was designated 
C, and was the color company, and Burroughs' company, E. On 
the 27th the regiment was ordered to the field, and, without arms, 
they were transported to Louisville. 

The first camp was in the outskirts of Louisville, near the L. & 
N. R.R. depot. After awhile the regiment was armed, and in the 
early part of September the camp was moved to a point some four 
miles from the city, where a division was formed with the 73d and 
100th 111. and the 79th and 88th Ind. as one brigade, under the com- 
mand of Col. Kirk. While in this camp, great commotion was 
caused by the defeat of the Union troops at Richmond, Kentucky, 
and the division was ordered under arms, and made a rapid advance 
of near a day's march, when, meeting the retreating forces, they 
returned to camp. 

About the middle of September the 73d was sent to Cincinnati, 
to assist in defending it against the threatened attack of Kirby 
Smith. The regiment returned to Louisville in the latter part of 
September. A reorganization of the army now caused the 73d to be 
brigaded with the 44th 111. and the 2d and 15th Mo., making a part 
of the division under Gen. Phil Sheridan. On the 1st day of October 
the army of one hundred thousand, under Gen. Buell, moved from 
Louisville to meet Gen. Bragg, who with Kirby Smith was over- 
running the country in that vicinity. The weather was very hot and 
dry, and here the experience of all new regiments, of disposing of 
superfluous accoutrements such as overcoats, knapsacks, etc., began, 
and the line of march was strewed with a variety of handy, though 
dispensable articles. On the 8th Sheridan's division neared Doctor's 
Fork, a fine stream of water near Perryville. The Union soldiers 
were anxious to reach this point, and the rebels were determined to 
check their advance, and, from a skirmish, this grew to be a desper- 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 363 

ate battle. Through some blonder the 73d was advanced nearly a 
quarter of a mile in front of the main line, up to the very jaws of a 
rebel battery, and near the columns of the main rebel infantry. In 
the nick of time it was ordered to fall back, and the rebel battery 
immediately opening upon them, they obeyed with alacrity, and 
gained the main line without serious loss. In the fight that ensued 
the 73d was in the front line. Co. C had in this fight about seventy 
men engaged, of whom John J. Halstead, Zimri Lewis, Josiah 
Cooper, James E. Moore, Samuel Boen, John S. Long, F. M. 
Stevens and D. W. Doops were wounded, Cooper and Lewis subse- 
quently dying of their wounds. In Co. E, John Murdock lost his 
life, and J. M. Dougherty and John L. Moore were dangerously 
wounded. 

From here the army was marched to Nashville, which place was . 
reached on the 7th of November, and the army went into camp. 
By this time Gen. Buell had been succeeded by Gen. Rosecrans. 
The campaign through Kentucky and part of Tennessee, though 
but of five weeks' duration, was an eventful one to the new troops. 
It had been almost a continual round of marching, counter-march- 
ing, skirmishing and fighting through a rough country that had 
already been stripped of almost everything in the shape of forage. 
This sudden baptism into the rugged experiences of war told sadly 
upon many whose lives had been passed in the quiet scenes of the 
village or farm. During the six weeks' encampment at Nashville 
and Mill Creek, eleven men of Co. C died and thirteen were dis- 
charged for disability ; and of Co.E, ten died and ten were discharged 
for disability. Hawes and Davis, of Co. C, resigned on account of 
sickness, and T. D. Kyger and W. R. Lawrence were promoted to 
the vacancies. Lieut. Blosser, of Co. E, resigned, and one Presson 
was promoted from another company to fill the vacancy. Less than 
three months had elapsed, and the two companies had lost fifty-four 
men. 

On the 26th of December the camp at Mill Creek was broken, 
and the march for Murfreesboro' was begun in further pursuit of 
Bragg, who had greatly reinforced his army. On the 30th the 
vicinity of Murfreesboro' was reached, and almost immediately skir- 
mishing began. This was a most hotly contested field, in which, 
however, the Federal troops proved victorious. The 73d lost in 
this severely, and the two companies from Vermilion were sufferers, 
John Dye and James Yoho being killed, Lieut. Lawrence and Daniel 
Laycott taken prisoner, and George Pierce severely wounded. 
Rosecrans was proud of this victory and of the men under his com- 



364 .HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

mand, and made a special order providing for a roll of honor, to be 
composed of one name from every company, to be selected by the 
members of the company. Co. C selected Sergt. Wm. H. Newlin. 

In June our regiment came in contact with the rebels at a point 
near Fairfield, and Alexander Nicholson, of Co. C, was wounded. In 
August, Capt. McNutt resigned, and Lieut. Kyger was promoted 
captain, Second Lieut. Lawrence to first lieutenant, and David A. 
Smith succeeded to the second lieutenancy. Lieut. Lawrence had 
returned in May after a five months' absence in Libby Prison. 

On the 10th of September the army again advanced toward Chat- 
tanooga, to dislodge Bragg from that position. In the many engage- 
ments in the vicinity of Chattanooga the 73d took active part, but 
in the one at Crawfish Springs, on the 20th of September, the bri- 
gade to which the 73d belonged played a most important part, and 
displayed a degree of bravery seldom equaled ; contending with 
and holding in check the massed columns of the rebels at a most 
critical moment. Cos. E and C suffered severely. Sergt. John 
Lewis, of C, and color bearer, fell, but held the flag aloft. It was 
taken by Corp. Austin Henderson, of Co. C, but he carried it only 
a few steps, when he was wounded. Each of the color-guard, who 
took the flag, was either almost instantly killed or wounded. In 
this engagement at least a fourth of the brigade had been left on 
the field, either dead, wounded or prisoners. Lieut. D. A. Smith, 
Artemus Terrell and Enoch Smith, of Co. C, were killed. Lieut. 
Lawrence, Sergts. John Lewis and Wm. Sheets, Corp. Henderson, 
privates John Burk, Samuel Hewit, John Bostwick, Henderson 
Goodwine and H. C. Henderson were wounded. Sergt. W. H. 
Newlin, Enoch Brown, W. F. Ellis and John Thornton were taken 
prisoners. All of these prisoners, except Newlin, died at Anderson- 
ville prison.* ISTewlin was taken to Danville, Virginia, and about six 
months later made his escape to the Union lines. Of those of Co. 
C who went into this battle, more than one-third were killed, 
wounded or captured. Co. E lost Wm. C. McCoy, killed, and H. 
Neville, wounded. The activity of battle was not the only hard- 
ship our heroes had to bear, for at this time, on account of scarcity 
of rations, and the long continued foraging by both armies on the 
surrounding country, the soldiers were not only often hungry but 
in many cases half starved. On the 24th of October Lieut. Lawrence 
resigned, leaving Capt. Kyger the only commissioned officer in the 
company. 

* Sergt. Newlin, some years ago, published a very interesting narrative of his 
escape. 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 365 

In November the fights of Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge 
took place, and as usual the 73d was in front. The nag of the 73d 
again fell from the hands of the new color-bearer Harty, to be 
snatched up by Kyger, and by him and Harty, who had risen, was 
one of the first planted on the heights of the mountain. In this 
engagement Stephen Newlin and Nathaniel Henderson, of Co. C, 
and Win. Hickman, of E, were wounded. In March the 73d inarched 
to Cleveland, Tenn., where it remained in camp until called into the 
Atlanta campaign. The movement of Sherman's army on the mem- 
orable campaign began with the month of May, 1864, and that 
part to which the 73d belonged broke camp at Cleveland on the 
3d of that month. It is safe to say that from this date until Sep- 
tember 4, the 73d was under fire eight days out of ten, Sundays 
not excepted. It was a continuous fight from Caloosa Springs to 
Lovejoy Station. During the Atlanta campaign, and until the end 
of the war, the 73d was in the 1st brigade 2d division and 4th Army 
Corps. In the battles of Buzzard Roost, Dalton and Resaca, the 
regiment was engaged and suffered some loss. At Burnt Hickory, 
Dallas and New Hope Church, the regiment was also engaged. The 
actions at Big Shanty Pine and Lost Mountains, brought the regi- 
ment by the middle of June in full view of Kenesaw Mountain. The 
enemy's works at this place were very strong, and well-nigh im- 
pregnable ; but when the order came to advance and take them, 
the lines swept forward and occupied them with comparative ease, 
but just as the federal soldiers were fairly in possession, the rebels 
were strongly reinforced, and the Union forces, embracing the 73d, 
fell back to their original position. In this engagement, though 
this regiment was in the line of the heaviest firing, but being on 
the lowest part of the ground, the shots from the enemy passed 
harmlessly over their heads. On the 17th of July the regiment 
crossed the Chattahoochee River, and on the 20th was engaged in 
the battle of Peach Tree Creek. In this battle the 73d occupied 
a very dangerous position, and did most splendid execution, having 
but one man killed and a dozen slightly wounded. Shortly after 
this the army had settled down in front of Atlanta. After the 
capture of Atlanta, a siege of six weeks, the army marched toward 
Chattanooga, arriving there about the 20th of September. From 
Chattanooga the line of march lay through Huntsville and Linnville, 
arriving in due time at Pulaski, where the skirmishers began to 
come in contact with those of Hood's army. In the vicinity of 
Columbia the 73d took an active part, in one instance sustaining the 
shock of cavalry. This was about the 24th to 28th of November. 



366 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

All the way to Columbia, whither the Union forces were retiring, 
followed closely by Hood and his army, there was continual fight- 
ing, in which the 73d was almost constantly engaged. This was 
the last stand of any consequence made by the rebels in Tennessee. 
It was an obstinately contested field, and seemed to be the destruc- 
tion of the last hope of the rebels to maintain their cause in this 
part of the country. The hardships endured by Thomas' army in 
the last few days of this struggle were extreme, but not more so in 
the actual conflict than in the forced marches, hunger and loss of 
sleep ; and to accord equal bravery and endurance to the 73d, is 
only to repeat what has already been written by some of the most 
critical historians of the country. A few days later the regiment 
made, in the assault on the enemy at Harpeth Hill, in the vicinity 
of Nashville, their last charge, which proved to be one of the most 
splendid in their experience. As if indicating that the 73d had 
reaped sufficient glory, the remnants of the rebel army withdrew 
from Tennessee, and left our heroes in possession of the state and 
twelve or fifteen thousand prisoners. 

The Union army marched now to Huntsville, Alabama, arriving 
there on the 5th of January, 1865 ; the 73d remaining here until 
the 28th of March, at which time it left by railroad for East Ten- 
nessee. While encamped near Blue Springs the war closed, and 
the regiment was ordered to Nashville, where, on the 12th of June, 
it was mustered out, and in a few days started for Springfield, 
going on the same train with the 79th 111. Two trains conveyed 
the 73d as it was going to the theater of war ; the war over, one 
train, no larger than either of the two mentioned, conveyed both 
the regiments from Nashville to Springfield, indicating that the 
hardships of army life had dealt severely with their ranks. At 
Springfield the boys received their final pay and discharges, and 
dispersed to their several homes, having been absent from the county 
within a few days of three years. The heroic dead of this regiment, 
whose absence was most notable on the home trip, lie buried,, some 
in graves dug by friendly hands ; but were tombstones erected for 
those whose bodies were hastily pushed into the unwelcome so.il 
of Kentucky and Tennessee, they would almost be equivalent to 
the milestones to mark the road of the army through the country, 
which they fought to retain in the Union. Twenty-six men of the 
73d were made prisoners, and of these sixteen died of hunger and 
ill-treatment. Of the keepers of these last, as did Jefferson on the 
subject of slavery, so say we: "We tremble" for them, "when we 






HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 367 

consider that God is just, and that his vengeance will not sleep 
forever." 

THIRTY-FIFTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS INFANTRY. 

This regiment, nearly five companies of which were from Ver- 
milion county, was organized at Decatur on the 3d of July, 1861, 
and was one of the very first to go forward to defend the country 
from the rebel hordes who were not only threatening the life of the 
nation, but whose grasp seemed to be already encircling it. 

Companies D, E, F and I were almost wholly from this county, 
and also a large number of Co. A, the last named being under the 
command of Capt. Philip D. Hammond, of Danville. Co. D was 
.raised in Catlin, and had for its officers William R. Timmons, cap- 
tain ; U. J. Fox, first lieutenant, and Josiah Timmons, second lieu- 
tenant. Co. |E was officered by William L. Oliver, L. J. Eyman, 
and George C. Maxon, captain, first and second lieutenants, respect- 
ively. This company was raised in the townships of Georgetown 
and Carroll. Co. F was a Danville company, and had for captain, 
A. C. Keys ; first lieutenant, John Q. A. Luddington, and second 
lieutenant, J. M. Sinks. Co. I was raised in the vicinity of Catlin 
and Fairmount. Of this company, A. B. B. Lewis was elected cap- 
tain; Joseph Truax, first, and Joseph F. Clise, second lieutenant. 

In the organization of the regiment, W. P. Chandler, of Dan- 
ville, was elected lieutenant-colonel ; and, by the disabling of Col. 
Smith at the battle of Pea Ridge, Col. Chandler was put in command, 
and was afterward promoted to the office. 

On the 23d of July the regiment was accepted as Colonel G. A. 
Smith's Independent Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, and on the 
4th of August left Decatur for the theatre of war. The regiment 
arrived at Jefferson barracks, Missouri, the next day, where it re- 
mained one week, and then removed to Marine Hospital, St. Louis, 
where it was mustered into service. On the 5th of September it 
was transported by rail to Jefferson City, Missouri, and from thence, 
on the 15th of October, to Sedalia, to join Gen. Sigel's advance on 
Springfield, arriving at that j)oint on the 26th of October. From 
November 13 to 19 the regiment was on the march from Springfield 
to Rolla. From January 24, 1862, the army to which the 35th 
was attached was in pursuit of Gen. Price, and here our regiment 
began to experience a taste of real war. At the memorable battle 
of Pea Ridge the regiment took active part, and lost in killed and 
wounded a number of its bravest men, among the wounded being 
Col. Smith. At the siege of Corinth the regiment took an impor- 



368 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

tant part, and was at that place upon its evacuation on the 30th of 
May. At Perryville and Stone River the regiment was also en- 
gaged, at the latter place losing heavily in killed and wounded. 
This was during the first three days of January, 1863. The regi- 
ment was the first on the south side of the Tennessee River, crossing 
that stream on the 28th of August. At the battle of Chickamauga, 
September 20, the regiment was engaged, and again suffered severely. 
Bv the 22d of September the regiment was at Chattanooga. 

In the battle of Mission Ridge, on November 23-5, the regiment 
was placed in a most dangerous and important position, being in 
the front line, and displayed great valor and coolness, being led to 
within twenty steps of the rebel works on the crest of the hill. In 
the assault all of the color-guard were shot down, and Col. Chand- 
ler carried the flag into the enemy's works, followed by his men. 
By December 7 the regiment was at Knoxville, from which point it 
was sent on various important and dangerous expeditions. The 
regiment was assigned to duty next in the Atlanta campaign, and to 
recount all of the incidents, skirmishes and fights in which the 35th 
took part would be only to repeat what has been said over and over 
in regard to other regiments. The reader will simply turn to the 
story as related elsewhere, and appropriate it here. Suffice it to 
say that at Rocky Face, Resaca, Dallas, Mud Creek and Kennesaw 
the regiment was fully tested in coolness and bravery, and never 
disappointed its commanders. On the 31st of August the regiment 
started to Springfield, Illinois, where it was mustered out on the 
27th of September, 1864. 

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH REGIMENT. 

I ONTRIBTJTED BY COL. WILLIAM MANN. 

The 125th Reg. 111. Vol. was raised under the call by President 
Lincoln, and was organized and mustered into the service of the 
United States on the 3d of September, 1862, at Danville, Illinois. 
It was composed of seven companies (A, B, C, D, G, I, K) from 
Vermilion, and three companies (E, F and H) from Champaign. 

The regiment was organized by the selection of the following 
officers: Oscar F. Harmon, Danville, colonel; James W. Langley, 
Champaign, lieutenant-colonel ; John B. Lee, Catlin, major ; Wm. 
Mann, Danville, adjutant; Levi "W. Sanders, chaplain, and John 
McElroy, surgeon. The principal officers of Co. A, as organized, 
were : Clark Ralston, captain ; Jackson Charles, first lieutenant, and 
Harrison Low, second lieutenant. Of Co. B, Robert Steward was 






HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 369 

captain; William R. Wilson, first, and S. I). Conover, second . lieu- 
tenant. Of Co. C, William W. Fellows was captain; Alexander 
Pollock, first lieutenant, and James D. New, second. Co. D had 
for captain, George W. Galloway; .lames B. Stevens, first, and 
John L. Jones, second lieutenant. John II. Gass was captain of 
Co. G, Ephraim S. Ilowells, first, and Josiah Lee, second lieutenant. 
Co. I was officered by Levin Vinson, John E. Vinson and Stephen 
Brothers as captain, first and second lieutenants, respectively. The 
officers of Co. K were: George W. Cook, captain; Oliver P. Hunt, 
first lieutenant, and Joseph F. Crosby, second. 

Immediately on its being received into the service, it was sent 
to Cincinnati, where it was placed in the fortifications around 
Covington, Kentucky, but was in a few days sent to Louisville, 
Kentucky, which at that time was threatened by Bragg, and up- 
on his retreat was connected with the pursuing forces, and received 
its "baptism of fire 11 at the battle of Perry ville, Kentucky, assist- 
ing in driving the rebel army out of the state. After the battle above 
named it took up the line of march for Nashville, Tennessee, which 
will long be remembered by its members as being the most severe 
campaign of their service, owing to their inexperience in such duties, 
and many of the regiment contracted diseases that resulted in death 
or complete disability. During the winter following the regiment 
did duty in the fortifications, and on patrol and picket service in and 
around the city. Owing to the ignorance of camp life and the scar- 
city of supplies, this period was more disastrous to the organization 
than any of its subsequent battles. Severe picket duty, tiresome 
drills, and the dull routine of camp life, made up the sum of the 
regiment's duties until they were ordered to report to Gen. Rose- 
■crans, who was about to take up the gauntlet thrown down by Bragg 
at Chattanooga. 

Proceeding by a circuitous route through western Tennessee and 
northern Alabama, driving the enemy at Rome and other minor 
points, the brigade to which the regiment belonged, then connected 
with Gen. Gordon Granger's Reserve Corps, the command found it- 
self in position in front of the enemy on the eve of what proved to 
be a disastrous battle to the federal forces, the day of Chickamauga. 
In that battle the 125th took a prominent part, by defending and 
holding positions of importance. On the retirement of Rosecrans 
to Chattanooga after his comparative defeat, the brigade, then com- 
manded by Col. Dan. McCook, was placed to defend Rossville Gap, 
an important pass, while Gen. Thomas collected the remnants of the 
army, to resist the farther advance of the victorious foe. In the 

E 



370 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

defense of this important position the regiment was under a severe 
fire, and met with loss ; but held its ground through the day, and 
checked the enemy in its front. After nightfall it was ordered to 
retire, and was among the last to leave the field, marching to Chat- 
tanooga, where it took part within the fortifications, and awaited the 
approach of the enemy. Here it remained until it was determined 
that Bragg did not intend to push his successes farther, when the 
regiment was sent to a point up the Tennessee River known as 
"Caldwell's Ford," at the mouth of Chickamauga Creek. Here it 
experienced an incident which was one of the most startling and try- 
ing of its career. The camp* was pitched about one half mile back 
from the river, on the hillside, an exposed position, but rendered 
necessary by the nature of the ground. On the opposite side of the 
river was a rebel picket post, and a hill of some dimensions. The 
opportunity to attack was deemed so favorable by the rebels, that, 
on the night of the 16th of November, 1863, they placed a heavy 
battery of eight guns in position, and at the break of day opened 
fire on the camp. The bursting of shells and the crack of solid shot 
through the tents was the first sound heard by the command in the 
morning. It was truly a grand reveille, and certainly the men 
never responded more quickly than they did on that memorable 
morning to roll-call. Amid the thunder of the rebel guns, and the 
quick and gallant response of our own battery (two guns placed to 
assist the regiment), the command was formed in line of battle, ex- 
pecting the river to be crossed and the camp attacked. The execu- 
tion of our guns, however, soon informed the enemy that they had 
undertaken a difficult task, and, as was afterward learned, finding 
that they were experiencing loss, retired. The only loss sustained 
by the regiment was the death of the chaplain, Levi W. Sanders, 
who was struck by a round shot in the head and instantly killed. 
At Caldwell's Ford the regiment remained until the advance was 
made which culminated in the battle of Mission Ridge, and the de- 
feat of the enemy. In this battle it did not take an active part until 
the enemy was in full retreat, assisting in driving him beyond reach. 
Learning of the threatened attack of Knoxville by a portion of the 
forces from the eastern army, it was sent to the relief of that post. 
Accomplishing that object, it returned and went into camp on Chick- 
amauga Creek, at a place known as Lee and Gordon Mills, Georgia. 
Here it awaited the reorganization of the army, and was* placed in 
the 3d brigade, 3d division of the 14th Army Corps, Gen. Jeff. C. 
Davis, commanding. And now commenced the most vigorous part 
of the regiment's career. On the advance of the grand army on 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 371 

what is known as the "Atlanta campaign," it was under fire many 
times, and participated in several battles in approaching that city. 
In the battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Tennessee, 
and other engagements, the regiment suffered severely, and at the 
end of that campaign nearly or quite one half of the command that 
entered upon it were numbered among the dead or wounded. At 
Kennesaw Mountain, on the fatal 27th of June, 1864, it lost one half 
of the command. Just previous to the order to charge being given, 
the regiment mustered two hundred and forty guns. After the 
charge, and when the list was made of the casualties, it was found 
that over one half had been killed or wounded. Here fell Col. Har- 
mon, Capt. Fellows, Capt. Lee, Lieut. McLean, and many a brave 
private, whose names are embalmed in the hearts of friends, and 
referred to with sadness after a lapse of fifteen years. Col. Harmon 
had been chiefly instrumental in raising the regiment. He had left 
honors and a lucrative profession at home, to respond to his coun- 
try's call, and gave his life in its defense. His name will be remem- 
bered so long as a member of the command lives, and venerated by 
them. 

This campaign ended in the battle of Jonesborough, in which 
the regiment suffered severe loss, as they did at Peach Tree Creek, 
and the subsequent capture of Atlanta. 

At Atlanta a reorganization of the army occurred, and the con- 
coction of the great campaign known in history as the tw March to 
the Sea," under Sherman. With that army the regiment took up 
the line of march toward the coast, and without any startling inci- 
dent aside from skirmishes, etc., reached Savannah about the 20th 
of December, 1864, and participated in the honor attending the cap- 
ture of that important post. It lost many men in this campaign, 
through capture, sickness, etc. Crossing the Savannah at Sister's 
Ferry, at the commencement of the campaign which culminated in 
the surrender of the Confederate forces and the suppression of the 
great rebellion, after the evacuation of Richmond, it advanced with 
the left wing of the army and participated in its last battle at Ben- 
tonville, a small town in North Carolina, losing quite heavily. On 
the surrender of Johnston it inarched to Washington, where it re- 
mained several weeks, and was then sent to Chicago, where it was 
mustered out, paid and discharged from the service of the United 
States after nearly three years of active service, with hardly one-half 
of those who had started with it from Danville remaining. Many 
had died or had been killed in action, others had been discharged 
from disability arising from wounds or diseases contracted by expo- 



372 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 



sure and the severity of campaign life, and a few, a very few, had 
been lost by desertion. And thus ended the services of the 125th 
regiment Illinois Volunteers in the ''Great Rebellion.''' 



THE PRESS. 

The Illinois Printing Company was organized under the laws of 
the state, in July, 1874, with a capital stock of $50,000. It has been 
prosperous from the beginning, and, by fair dealing and energetic 
effort, has won for itself a large trade in Illinois and adjoining states, 
and a reputation which places it among the first-class printing and 
blank-book manufacturing establishments in the state. The com- 
pany occupy six rooms, 50x100 feet, all of which are filled with 
the best class of printing and book-binding material, machinery and 
merchandise adapted to the trade in which it is engaged. The Illi- 
nois Printing Company was organized when the times were very 
hard and money scarce. Its rapid and healthy growth has been a 
matter of surprise to its competitors and wonder to all who are 
acquainted with its history. It now has an acquaintance and finan- 
cial standing in commercial circles which enables it to buy goods at 
the lowest cash figures, thereby making it possible to compete with 
the best houses in the country. About forty hands have constant 
employment at this establishment, at the highest ruling wages. The 
company expects to manufacture $100,000 worth of goods this year, 
and find a ready sale for them. 

The Danville News was es- 
tablished in October, 1873, and 
in July, 1874, passed under the 
control of the Illinois Printing 
Company, under which manage- 
ment it still remains. The News 
has had a steady and healthy 
growth of circulation and influ- 
ence, and ranks in all respects 
with the best newspapers in the 
country. The weekly edition 
is a handsome quarto of forty- 
eight columns. The daily edi- 
tion was established on the 13th of October, 1870, at the ear- 
nest solicitation of the enterprising citizens of Danville, who 
desired a morning daily which would give them the latest news in 




DAILY NEWS BUTLniNG. 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 373 

the famous and critical presidential contest. The Daily News has 
taken the press dispatches from the first, and at once gained a large 
circulation in the city and a compass of many miles, which has 
increased steadily to the present time. With every facility for local 
and general news — a telegraph office being in the editor's room; 
a diligent and experienced corps of assistants, the best newspaper 
library to be found in eastern Illinois, the most careful business 
management, and a constantly increasing patronage, the weekly and 
daily News has a bright and promising outlo'ok for the future. 

George W. Flynn, president and manager, was born on the 25th 
of August, 1828, at Bainbridge, Chenango county, New York. He 
came to Illinois in May, 1849, and was for several years prominently 
connected with the Urbana Union, Urbana, being a portion of the 
time sole editor and proprietor; also of the Gazette and Union, 
Champaign, and of the CJtamipaign County Gazette. He did faithful 
duty during the war of the rebellion, giving three years' active ser- 
vice as adjutant of the 25th 111. Inf. After leaving the army he 
became the senior member of the firm of G.W. Flynn & Co., job 
printers and bookbinders, Urbana, Illinois, retaining the position 
until his removal to Danville, Illinois, in 1874. He was the first to 
move in the organization of the Illinois Printing Company, and has 
held the positions of president, manager and director ever since the 
date of its incorporation. 

William Ray Jewell, vice-president and editor, was born in Spen- 
cer county, Kentucky, August 7, 1837, and removed with his father's 
family, in boyhood, to Sullivan county, Indiana, settling twenty 
miles south of Terre Haute. He worked on a farm until fifteen 
years of age, when he entered the printing office of the Wabash 
Cotirier at Terre Haute, where he learned the printing business. 
He worked his way in the printing office through Moses Soule's 
select school in Terre Haute, read law under the kind assistance of 
Henry Musgrove and Hon. R. W. Thompson, and subsequently 
entered and graduated from the Northwestern Christian University, 
Indianapolis, Indiana, now Butler University. For some years he 
was an active and successful preacher of the Christian church. lie 
served in the war of 1861-5, as lieutenant of Co. G, 72d Ind. Inf. 
Being discharged on account of sickness, he was soon recommis- 
sioned as captain by Gov. Morton, and assigned to the recruiting 
service of the state, but soon accepted a call to the 7th Ind. Inf. as 
their chaplain, with which regiment he was mustered out of the ser- 
vice at the expiration of the term of enlistment. Mr. Jewell removed 
from La Fayette, Indiana, to Danville, Illinois, in November, 1873, 



374 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

being one of the founders of the News, and one of the original in- 
corporators of the Illinois Printing Company. He has held the 
position of vice-president and editor since July, 1875. 

Joseph H. Woodmansee, secretary and treasurer, was born in 
Butler county, Ohio, March 24, 1830. At the age of seventeen he 
went to Cincinnati, where he learned the trade of machinist, and 
remained in the city until 1854, when he was married to Susan M. 
Horr, and soon after removed to Paris, Illinois. In 1856 he re- 
moved to Urbana, Illinois, and in August, 1862, enlisted in Co. G, 
76th Reg. 111. Vol., and was honorably discharged at New Orleans, 
in June, 1865. In 1871 he was appointed assistant assessor of in- 
ternal revenue, which position he held until the office was abolished. 
In 1873 he became a" member of the firm of G. W. Flynn & Co., 
printers and blank book makers, and in September, 1874, removed 
to Danville, Illinois, with the printing office, which was incorporated 
into the Illinois Printing Company. At the first meeting of the 
directors of said company he was elected secretary and treasurer, 
which office he still occupies. 

The Danville Daily and Weekly Times, edited and published by 
A. G. Smith, is a paper that is widely copied from, and its editorials 
are often repeated by the press of the state. It is independent re- 
publican in politics, and is noted for the freedom with which it dis- 
cusses popular questions. At times it has enjoyed a larger patronage 
than was ever accorded to any other Danville newspaper. The Times 
was founded in February, 1868, and has had no change in proprietor- 
ship. 

The Danville Weekly Post was established in the city of Danville, 
Vermilion county, Illinois, in June, 1878, by Messrs. Jacobs & 
Thompson. It is the only democratic paper in the county, and has 
quite an extensive circulation. It is recognized as one of the leading 
journals of the state printed outside the cities, and is perfectly relia- 
ble. It is an eight-column quarto, neatly printed ; subscription price, 
$1.50 per year. Messrs. Jacobs & Thompson, the editors and pro- 
prietors, are both young men, but have had several years' experience 
in the newspaper business. They were the founders and publishers 
of the Chrisman (Illinois) Leader, and were running that paper pre- 
vious to their removal to Danville. They are probably the youngest 
newspaper men in the state. The junior member of the firm, — Mr. 
Thompson, — has always taken a very active part in politics, and 
seems to be somewhat of a favorite among leading politicians through- 
out this part of the state. 

The Danville Weekly Commercial, the oldest newspaper now 



HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 375 

(July, 1879,) published in Vermilion county, was established by the 
banking and real-estate firm of Short A: Wright, and the first number 
issued on the 5th of April, 1866, under the editorial charge of P. D. 
Hammond. The paper was originally published in quarto form, 
eight columns to the page: An A. B. Taylor cylinder press, the 
first power press ever set up in the county, was used in printing it. 
In connection with the newspaper department, the presses and mate- 
rial necessary to a first-class job printing office were added, the whole 
forming an establishment rarely to be found in a city of the size of 
Danville at that date. The Commercial has been a firm and consist- 
ent advocate of the principles held by the republican party, though 
oftentimes criticising methods and men of its party ; has advocated 
and still advocates the cause of temperance and prohibition of the 
liquor traffic ; favored the cause of education ; shown itself the friend 
of good morals and religion, and been foremost in favoring such 
measures of public policy as have added immensely to the growth 
and prosperity of Danville and Vermilion county. On the 10th of 
October, 1867, Mr. J. G. Kingsbury became the editorial associate of 
Mr. Hammond, the latter still remaining the managing editor. At 
the same date Mr. Wright retired from the firm of Short & Wright, 
as proprietors, and was succeeded by Abraham Sandusky and An- 
drew Gundy, old residents of the county, the proprietorship becom- 
ing merged in the firm of John C. Short & Co. 

On the 12th of December, 1867, the proprietors of the Commer- 
cial purchased the stock, material and good will of the Danville 
Plaindealer, and merged the latter journal with the former under 
the name of the Danville Commercial and Plaindealer. Under the 
consolidation Col. R. H. Johnson, late editor of the Plaindealer, be- 
came associate editor with Messrs. Hammond and Kingsbury. With 
the second number, issued in 1868, the paper was enlarged to a nine- 
column folio. With the issue of May 14, 1868, "Plaindealer" was 
dropped from the title, and the original name of the paper was re- 
sumed. With the issue of the Commercial of September 17, 1868, 
Mr. P. D. Hammond retired from editorial connection with it, in 
order to assume editorial charge of the Lafayette (Ind.) Journal. 
Upon this change Mr. J. G. Kingsbury became managing editor, Col. 
Johnson remaining associate editor, a position he continued to fill 
until the 25th of March, 1869. With the issue of the Commercial ot 
August 5, 1869, it was announced that Jesse Harper, late of Williams- 
port, Indiana, had purchased an interest in the paper. On the 14th day 
of July, 1873, Jesse Harper retired from all editorial connection with, 
and proprietorship of, the Commercial, having sold his interest to A. 



376 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Harper, his nephew, and brother of O. E. Harper, who became pub- 
lishers under the firm name of Harper Brothers. From this date 
until November 20 of the same year the editorial work of the paper 
was performed by O. E. Harper and Maj. E. A. Kouthe. On the 
latter date Mr. Park T. Martin, of Shelbyville, Illinois, announced 
through the columns of the Commercial that he had purchased the 
sole remaining interest of John C. Short & Co., and that he had 
assumed the editorship from that date, and that the business of the 
office would be conducted under the firm name of Harpers & Martin. 
Maj. Routhe was continued on the paper as associate editor. 

In the early spring of 1874 Mr.S. H. Huber purchased an interest 
in the paper, an additional amount of capital was furnished, and the 
partnership was merged into a joint stock company under the general 
incorporation law of the state, with the corporate name "The Com- 
mercial Company of Danville, Illinois." The authorized capital was 
$15,000, of which $11,200 was paid up, and divided in nearly equal 
proportions between the four incorporators : O. E. Harper, A. Har- 
per, Park T. Martin and S. H. Huber. The company was organized 
by the election of A. Harper as president, and Park T. Martin as 
secretary and business manager. The latter was continued as man- 
aging editor, a position still held by him. With the increase of 
capital great improvements were made in the office, the old hand- 
power press giving place to a fine Chicago Taylor cylinder, with 
steam for the motive power, being the first newspaper press in the 
city run by steam. At the same time the paper was enlarged and 
changed to a six-column quarto in form. In March, 1876, O. E. 
Harper disposed, of his Commercial stock to R. C. Holton, when the 
latter became superintendent of the mechanical department of the 
Commercial, a position he still holds. In February, 1877, Messrs. 
Huber and Martin disposed of their stock to their associates, and 
Mr. Huber retired from all connection with the office, in order to 
enter the ministry of the M. E. church. In August, 1878, Mr. A. J. 
Adams, for some years connected with the business management of 
the Danville Times, purchased stock and became business manager 
of the Commercial company, a position he has since held. On the 
10th of September, 1878, the first number of the Daily Danville 
Commercial was issued, and the publication has been continued 
without intermission as an evening paper since, with a continually 
increasing list of subscribers, and at this writing, July, 1879, the 
business of the Commercial company in all its departments is in an 
encouragingly prosperous condition. 




// 






DECD- 

DANVILLE. 



HISTORY OF TOWNSHIPS. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 

This locality being so intimately connected with the early history of 
the county, it was found necessary to notice it quite fully in that con- 
nection. We find, therefore, but little else than the more modern facts, 
progress, incidents and institutions requiring mention. Those of our 
readers who have carefully followed us thus far, are, by this time, able to 
enter into the feelings and sympathies of the earl}' settler, who yet lin- 
gers for a season with us, and from whom many of the important items 
contained in these pages have been gleaned. A half century has just 
passed since the history of this locality, as far as real progress is con- 
cerned, began ; but what wonderful changes have taken place ! Less 
than fifty years ago, the people of this county, what few of them there 
were, lived in log cabins utterly devoid of ornament or adornment. 
The half of one side of the only room was devoted to the fire-place, at 
which the members of the family toasted their shins, meanwhile the 
good wife cooked the simple meal of corn cakes and wild meat at the 
same fire. The one room was the parlor, kitchen, dining-room and bed- 
room ; and, in the coldest weather, some of the few domestic animals 
were kindly given a night's shelter from the storm. 

The furniture consisted of a few splint-bottomed or bark-bottomed 
chairs of the plainest and roughest sort, made by the use of a hatchet, 
auger and jack-knife; bedsteads and table of a like character; and a 
scanty set of cooking utensils, often consisting of no more than a skil- 
let, a boiling pot and a Dutch oven. Our younger readers will hardly 
believe us when we say that the whole set of tableware, including 
pewter plates, knives and forks, would not now be considered cheap at 
twenty-five cents ; but, if your grandmother is still living, 3^011 need 
only ask her to have our t statements substantiated. There were no 
pictures on the walls of the pioneer's cabins, no tapestry hung at the 
windows, and no carpets were on the puncheon floors. 

The ornaments of the walls were the rifle and powder horn, bunches 
of beans, medicinal herbs and ears of corn for the next planting, sus- 
pended from pegs driven into the logs of which the walls were built. 
20 



HO(S HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

The windows needed no curtains, us they were made of a material 
which not only kept out the strong - sunlight and the fierce winds of 
winter, but admitted a sufficient amount of the former for all practical 
purposes. In this matter, the pioneers displayed an amount of inge- 
nuity that could be called forth only by the mother of invention — 
necessity. Sheets of paper were procured and soaked in hog's lard, by 
which process they became translucent ; and these, pasted to some 
cross sticks in the opening left for the purpose, constituted the window 
of the ancient log cabin. Puncheon floors were a luxury not to be 
found in every house, as, in many, the native soil was both floor and 
carpet. The long winter evenings were spent in conversation over 
personal events of the day, or of recollections of events of the old homes 
in the east or south from which they had emigrated. The railroad and 
telegraph brought no news from the outside world. There were but 
few books and papers then, the whole library, in many instances, con- 
sisting of a Bible, an almanac and a few school books. A tallow dip — 
an article now almost wholly unknown — afforded the only artificial 
light, 

In 1830 a clock or watch was a great novelty, and our worthy 
ancestors marked time by the approach of the shadow of the door to 
the sun mark, or the cravings of the stomach for its ration of corn 
bread and bacon. 

We might go on, describing the ancient modes of farming, of dress, 
of marketing and of education, to almost an endless length ; suffice it 
to say that, in all of the departments of life, a corresponding simplicity,. 
or, we had almost said, rudeness, was the rule. 

How different we find things now! Luxury of every kind, un- 
thought of by the old pioneers, abounds everywhere. Industrious 
hands and active 1 trains have been at work, and to-day we find in 
almost every house, not only all of the comforts of life, but the luxuries 
in endless variety. The old yawning fire-place, with its glowing " back 
log, fore stick and middle chunks, 1 ' have given way to the numerously 
patented cook and parlor stoves. Books and newspapers are on the 
table and in the shelves of everybody who wants them. The news 
from London, dated at 8 o'clock a.m., reaches us, is set up, printed and 
distributed to the readers of the News and other daily papers of the 
city by 6 o'clock the same morning, thus beating time in 3,000 miles 
by two hours. Had you told the old pioneers this would be done in 
their day, you would have been set down as a lunatic or a fit subject 
for the ducking-stool. Tf there was a piano in the county more than 
forty years ago, we have failed to find a trace of it ; and, as for reed 
organs, they w T ere only invented at about that time. Now, almost 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. :',l)7 

every other house has one of these. As to clocks and watches, every 
house has one or more, and a chain dangles from the neck or the vest 
of nearly every man, woman and youth, indicating- that a chronometer 
is at hand to regulate the movements of the wearer. 

To enumerate all of the comforts and modern conveniences now in 
use and to be had, would be to give up most of the space in this "book 
for the purpose of a catalogue of the articles. On every hand we be- 
hold a wonderful, a rapid, a happy change. A wonderful soil, a re- 
markable climate, a progressive, economical, industrious and intelligent 
people combined have done this. 

EARLY BUILDINGS. 

The old log hotel which Solomon Gilbert built in 1827, stood at 
the west end of Main street. It only remained in use as a " tavern " a 
few years, for it soon became distanced by more extensive and grander 
ones. The old sign, according to the custom of the day, hung in a tree 
near by. Bluford Runyen built a log house on the rear of the old 
"Pennsylvania House " property in 1828. He sold this to John 
Leight, who commenced, but sold to Samuel J. Russell, who built the 
first part (the north end) of the old tavern in 1832. It stood on the 
west side of Yermilion street, about half way between the public 
square and the "^Etna House." It was a very good house for its time, 
and was the rival of the "McCormack " in public favor. Russell was 
selling goods on Main street, and soon sold his house to Willison, who 
in turn sold to Abram Mann, Senior, who had recently come from Eng- 
land. Mr. Mann put up the southern part of it. The ball-room, which 
was the necessary appendage to ever}' well-regulated "tavern " in those 
days, was on the west side, over the dining-room. It remained stand- 
ing with the old log "house which Runyen built," until 1875, when 
the march of events called for the lots upon which it stood, for business 
purposes, and it disappeared. The first part of the famous McCormack 
House was built by Jesse Gilbert, about 1833. It was a frame build- 
ing, the planks being fastened on with wooden pins, before nails came 
into very general use here. Charles S. Galusha built an addition to 
it soon after. Mr. Cross kept it a while, and then William McCor- 
mack took it and enlarged it, making it the best hotel in town. Dur- 
ing the flush days of land office business here, this house acquired a 
national reputation. The people who came here from all over the 
country to enter land were accommodated, not exactly in princely 
style, but in good shape, at the McCormack. No " runner" found it 
necessary to sound its praises in sonorous notes from stentorian lungs, 
for it was known and read of all men everywhere. From all over the 



308 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

countr} 7 men came with their saddle-bags and ax-boxes tilled with 
" shiny boys," for " greenbacks " had not then been invented, to buy 
the land which was soon to make them or their children rich. The 
building still stands, close by the side of its " successor in office" and 
in public favor, the beautiful Arlington, tj-pes of the better class of two 
ages of hotel building; the former being as good a building as any 
country village before railroad times could support, the latter as fine a 
building as any young city in the land can show. 

The corners north of the public square are historical. On the east- 
ern one, where the court-house now stands, the old, cramped-up build- 
ing which so long served as the hall of justice for the county of 
Vermilion, stood. This was not the first court-house, but the first 
"permanent" one. The two which preceded it were temporary affairs, 
and were soon dispensed with. The first court-house was the one at 
Butler's Point, where Judge J. O. Wattles was falsely reported to have 
been seen paring his toe-nails secundum artem, while the bailiff had 
the different members of the first grand jury treed by hounds in the 
tall timber along the Salt Fork. The second one was built of hewn 
logs, and stood on the west side of the public square, south of Main 
street. The next one was the old square building which so long- 
served the purpose. For nearly fort} 7 years it was the only court-house 
Vermilion count} 7 had. When it burned there were few to mourn its 
loss. It was about fifty feet square, having the court-room below, 
with a door upon its south front on the public square, and one on 
its west on Vermilion street. The judge's bench was on the east side 
of the court-room, which was in the first story, and the second story 
was divided into two jury-rooms for the grand and petit juries. The 
county offices were scattered around town, wherever rooms could 
be found for them, and necessitated much inconvenience, and had 
the effect of creating much irregularity in the transaction of business. 
Norman D. Palmer and G. S. Hubbard were the contractors and 
Thomas Durham the builder in 1832. A wing was built later for the 
clerks 1 offices, which answered the purpose very well for a time. 

The old court-house was burned in 1872, by some one who wanted 
to see a better one in the place of it, and the present very neat 
and commodious structure was erected in 1876. Col. Myers, of De- 
troit, Mich., was the architect; IN". C. Terrell, contractor. The build- 
ing committee were: J. G. Holden, A. Gilbert, A. H. O'Bryant, H. 
E. P. Talbott and B. Butterfield. The building cost, complete, in- 
cluding heating, etc., $105,000. It is in the form of an L, having 
a front on Vermilion street and one on Main street, having the post 
office, the janitor's rooms and offices in the basement story ; the offices 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 309 

of the county clerk, county judge, circuit clerk, sheriff and treasurer, 
with spacious vaults connected with them, and the county court-room 
on the first floor; the court-room and jury-rooms and other offices in 
the upper story. The rooms are all nicely finished off", and well 
adapted to the uses for which they were intended, and convenient. 
The basement story is of Joliet stone, the superstructure of brick 
trimmed with cut stone. The first jail stood just north of the court- 
house which was burned. It was made of hewn logs, dovetailed to- 
gether and pinned through the corners. It was about thirty feet long, 
and had a partition across it near the center, to separate the two classes 
of prisoners which it was at that time legal to put in jail, criminal and 
debt prisoners. Large river stones were put on the ground and a floor 
of hewn logs placed on that. It was covered over with a similar floor 
of hewn logs. There were two windows in it, about eighteen inches 
square. It was thought to be a very secure institution until it was put 
to the test. Hiram Hickman, who had considerable to do with running- 
it for several years, says that he never had any trouble in catching a 
horse thief, but the} 7 seldom had an}' trouble in clearing themselves 
without feeing a lawyer, for they were sure to dig out before the first 
day of the next term of court. This worthless old concern was re- 
moved in 1873. When the court-house burned it absolutely refused to 
follow suit. The new jail was built in 1874, and is large, well built, 
well ventilated and is a beautiful residence, having little about it to 
remind one of the uses to which it is put. It is built of Joliet stone 
and brick, and consists of two stories and basement. It has a front of 
forty-four feet on Vermilion street, and is one hundred and two feet 
deep, and cost $53,292. B. V. Enos, of Indianapolis, was architect. 
The building committee were the same as in the building of the court- 
house, J. G. Holden acting as chairman, and giving his best endeavors 
to the work of keeping everybody honest that had anything to do with it. 
None of the old settlers will ever forget the occasion of the first female 
prisoner being confined in the county jail. No provision had been 
made for female prisoners. The jail had but two apartments, one for 
criminals, and one for those who had been guilty of being in debt. 
When Mr. Dawson came here with the blooming, dashing woman he 
introduced here as his wife, and occupied a little cabin where the 
National Bank now stands, the citizens little thought that she would 
be the first woman to occupy that old log jail. She was a woman of 
more than ordinary intelligence, and her behavior was above reproach. 
Her wardrobe was of the most extensive nature, and costly beyond any 
thing known by the people hereabouts. Silk dresses in the most lavish 
profusion were to be seen, while Dawson, in the plain garb of a day 



310 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

laborer, seemed illy mated to the magnificent woman who bore the air 
and dress of one who had been brought up in almost regal wealth. She 
fairly dazzled the entire neighborhood. A year later there appeared 
a worn and "weary wanderer who said this woman was his wife, and 
that she had eloped with Dawson, and that he had been searching for 
her a year. He made the necessary affidavits, and the two were arrested 
and thrust into jail. Then all Danville wagged their heads. "I told 
you so," said the wise women, who seemed to rather delight in her 
misfortune, and the men who had bowed so obsequiously when she 
swept by, now just recollected that the} 7 "more than half suspected" 
all along that all was not right. It was then her woman's wits served 
her. Dawson got bail, and public sentiment began to turn in her favor. 
She had several consultations with her husband, and promised to return 
home with him if he would get her out of jail. To accomplish this, 
he went before another justice of the peace and made a counter affidavit, 
and then left suddenly, to prevent harsh treatment, which was pretty 
sure to follow if he remained here. As soon as she was liberated she 
joined Dawson in going west instead of returning to her persecutor. 

The war and the activity of travel incident upon it made a strong 
demand for more hotel room in Danville, and in 1865 M. M. Bedford 
built the north part of the present "^Etna House," and it became 
at once the popular resort for those whose business called them to the 
county seat. It was a large and magnificent building for the times, 
and, with the addition put on in 1873 by William Farmer and D. 
Gregg, is still the largest hotel in the city. It has a front of one 
hundred and twenty-five feet on Vermilion street and one hun- 
dred and thirty on North street; is three stories and basement, 
with seventy-six guests' rooms, and the entire block, including 
ground, has cost $62,000. William Farmer is proprietor. Messrs. 
Crane & Son and McCormack built the "Arlington Hotel " on Main 
street in 1875. It is 75x100, three stories high, having two stores 
besides the hotel office on the ground floor. It is a splendid building, 
and probably forms the neatest block in the city. It has fifty rooms. 
It is owned at present by J. M. Dougherty, of Fairmount, Mrs. Scott 
and C. R. Brown. White & Rick, who are in charge of it, have been 
for seven years in the hotel business in the city, having been five years 
in the "^Etna." Ed. Galligan built the " St. James," on Main street, 
three blocks east of the public square, in 1867, and in 1871 built the 
addition to it. It has two stores on the ground floor besides the office. 
It is the same size as the Arlington, and has forty-five rooms. F. B. 
Freese has conducted it ever since its occupancy. The Tremont, 
farther east on Main street, an elegant and tasty building, was put 



OANVILLK TOWNSHIP. 



3U 



up by Anselm Sieferman, at. a cost of over $10,000. It is 34x100, and 
is all occupied for hotel purposes, except the basement and two rooms 
on the ground floor, which are used as a cigar manufactory by the 
owner of the building. Tt is three high stories, besides the basement, 
and presents a fine architectural appearance on both fronts. It con- 
tains thirty-three guests' rooms. The Hesse House, on Hazel street, 
was built by Mr. Hommac, in 1874. It is four stories high, the two 
upper being thrown into one for a hall. It is a fine building, and cost 
$12,000. Hommac sold it to Hesse, who occupies it. The upper 
room is used by the military company for an armory. The " Sherman 
House." a three-storv brick, is east of the railroad. 



MILLS. 




CITY MILLS. 



The present importance of the milling business in Danville, being 
now second only to the mining interests, makes a study of its growth 
a matter of interest. So we inquire into all the little doings and wise 
sayings of the early days — the baby days — of those who have waxed 
great in public estimation or in wealth ; search out, as if it were 
of importance, every minute circumstance of his boyhood, if it is 
creditable, and drop into oblivion all which tends to show that he was 
not great, even in babyhood, and we build up wondrous heroes, with 
shining new hatchets, who can't tell a lie ; powerful heroes who, even 
before they are large enongh to wear boots, can ride any horse bare- 
back, or change the natural gait of a trotter into a smooth pacer. Then 
after we have told our children and grandchildren these beautiful stories 
about cherry trees and the rugged moral development of " Truthful 
James," some Parton is raised up to tell us that all these wondrous 
stories that we had " built our hopes upon " were fables, and our idols 



812 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

are dashed in pieces. The first mill built in this township, as far as the 
memory of those now accessible serves, was commenced by Bob Trickle, 
on the North Fork, near the lower end of Main street. He had not pro- 
gressed far toward completion before Solomon Gilbert purchased it, and 
it became known as Gilbert's mill. It was a log building, and the 
stones were cut out of such as could be found in the stream near 
by. This answered the purpose of the neighborhood very well for 
a time, but it could not be deemed a great success in a money-making 
point of view. Grain was very cheap, and the commissions on grind- 
ing were necessarily small. The bolting was done b}' hand at first, and 
was a very slow process, but gave work for the boys who needed some- 
thing to keep them out of mischief. The date of building does not 
seem to be well settled, but it must have been about 1828, and about 
two years later a saw-mill was attached. All these old saw-mills used 
the " gate-saw," which has never been seen by the younger readers. 
The saw was fixed into a frame, which was about eight feet high 
by six wide, made so strong that it would hold the saw firmly to 
the work, and so heavy that it moved up and down very leisurely, 
which gave rise to the expression that it would go up in the spring 
and come down with the fall freshets. It moved in. grooves cut in the 
upright timbers. Such an one would not be endured for a day now, 
but the men who were accustomed to run them could saw two thou- 
sand feet a day, and the writer well recollects hearing old sawyers tell 
of turning out twice that amount; but this latter story he attributes to 
the unfortunate habit which attaches to some elderly gentlemen of 
drawing rather strong on the resources of their early recollections. Of 
course about one thousand feet of lumber for a twelve hours' "trick " 
was very good work. The price for sawing was universally fifty cents 
per hundred feet, or a share, so that it will be seen that a saw-mill was 
about the best piece of property, financially speaking, which could be 
had in those days. It was better than a bank or county office — theo- 
retically, at least. 

Mr. Amos Williams, who held almost all the offices at that time, 
from postmaster to poundmaster, thought so, and concluded to own one. 
He bought or built one — most likely both — on the main stream, long 
known as Cotton's mill. The date of this has also faded from memory. 
Benjamin Brooks, the relic of Brooks' Point, says that he helped cut 
and put in the first dam here, which, as near as he can now remember, 
was forty-three years ago — 1836.* There is a pretty generally received 
opinion that the dam was built before that date, but Mr. Brooks can 
hardly be mistaken in regard to date, though there is a possibility 
of his having helped to build the second dam at that time. Mr. Will- 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 313 

iams, while reasonably successful in everything else, found his mill 
a heavy bill of expense, and so it continued to be as long as he 
continued to run it. After Mr. Williams' death, Mr. Cotton pur- 
chased and refitted it, and continued to run it and the carding 
machine until about 1867, when the building of the mills now in 
existence commenced, and he thought his water privilege more valu- 
able to him in another way. The fall was about six feet, and gave 
sufficient head for the modern wheels. He still keeps up the dam for 
its supply of ice. 

Robert Kirkpatrick built a water-mill on Stoney Creek, in 1835 — a 
saw-mill — and run it some years. 

Hale & Galusha built a saw-mill in 1836. Mr. Hale had come here 
with some considerable money ; in fact, was the first " capitalist " who 
came here, but he soon found ways to dispose of it. Besides the saw- 
mill, he entered a large amount of land, and the " revulsion " left him 
with nothing to pay taxes with. Had he been satisfied with half the 
amount of land, it would have made him immensely rich. He became 
soured and found fault with •' the way this government was run," and 
growled furiously at the "financial legislation " of the day, and wound 
up with endeavoring to get up a foray on Mexico — in all probability 
helped to carry on the war against that country to " extend the area of 
freedom. 1 ' 

In 1836 a company consisting of Thomas Willison, Thomas McKib- 
ben, J. H. Murphy and G. W. Cassady, and perhaps one or two 
others, built the first steam saw-mill on the river bottoms, just below 
the Wabash Railway bridge. The "panic' 1 struck it soon after, and it 
was allowed to go to decay ; even the logs which were drawn there to 
be sawed were permitted to rot on the yard. 

The Kyger mill is also historical in its remembrance and its associa- 
tions. Mr. William Sheets, one of the most honored and respected citi- 
zens of Georgetown, a gentleman whose name will be kindly remembered 
by many long after he shall have passed away, and Mr. Thomas Morgan 
built the first mill there in 1835. After Mr. Kyger came into posses- 
sion of it, he built a large frame and got in new machinery, but has 
never yet got it to running. There was a corn-cracker and distillery 
on Brady's Branch, built as early as 1833. The distillery made a very 
good article of whisky for those days; it would tangle a man's legs 
just as effectually as any of the later improved varieties. It would 
run about a barrel a day, which was deemed sufficient for the actual 
needs of the dwellers along Brady's Branch — that is, to keep them 
from suffering. Mr. Froman owned the distillery and Mr. Wm. M. 
Payne had charge of it. Froman built the first flat-boat that ever ran 



814 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

out of this county, in 1834, to carry his produce to New Orleans. Mr. 
Payne went down with the boat as supercargo. The trip proved 
a successful one, no disaster having overtaken the "gallant ship" in 
her cruise. As is well known to the general reader, this flat-boating 
was a very important industry in those early days. The man who had 
never run the river did not know much worth speaking of. He was 
not considered educated, not fit to run for office, was like his first pro- 
genitor in the Garden — did not know "good and evil." A "hard- 
shell" preacher once described New Orleans as a city where "honest 
men were scarcer than hens' teeth/ 1 where " corn was worth six bits a 
bushel one day and nary red the next." The boats upon which the 
produce of the country was borne to market were made on the streams 
here, and when unloaded were sold there, and the crew found their 
way back as best they could — on returning steamers, on foot or horse- 
back. One man "who was returning proposed to himself to purchase a 
pony which had been brought in from the western wilds. He bought the 
animal cheap, but it proved a dear bargain for the boatman. When out 
a day or two on his way home, the pony got loose from his fastening, 
and evaded every endeavor of his " master," so to speak, to catch him. 
After trying until he became thoroughly discouraged, he shouldered 
his wrath, his bundles and his saddle and started north. In this way 
he proceeded home, the pony keeping him compan}^ just far enough in 
the rear to keep out of his reach, still following "afar off." Leonard's 
mill was built about 1834, and Jenkins had one farther down stream, 
near the state line, which he continued to run until he went to Catlin 
and put a mill into the huge building which the citizens' there pre- 
sented to him. Henderson & Kyger put up the first steam grist-mill 
in 1854. The people had been going over to Indiana for their flour, 
and these gentlemen thought the time had come to make flour nearer 
home. Mr. M. M. Wright now owns the mill, and it is still in good 
running order. 

The "Amber Mill," near the Wabash depot, was built by Shella- 
berger & Bowers in 1866, at an original cost of $28,000. It was 
burned in 1874 and rebuilt in 1875, by Bowers <fc Co. It is now 
owned and run by D. Gregg. It is brick, three stories and basement, 
40x110, and has six run of stone. It was remodeled last winter by 
substituting the " new process," and is a first-class mill in all respects. 
Mr. Gregg is also largely engaged in buying and shipping grain. 
There are only three men now engaged in that business on the line of 
the Wabash railway who were in business when he commenced. The 
"Globe mill " is 40x80, and stands near the North Fork in the west- 
ern part of town. It was built by G. W. Knight in 1870. Smith & 



J)ANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 



315 



Giddings run it on custom and merchant work. It lias four run of 
stone, and has the "patent process" machinery. The "City mill," on 
Vermilion street, opposite the jail, was built by Samuel Bowers in 
1875 ; frame ; is sixty feet front on Vermilion street and fifty-five on 
South ; cost $20,000. It has four run, and is supplied with all the ap- 
pliances for a first-class merchant mill. It has a working capacity 
of five barrels per hour. The old Bushong distillery, in the east- 
ern part of town, began operations in 1859. With the coming of 
armed rebellion, the stern necessities of the government called for 
a tax on whisky, commencing at fifty cents per gallon and increas- 
ing till it reached two dollars. This last tax made and destroyed 




AM HE IS MHJi. 



vast fortunes. The men who were in the secret of the proposed 
advance made large sums by laying in large stocks, for it was decided 
not to increase the tax on that which was on hand ; others evaded the 
tax, so that while the tax was $2, whisky was selling on the market for 
from $1.90 down to $1.75 per gallon. Mr. Bushong was running from 
eighty to one hundred barrels per day, and had about one hundred 
head of cattle feeding, and all the hogs he could get. When the tax 
was raised to the highest point he discontinued business. The ma- 
chinery was taken to Chicago, where they had a process of making $2 
whisky and selling at $1.75, and the building was made into a mill 
with two run of stones. As now standing, the business amounts 
to twenty-two runs, all in active operations. 

The first distillery started here was by W. D. Palmer and Peleg 
Cole, on the Chicago road, a mile and a half north of town, in 1830. 
This was before the temperance cause was a pronounced success along 
the tributaries of the Wabash. It did not continue long. 



316 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

A few feet above the wagon bridge over the Vermilion between 
Danville and South Danville, lies a mill-stone which at stages of low 
water can be readily seen. Thousands of people have seen it, without 
knowing its history. It is popularly supposed to have floated out there 
at some time of high water, from Gilbert's mill, where for some years 
it did service in the manufacture of meal and flour. Its story is this: 
It was one of the first run of stones ever used for milling here, and 
was cut out of the boulders, usually called " nigger heads," to be put 
into the first mill built here. After due time, regular buhr stones were 
procured, and replaced the old ones. When this was done a rope ferry 
was still in use there, and there was a necessity of some staff or pole 
toward the center of the stream, to stay the river end of the boat while 
landing. It was not possible to plant such a staff firmly in the ground, 
for the waves or ice would be sure to remove it. By framing the staff 
into the hole in the stone, however, all these difficulties would be ob- 
viated ; and this plan M r as tried, which proved a great success. The 
Historical Society propose to secure the mill-stone as a relic. 

OTHER EARLY BLILDINGS. 

In 1827 George Haworth built a substantial log store on the corner 
where the " Ba tern an Corner" now stands. It was made of huge logs 
nicely hewn, and was two stories high, and took all the men in the 
country around to raise it. It was also provided with defensive port- 
holes above and below. In the eastern end of this formidable-looking 
''old barracks," — as the boys would call it now — Mr. Gurdon S. Hub- 
bard had his stock of goods for trade with the "poor Indian." Twenty- 
five years later, Adams & Co. built a two-story frame building on the 
site of this, which was soon after burned. Mr. Bateman was occupy- 
ing a portion of this building when it burned, and soon after bought 
the lot, and erected the present one-story brick building in 1855. From 
the time that Hubbard commenced there, more than fifty years ago, it 
has always been a favorite point for trade, and it is often a matter of 
wonder that a better block is not erected there ; but probably the owner 
is satisfied with the return which the property makes. 

About 1830, Dr. Fithian fitted up a handsome residence, with a 
"planed floor" of hard-wood lumber. Such an extravagance was un- 
known in Danville until that time. Puncheon floors were all the rage, 
and some evil genius or something else put it into the doctor's head to 
have a planed floor ; at least, so Harris McDonald thought before he 
got through with his first night's experience with " that floor." He 
coaxed the carpenter who was building the house to let the boys have 






DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 317 

just one dance on that floor before the latch string was turned over to 
the stern physician, who, in all probability, would veto any such irregu- 
lar demonstration. Harris was a natural leader, and having been the 
originator of the night's frolic, he insisted on leading in the first reel, 
this, notwithstanding there were several older men and older residents 
in the crowd, whom a just man would have given precedence to. It 
caused no little feeling, but he carried the point, and placed himself, in 
dress gorgeously got up for the occasion, at the head of the first figure. 
Tight breeches, with straps passing under the shoes, had just come into 
vogue, and Harris was the only one of the company who had the good 
fortune to have a pair for the occasion. He was on the top wave of 
internal ecstasy when the music struck up, and the fantastic toe tripped 
lightly in unison to its mazy strains. Happiness in great solid chunks 
beamed from his delighted countenance, as he chassed down the out- 
side, cutting enlarged pigeon-wings at every draw of the bow. No 
beau present "could hold a candle" to him, much less discount his 
graceful step. But, as if "pride must have a fall,'" as he attempted to 
bring up to a perpendicular at the toot of the set, he forgot, for the 
nonce, that he was on a new-fangled "planed floor," and his heels 
slipped out from under him, and he fell flat. He tried to recover his 
perpendicular, but the tight pants would not yield an inch and he was 
as helpless as a babe. After repeated trials, to the evident satisfaction 
of those w T ho had felt snubbed at his course in assuming the lead, some 
friend unbuttoned the straps of his pants, and two strong men tilted 
him up onto his feet again, and the dance went on. It was thought 
by his simple-hearted comrades that it was " a judgment on him " for 
his lamentable behavior in thus thrusting himself before his betters. 

Judge Samuel McRobberts, who came here as Receiver of the Land 
Office, built the house south of the square now occupied as a boarding 
house by Mr. Poddinger. The house was considered a very good one 
for its " day and age." The Judge had a fine pair of horses that he 
was sure could not be beat in Vermilion county; but they acquired 
the bad habit of getting into a neighbor's corn-field, and one of them 
was treated to a dose of salt from a shot gun — a remedy which, like 
many advertised at the present day, "proved so successful in its won- 
derful properties that unscrupulous persons have counterfeited it." The 
fact was, that the horse never heard a gun afterward, that he did not 
"run like a white-head," no matter who was driving; so that the Judge 
decided to adopt' the remedy of all respectable horsemen, and "get rid 
of that horse." 

The first frame building put up in Danville stands still on the cor- 
ner south of the public square and east of Vermilion street. It was 



:',1<S HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

built bv Mr. Hubbard for his trade. The lumber and timbers in it 
were sawed at Denmark saw-mill, and time has shown that it was very 
substantially built. Murphy & Cunningham, live merchants of that 
day, built a little log store south of the square and west of Vermilion 
street, where they kept a "small and select stock of staple dry goods 
and groceries" for a year, and then built a large two-story frame store 
in front of it, where Martin's block now stands, in 1829. This building 
was a good one for the Danville of those times. The upper story was 
used for various purposes. Occasionally a sermon was preached there 
by anvone who chanced to be here, and the attendance on such services 
was always good ; for, however the pioneer may have practically viewed 
the subject of personal religion, he always realized the stubborn fact 
that it is a good thing in a new settlement. 

D. W. Beckwith and James Clyinan had a small log store on Main 
street, opposite where Force's carriage factory now stands. The stocks 
of all these merchants were light at that time. There was, of course, 
only a limited trade; the people only being prepared to buy few, and 
those of the very commonest articles. People made their own candles, 
soap, cloth and shoes, and, in a great measure, their sugar, tea, medi- 
cines, hats, and numerous other articles; but they would at that time 
buy tobacco, axes, cutlery, tinware, and a few such things as they could 
not make at home. 

Few of the early comers staid more than a season or two, and pushed 
on further west or north. They were a class of minds who never find 
themselves satisfied with anything. Hunting and fishing were their 
principal employments, and their roving dispositions led them farther 
away from civilization. 

The first brick building built in Danville was the one which has 
recently been demolished to make room for A. L. Webster's spacious 
hardware store on Main street. McDonald & Roliston were engaged 
in the business of harness making, and occupied a small building be- 
longing to Dr. Fithian. In 1832 they got the contract for making the 
holsters for the rangers who were out on the war path. Their contract 
was for $3.50 per pair, and it looked like a pretty good thing. They 
desired to increase their facilities, and commenced to build this brick 
building for their shop. They dissolved partnership, however, before 
the building was completed, and the property fell into the hands of 
" Citizen Smith," as he was familiarly called, and he occupied it for a 
long time as a small retail establishment. He made a very popular 
article of beer, which he kept on draught, and when General James 
Shields was here, after his return from the Mexican war, it was a 
favorite resort for the veterans; though it is thought that Smith did 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 319 

not always just exactly relish the free and easy manners which Mexican 
experience had engendered in these warrior friends ; at least, a shade 
of countenance or mild shrug of shoulder seemed to cause that im- 
pression. 

The first carding machine was put into a large wooden building on 
the corner just north of the " .Etna House," by Nathaniel Beesley. 
He put in a large circular tread platform or "horse-power," which was 
propelled by a lively pair of oxen. Mr. Beesley was a preacher of the 
Baptist denomination, with strong antinomian or " hard-shell " lean- 
ings. He frequently went away Saturdays, taking his wife with him, 
to preach on the Sabbath. He invariably locked up his building before 
going away, so, as he used to tell the boys, they would not be tempted 
to break the Sabbath running his tread-mill for fun. While he held 
strongly to the doctrine that " what is to be will be," he seemed to 
have a nickering hope or fear, as it were, that if he locked up his mill, 
" what was to be wouldn't be." The boys never failed to pick the lock 
while the good man was gone, and run his tread-mill "for all there was 
in it." They " wanted to see the wheels go round." On one occasion, 
the largest boy in the crowd, who was "big enough and old enough and 
ought to have known better," got his boot caught in between the re- 
volving platform and the side of the building, and the united strength 
of the frightened youngsters failed to extricate either the foot or the 
boot. [n this predicament, brother Beesley returned home, full of 
wrath and righteous indignation at this shocking Sabbath breaking, 
and, but for the mediation of his good wife, would have given the 
youngsters an exemplification of Calvinistic retribution, as he under- 
stood and preached it, which would have been remembered by them 
until — the next good chance to break the Sabbath. 

That which is now known as the woolen-mill was first built by Mr. 
Carter as a carding-mill. The carding process was much more in 
demand at that early day, when all the farmers kept a few sheep 
and made their own cloth. The water to run it was collected from 
the springs along the bank and conducted by a dike and flume to 
the overshot wheel, and answered the purpose very well. About 
1850 Messrs. Hobson & Aylsworth bought the property and enlarged 
it, put in the present machinery and built the brick store. Riggs 
& Menig are the present proprietors. They run one set of machinery, 
employ about ten hands, and make a very excellent class of goods. 
The other woolen-mill is not now in running order. 

OTHER EARLY INCIDENTS. 

W. J. Reynolds, a gentleman of musical tastes, and who had re- 



320 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

ceived in Boston a thorough musical education, organized the first 
brass band in the state in 1847, although a reed band had been organ- 
ized a year previously. He maintained a band here for thirty years, 
except a short time during the war, when pretty nearly all those who 
were members of his band were in the service of their country. He 
devoted his time largely to music teaching, and during the war twenty 
bands of which he had been leader were in the service. He also or- 
ganized and directed the first choir in Danville. 

The first newspaper established here was in 1832. It was of demo- 
cratic persuasion. It was started by Mr. Williams and R. H. Bryant. 
They run it a few years and then Williams sold to Bryant. He then 
took in Loveless as a partner, and then sold to Delay. Bryant after- 
ward bought it back and removed it to Milwaukee, Wis. 

HANKS. 

The State Bank of Illinois was chartered in 1835, to answer a 
demand of the public for such banking facilities as in a new country 
like this might be considered reasonably safe. Its pattern was the 
Bank of the United States, and, like it, had various branches in differ- 
ent parts of the state. In 1836 Danville had become, at least in pros- 
pect, so important a town that it was deemed suitable that a branch 
should be started here. The United States Land Office was here, the 
Northern Cross Railroad had been commenced by the state, and busi- 
ness bid fair to be lively. Mr. Mordecai Mobley was sent here to 
make the first venture in banking, and rented the little building now 
standing south of the public square and east of Vermilion street. He 
was president, cashier, teller and clerk ; was a competent and safe busi- 
ness man, and conducted a safe and very good business. He built 
a stone vault outside the building, which encased his safe, and was the 
first to make a gratuitous distribution of bank-books among his de- 
positors. This began to look like business. This branch did not issue 
any bills, but paid out the paper of the parent bank. Everything went 
prosperousl}' until the crash of 183T disorganized all business and put 
an end to the profits of banking here and elsewhere. Mr. Mobley was 
a lover of good horses and of hunting, and getting a good team 
he devoted much of his time, after business became dull, in the sport, 
sufficient provocation for which existed all around the bush. One 
morning he and his Danville branch of the great State Bank of Illi- 
nois, his family, team and all and singular the various "assets" there- 
unto pertaining were " found missing," to use a term which, notwith- 
standing its significance, was becoming alarmingly common at that 
time. But the singular thing about all this was that nobody lost any- 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 321 

thing' by it. It is probably the only case on record where a banker ran 
away "between two days" without defrauding anybody. The explana- 
tion of it is that he supposed that if it should become known that a re- 
moval of the bank was contemplated, measures would probably have 
been taken to prevent it, and that a removal could be made safer 
if secretly done, than if it had been noised abroad through the country 
that he was about to transfer his property. 

The next bank was started by an eastern man by the name of 
Cullum, in 1852. It was what was known as a stock security bank — 
that is, a certain portion of his capital was invested in state stocks, 
usually in the stocks of Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and other 
southern states. The state of Illinois being bankrupt, not having paid 
even the interest on its debt for fifteen years, her bonds were not con- 
sidered bankable, and other bonds were sought after. Eastern state 
stocks could not be purchased, hence when a bank was started southern 
state stocks were of necessity taken. When the rebellion occurred, of 
course it became impossible for such states to pay their bonds or the 
interest on them, and it is believed that every bank which was estab- 
lished on this system, which had not previously failed, succumbed. 
While it was in one sense the fault of the system, it is proper to say 
that, in its day, it seemed like a safe and wise plan. Mr. Guy Merrill 
was appointed cashier of this bank, and it had quarters in the old frame 
building which stood then where Adams' block now stands. It had a 
capital of $50,000. Later it removed to a building opposite the Mc- 
Cormack House, which was then the center of business. This was run 
successfull} 7 for three years, when it was sold to Daniel Clapp, who had 
neither the requisite capital or experience for safe business, and in 
1856 he failed. As soon as he failed brokers all over the country stood 
ready to buy his bills for from fifty cents to seventy -five cents on the 
dollar. Messrs. Tincher & English, who had until that time carried on 
a large and growing business, were his assignees, and after closing up 
his business opened a private bank. They were men of large experi- 
ence in this vicinity, of sufficient capital for the then state of trade, safe 
and judicious, and, above all, enjoyed the full confidence of every per- 
son in the county. Their record since can be summed up in a few 
words: Commencing as a private institution in 1856, they successfully 
weathered the financial storm of 1857, made the first application which 
was received at Washington for a charter under the national bank act 
of 1864, in 1872 increased the capital to $150,000, went through the 
"panic" of 1873 without difficulty, and stand to-day a safe and secure 
institution. Mr. John L. Tincher, the head of the firm, was a man of 
rare qualities. With not many of the advantages of early education and 
21 



322 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

culture, he grew steadily to a business man of first-class ability. During 
all of the latter years of his life, after he had become so established in 
his business relations that he could devote the time to the affairs of 
state, he served his county and district in public as faithfully, honestly 
and prudently as he had previously himself in business. He was 
elected to the state senate in 1866, to the constitutional convention in 
1&69 ; again to the senate in 1870, and died at Springfield during the 
early part of the following session, a victim to the exacting labors 
which an honest devotion to duty there calls for. There are few men, 
if any, in Vermilion county who have left behind them a name more 
honored or a reputation so unsullied. Taken away in the prime 
of life, his death was mourned as a public loss. 

The real estate firm of Short & Wright commenced banking in con- 
nection with its business about 1865. In 1867 Mr. Abraham Sandusky 
and Andrew Gundy became partners of Mr. J. C. Short, and continued 
the business under the style of the " Exchange Bank of J. C. Short & 
Co." This firm was, under Mr. Short's lead, largely engaged in plans 
for the development of the great coal interests here, and engaged 
largely in building railroads, which at that time bid fair to be largely 
remunerative, not merely to themselves, but greatly to the advantage 
of the community. That the plan should have proved a failure is not 
surprising; neither should the plan itself be deemed rash. There was 
every reason to believe that with the increased market which these 
new railroads would supply, the coal beds lying west of Danville 
would become very remunerative, and doubtless they will yet become 
so. When the Exchange bank failed, the " Danville Banking and 
Trust Company" was organized upon its ruins. This was of short 
duration, however, and very soon closed. 

In 1873 W. P. & J. G. Cannon formed a partnership under the 
name and style of the Vermilion County Bank, with a capital of 
$100,000, and are carrying on a successful business. The junior mem- 
ber of the firm is now, and has been for several years, the representa- 
tive in congress from this district. There seems to have been a pre- 
disposition on the part of Vermilion county to put their bankers into 
legislative work. Besides Mr. Cannon's congressional service and Mr. 
Tincher's two terms in the state senate and seat in the constitutional 
convention, Mr. Short was a member of the house and of the state sen- 
ate, and his partner in the Exchange bank, Mr. Gundy, served as 
a member of the house. 

LATER BUILDINGS. 

In addition to the buildings spoken of, there are in Danville many 
which attract notice. The North-street Methodist church, by the taste 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 323 

shown by its designer and builder, Mr. Smith, — now deceased, — by 
the nice proportions of its building and spire, delights the eye more 
than by any elegance which it may have. The Presbyterian church is 
a substantial and plain edifice, without being extravagant, or ont of 
proportions with the general unassuming character of the buildings of 
the city. The citizens of Danville have almost universally been for- 
tunate in not spreading out beyond their means in vain attempts at 
rivalry in building. The Kimler church, in the northwestern portion 
of the city, is a comfortable though not elegant edifice. The residence 
of the late Hon. J. L. Tincher, with its ample grounds beautifully 
displa} 7 ed with those things which make any home delightful, is one of 
the pleasantest in the city. Hon. J. G. English has a large and pleas- 
ant residence on Pine street, where it is easy to imagine the comfort 
he may enjoy after the busy hours are over. The fine residence of Mr. 
Blackburn, which was built by Mr. Townsend in 1874 and 1877, aside 
from its evident appearance of city airs, is one of the beauties of archi- 
tecture within and without, replete with evidences of elegant taste and 
home-like comfort. L. T. Palmer has a large and roomy home, which 
presents an air of pleasant " old homestead " life which time only can 
give to any edifice ; and near by, his son-in-law, A. C. Daniel, has 
one in which it seems that a man of moderate means and home-like 
tastes, might enjoy the hours which are snatched from exacting busi- 
ness pursuits. That old pioneer, Dr. Fithian, who has seen a good 
many houses and other things " go up " in Danville, has a comforta- 
ble and pleasant residence; and Mr. Reason Hooton, whose life runs 
nearly parallel, has a good home over east of town. The residence 
built by Mr. Short is also a very good one. 

The Vermilion Opera House on the corner of North and Vermilion, 
was erected by Messrs. English, Chandler and Dale, in 1873. It is a 
substantial brick building, with Milwaukee brick trimmings, 50x110, 
with two fine stores on the ground floor, and above, one of the largest 
halls in the state. Cost $20,000. Giddings' carriage factory on Hazel 
street, built in 1874, is of brick, 25x150, three stories high. It is one 
of the most substantial buildings in town, and constructed for manu- 
facturing purposes. Cost $9,000. Turner hall, on the east side, is a 
neat brick building, 24x80, built in 1875. The organ factory of 
Miller & Son is a two-story building, 30x78, built in 1875. 

John Stein built the City Brewery in 1876. It is 60x74, brick, 
and has a capacity of 400 barrels per month. With its grounds and 
buildings it has cost $8,000. 

The Illinois Printing Company's building, built in 1875, is two 



324 H1ST0KY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

stories and basement, brick, 48x100, and was erected expressly for the 
large and varied business of the company. 

Frazier block, corner of Main and Hazel, 48x85, two stories and 
basement, brick with cut-stone trimmings, was built in 1876 by Capt. 
Frazier, and is occupied by stores and offices. The Lincoln Hall block 
is older, and was built for stores below and offices in second story and 
hall in the third story. E. B. v Martin & Co. put up the block south of 
the square and west of Vermilion street, in 1875. It is 50X80, brick, 
three stories high, and occupied by stores and offices. The Giddings' 
block on Main street, east of the public square, was one of the earliest 
good business blocks. 

The Metropolitan block, built by Williams *k Coffeen, was built 
about 1873, is two stories and basement, and is a well-built business 
house. The National Bank block is one of the finest, architecturally, 
in the city. Leseurs 1 block and Myers' block just west of the bank 
building, and Short's block and the marble-front block across Main 
street, are all first-class buildings; this latter is a fine three-story and 
basement, with iron and stone front, and in its building no expense 
was spared to make as solid and substantial building as the best mate- 
rial could make. It is owned by Mrs. Eva C. Schmit and Mr. Bier, 
and cost upward of $30,000. 

A. L. Webster built, during the past year, the fine large brick store, 
37x80, which is occupied by Giddings tfc Patterson for their iron 
trade. It was built expressly for their use, is two stories and base- 
ment, and is all occupied by this firm. 

The Union Depot building, at the junction in the northeast part of 
the city, is one of the prominent buildings. It was built to accommo- 
date the traveling public, as all the railroads which enter the city cross 
there. It is three stories, the first being devoted to the offices of the 
company, and waiting-rooms; the upper ones to rooms for guests. It 
is a fine building, and pleasanth 7 arranged. 

POST-OFFICE. 

Amos Williams,- a gentleman whose superiority as an official is 
recognized by every one who has ever looked into the records of the 
county offices, was the first postmaster at Danville. He kept the office 
at his residence in the south part of the town, south of the McCormack 
House. Mails were received twice a week from Vincennes and twice 
a week from the east. The mail route south went from here to George- 
town, thence west to a post-office that was kept for a while where Mr. 
Josiah Sandusky resides ; thence on to Paris, in Edgar county. When 
a change in administration called for a change in postmaster in Dan- 



DA N'VILLE TOWNSHIP. 325 

ville (for in those "good old times" civil service reform had not become 
a party watchword), Col. T. R. Moore was appointed, and removed the 
office to a store on Main street, west of Smith's block. Josiah Alex- 
ander was postmaster for a while, and then Col. Othniel Gilbert was 
appointed, and removed it to the Pennsylvania House. There was a 
gentleman boarding there who seemed to have no very important busi- 
ness here ; but he had access to the mails. Mr. Cassad} r mailed $1,000 
to a firm in Cincinnati with whom he was transacting some land busi- 
ness. It never reached its destination, and the genteel boarder leaving 
soon after that, suspicion attached to him ; but he was never traced. 
Alexander Chesley was next appointed, and took the office to a little 
building which stood where Captain Frazier's block now is. After him 
H. G. Boise was appointed, and removed it to the building which has 
recently been moved back from Main street to make room for Webster's 
building. While there it was robbed of several small sums, and the 
depredator was discovered by means of decoy letters and sent to the 
penitentiary. In 1861 Rev. E. Kingsbury was appointed postmaster, 
and the office was removed to the old Presbyterian Church building, 
and another robbery followed. A man by the name of Smith, who 
was a music teacher, and who was generally respected in the community, 
was trusted by Mr. Kingsbury to help in the office ; but he had not 
honesty sufficiently developed in his phrenological make up to with- 
stand temptation, and went to stealing. Suspicion turned so strong 
toward him that Dr. Fithian and Mr. Kingsbury took him one side 
and asked to search him, and found some of the missing property in 
his boots. He was put under arrest, but was bailed out and left the 
country. He was found, however, in Iowa, and had become quite a 
noted personage there. He was engaged in teaching a singing school, 
and the ladies had such faith in his honesty that they followed him to 
the train and cried after him. He was convicted and sent to the peni- 
tentiary. William Morgan succeeded Mr. Kingsbury. He had the 
office on the south side of the public square. Col. McKibben followed 
him, and died while in office. He kept it in a store near the .Etna 
House. Samuel Fairchild was next, and then C. W. Gregory. 

MERCANTILE. 

G. S. Hubbard was the first to open mercantile business here. He 
was an Indian-trader, and his business as such was very large. N. D. 
Palmer was a partner of his. They often had two or three clerks em- 
ployed. The furs which the Indians brought in needed a considerable 
labor. It was necessary to sort and pack the furs, and overhaul them 
frequently. I). W. Beckwith and James Clynian were early in the 



326 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

business ; then came Murphy & Cunningham, the latter of whom is 
still residing in Danville, and is the oldest business man residing here. 
Georae Scarborough & Bro. were here in trade in 1831. Soon after 
then Dr. Fithian engaged in trade. He is still living, and has been 
one of the most important factors in the history of the town. Soon 
after this J. B. Williams & Co., I. R. Moore, Samuel Russell & Bro. 
and Galueha & Cole engaged in mercantile trade. W. H. Wells en- 
gaged in trade here, made a fortune, went to New York City and 
loaned his money in this country. Palmer & Leveridge carried on a 
large business and were prosperous. N. D. Palmer was school com- 
missioner and judge of probate. V. & P. Leseure commenced business 
and are still here. Frazier & Gessey engaged in trade, and about the 
same time Tincher & English commenced a prosperous business. James 
Whitcom, Drs. Palmer & Son and E. P. Martin & Hesse engaged in 
trade. 

Wm. Bandy & Son opened up trade. Mr. Bandy had been here 
almost from the very first, and had been engaged in nearly every line 
of business, and had known nearly every person who had ever lived 
here. Though not now by any means an old man, he has been more 
or less actively engaged in business since 1828, and has seen the town 
grow " from the stump." Among the names that follow after this the 
following will be recognized : Craig & Crane, Dr. Woodbury, Charley 
Palmer, Levi Klein, Joseph Peters, Yates & Murphy, A. G. Leverton 
and Short & Bro. There are now in the leading lines of trade nine 
dry goods firms, twelve clothing and tailoring, eight hardware and im- 
plement firms, two harnessmakers, two furniture firms, five booksellers, 
three drug stores, eight hotels, five milliners, and upward of thirty 
firms engaged in the sale of groceries, provisions and fruit. 

The earliest settlers came mostly from the southern states and Ohio, 
few from New England and New York. Later, of those who are of 
foreign birth the Germans predominate. They enter into every line 
of business and labor. Those of Irish birth come next ; then Belgians, 
Welsh, Swedes and English, in the order named. 

SCHOOLS. 

The first school, so far as the writer has been able to ascertain the 
facts, was taught in a log house which appears to have been put up for 
this purpose, standing on the ground where Wright's mill stands. It 
was built of huge burr-oak logs, which were fully two feet in diameter, 
and the ends were left sticking out without being sawn off, with clap- 
board roof and puncheon floor. It was rough to outward appearance and 
had little to change that appearance inside. With the rudest benches, 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 327 

its walls devoid of anything which would give beauty or help in edu- 
cation, it had more the appearance of a prison than a modern school- 
house. Maps, charts, blackboards and desks were unknown to the 
first generation of Danville children, but it was determined that the 
children should not freeze to death at any rate. The huge fireplace 
extended nearly across the room. It was a peculiar institution in its 
way ; instead of the chimney beginning at the ground, strong braces 
extended from the wall near the floor out into the room and upward, 
and upon these for a k 'sure foundation" the chimney was constructed. 
It was not less than six feet wide, and large enough to hoist a good- 
sized dry-goods box up through it. The fire was built under this, and 
the first duty of the accomplished teacher was to teach the smoke to 
go up through this clumsy chimney. The smoke was not at first 
as prone to ascend as the sparks are to fly upward, but after a little it 
would make its way out. The wood did not need to be cut up for this 
fire-place ; anything short of " sled-length " would do very well, and 
after it was once burned in two in the middle the ends were rolled 
around into position for burning. This educational beginning must 
have been about 1830. The teacher was Mr. Clark, who, though 
he did not have to furnish a certificate, was a very successful and ac- 
complished teacher. After teaching very acceptably for a time he en- 
gaged in the tanning business, and soon after died. After this a house 
was built near where the planing-mill now stands, which was used as a 
school-house and meeting-house. Here several teachers whose names 
ought to be remembered conducted the school. 

A charter was granted incorporating the Danville Academy, a stock 
company, in 1836. By its terms every " free white person " was en- 
titled to subscribe for the stock, and every subscriber entitled to a 
year's tuition for each share. No permanent organization was per- 
fected, however. Mrs. Cromwell was a successful school-teacher here 
at an early day, and several others engaged in teaching private schools 
up to 1850. The first school taught in the southwestern part of the 
township, at Payne's Point, was by fm. M. Payne, who, from that 
time to the present, has been one of the most enterprising and public- 
spirited men in the county. He has frequently been intrusted with 
the public affairs of the town, and served one term as sheriff. 

In 1850 the Danville Seminary was incorporated under the pro- 
visions of the law which was passed by the legislature in 1849, per- 
mitting citizens to become incorporated for the purpose of establishing 
and conducting institutions of learning. The plan originated with the 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and their articles of in- 
corporation provided that a majority of the trustees should be mem- 



328 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

bers of that church, and the teachers should be appointed by its au- 
thority. The first trustees were Eli Helmick, Benjamin Stewart, E. F. 
Palmer, Daniel Fairchild, James Partlow, James Dennison and J. H. 
Gilbert. They purchased two acres of land just north of the west end 
of Main street, and erected a two-story brick building, about 35x65, and 
employed (). S. Munsell as principal. This act, which was really the 
first organized effort to provide a suitable school for Danville, gave 
rise to a bitter controversy from its sectarian organization, which re- 
sulted in a sharp, closely-contested slander suit between two of the 
prominent citizens of Danville. The school prospered notwithstand- 
ing all this, and was a source of great advantage to the town. A cata- 
logue of the year 1852-3, which has been preserved by a pupil of that 
time, shows that in that year Rev. O. S. Munsell was principal and 
Mrs. Munsell, C. W. Jerome, Miss Sarah Whip and Miss Ellen Green 
were teachers. The roll of pupils numbered 206, and includes many 
names which have since become very familiar in the business and social 
circles of the county. Two courses of study were laid down — classical 
and scientific — which embraced all the studies of higher academic edu- 
cation. The seminary was conducted in a very successful and satisfac- 
tory manner for twelve years, when by common consent it became 
merged in the common schools and the building was used for several 
vears for such purposes, the corporation still continuing to control the 
property and drawing rent therefor. Another law-suit has grown out 
of this, having for its object a testing of the legal right of such a corpo- 
ration to continue and to hold property for the purposes it now does. 
However people may, from the accident of their differing standpoint, 
view the propriety or legality of certain things which have occurred in 
connection with the history of the seminary, or however much some 
things may have been and still are regretted, there are no two opinions 
in regard to the grand educational results of the noble institution and 
the faithful labors of Messrs. Helmic, Fairchild and others of the board 
of trust. The corporation may be faulty in its legal essence, but the 
school itself was, at a time when no other first-class institution of learn- 
ing was or could be established, the outgrowth of sheer necessity — was 
established for a just and noble purpose, and its results have justified 
their judgment and their acts. Prof. Aaron Wood, Prof. P. B. Ham- 
mond, Mr. McNutt and J. L. Dickinson followed Dr. Munsell as prin- 
cipals of this school. 

The contests which the denominational character of the organization 
engendered resulted in the establishment of a rival, or, perhaps, rather 
of another seminary, by citizens who were not members of the church 
which controlled the first. Union Seminary, a joint-stock company, 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 



329 



was organized March 15, 1851. The trustees were L. T. Palmer, J. 
A. D. Sconce, S. G. Craig, Gny Merrill and Hamilton White. They 
secured proper grounds (about three acres) in the northern part of 
town and erected a good building on it, and conducted a school until 
1862. This seminary was, like the other, very successful in its day. 
All the branches usually taught in high schools and academies were 
conducted, and a very satisfactory standard of education was main- 
tained. Indeed, it is probable that the rivalry between the two tended 
to make the instruction in both more thorough and efficient. In the 
year 1862 the common-school system was for the first time adopted in 
this city. A levy of a state tax which was to be paid to each district 
in proportion to the number of pupils which attended the district 
school, drove all districts into supporting schools. It was well known 
that the seminaries could not be maintained in opposition to free 
schools. Both buildings were rented to the school directors, and Mr. 

J. L. Dickinson, who had conducted the 
seminary the preceding year, was employed 
by the district and remained principal with 
nine assistants. The following year Mr. 
Spillman was employed, and during his ad- 
ministration a new building was erected 
on the ground which the high-school build- 
ing stands on. The district was increased 
in bounds by taking in territory, and 
another school building was added there- 
Mr. Spillman was in charge four years' 
and during his service the schools steadily grew, not merely in num- 
bers, but in usefulness. He was a strict disciplinarian and a very 
successful educator. He died here in 1867, just as he was about to 
commence another year's labors. 

Mr. D. I). Evans taught for a short time, after which Mr. J. G. 
Shedd, the present successful superintendent, was employed as princi- 
pal, after which Mr. Parker, of Chicago, served the district two years, 
and C. M. Taylor one, when Mr. Shedd returned, and has acted as 
superintendent since 1877. 

Mr. Shedd was born in Madison county, Ohio, June 23, 1842, and 
is a son of the Rev. Henry Shedd, a native of New Hampshire, and a 
minister of the Presbyterian denomination ; his mother, Lucretia 
(George) Shedd, is also a native of New Hampshire. Mr. Shedd 
graduated in 1865 from the Western Reserve College, of Hudson, 
Ohio, which at that time was a very prominent institution of learning. 
He was then engaged as teacher in an academy in Warren county. 




330 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Ohio. Thence he removed to Chicago, where he was connected with 
a private school. In 1868 he came to Danville, 111., and the following 
year he connected himself with the public schools of the city, remain- 
ing until 1874. He then v T ent to Macomb, McDonongh county, 111., 
where he took charge of the public school, and remained about two 
years, after which he returned to Danville, in 1877, and was made 
superintendent of public schools, which position he now fills. 

The rapid increase in population within the past eight years has 
called for an enormous increase in the cost of the schools, in building 
and furnishing new buildings, and annually an increase of teachers. 
Four new buildings have been erected. The high-school building and 
the new building east of the railroad are splendid structures for the 
purposes for which they were built. The schools are divided into high 
school (4 rooms), grammar school (8 rooms), primary (18 rooms) ; total, 
30. The number of teachers employed in the different buildings is: 
high-school building, 15; East Danville building, 8; South Danville, 
3 ; Tincher school, 3 ; Backbone, 1 ; total, 30. The whole number of 
pupils enrolled in the different departments is: high school, 102; 
grammar department, 411 ; primary, 1,273 ; ungraded school, 38 ; total, 
1,824. Average daily attendants, 1,152 ; total cost for each pupil en- 
rolled per annum, $10.42 ; number of children of school age in the 
district, 2,579 ; number of months school, 9 ; number of private schools 
in the district, 3 ; number of pupils reported in attendance on private 
schools, 317 ; number of teachers employed in such, 6 ; total number 
of teachers employed, 36; total number of children in schools, 2,141. 

In the general management of the schools care has been taken not 
to let thorough scholarship be forgotten in form or in fact. Here, 
within these walls, under the care of the superintendent, are nearly two 
thousand children, whose daily business is study. Those parents who 
make it a care to look after the way their children are being controlled 
and educated are not by an}' means numerous. The labor and responsi- 
bility rests mostly on the superintendent and the teachers under him. 
Cases are not rare where parents find the end of their resources and 
patience in the care of one or two children at home, and feel thoroughly 
glad when school days come around, that their charges may be off their 
hands. A close inspection magnifies the work which is being done in 
these schools. Written examinations are held in all the grades above 
third each month, and it has not been thought best to complicate this 
work with term examinations. 

M. A. Lapham is principal of the high school, D. S. Pheneger of 
the east school, L. P. Norvell of the south, and Miss Kate Tennery of 
the Tincher school. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 331 

The first graduates from the high school were in the year 1872. 
The number graduating each year has been : In 1872, three; in 1873, 
six; in 1874, seven ; in 1875, two; in 1876, seven ; in 1877, eight; in 
1878, four; in 1879, ten; total in eight years, forty-seven. The value 
of school property now belonging to the district is $50,000 ; private 
school property, $15,000. 

The entire course embraces twelve years, six of which comprise the 
primary, two the grammar and four the high-school courses. The latter 
of these embraces algebra, physical geography, zoology, analysis, phil- 
osophy, "botany, chemistry, physiology, geometry, English literature, 
trigonometry, astronomy, science of wealth, civil government and his- 
tory, to which are added in the classical course Latin and Greek. 

Though commencing at a later day than most of the cities of the 
state to develop a common school system, the citizens who have had 
the charge of the matter have been faithful and progressive, and the 
schools are to-day^ the pride of the city. 

PRIVATE SCHOOLS. 

Prof. E. Chilcoate, a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University, 
occupies the building of the Danville Seminary, for conducting the 
Danville Normal and Academic Institute. The course of study in- 
cludes the higher branches usually taught in such institutes, to which 
music and drawing have been added. Prof. Yandersteen lias charge of 
vocal and instrumental music. 

The 'German Lutheran school is conducted under the authority of 
the church and congregation, and is under the charge of Prof. G. A. 
Alberns and an assistant. The school is kept up under the rule of the 
church in conformity to the old country doctrine that religious instruc- 
tion is a legitimate portion of school education ; in fact, that the first 
duty to the child is instruction in the religious doctrines of the church. 
The rule of the church does not require members of the congregation 
to send their children to this school, but it does require them to sup- 
port the school. The average attendance upon this school, which is 
carried on in a building adjoining the church, is about two hundred. 
The teacher is appointed by the congregation, and he must report to 
that body. The expense is annually about $1,000, and is borne largely 
by those who pay considerable taxes to support the public schools. All 
the English branches are taught in English, and reading, spelling and 
writing in German. The school is too crowded to be as prosperous as 
it otherwise would be. It has been in existence twelve years. 

The German Catholic school has its location upon the east side of 
the railroad, and is supported by the church. The teacher is appointed 



332 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

by the bishop of this diocese. It has been irregularly conducted for 
several years, that is, at irregular times, in consequence of this church 
being frequently left without a priest in charge. The large increase of 
German Catholic societies in this country renders frequent vacancies in 
the smaller churches necessary. The school building is 32x44, and 
the average attendance about fifty. It is under the charge of L. Hahn, 
who was educated at Aix La Chapel le, Germany. The primary 
branches are taught in the English language, reading in both languages. 
Religious instruction in catechism and the duties to the church are 
obligatory. Prof. Hahn is an accomplished teacher, and is making a 
good impression on the school and community. He has taught two 
years. Singing is always taught, Mohr's Cantata being used as the 
singing book. 

ORGANIZATIONS. 

The County Historical Society was organized under the general 
law for such associations, October 23, 1877, having for its laudable ob- 
jects " to collect and preserve samples of the agricultural, pomological, 
mineralogical, geological and other products of the county ; also de- 
scriptions and pedigrees of the blooded stock, specimens of birds, fishes, 
insects, fossils and archeology ; and also to collect and preserve a library 
of historical, scientific and miscellaneous books, periodicals, pamphlets 
and manuscripts, to be examined, used and preserved under such rules 
and regulations as the society may adopt." Hiram W. Beckwith, W. 
It. Jewell and J. C. Winslow were selected as managers the first year. 
The board of supervisors gave the society the occupancy of the two 
southwestern rooms in the second stoiy of the court-house, and Mr. 
Winslow, curator, has made considerable progress in securing and 
arranging collections. Active, working standing committees were 
appointed on the following branches of the work of the society: 
1st, lectures ; 2d, library ; 3d, botany, zoology and archeology ; 4th, 
geology and mineralogy ; 5th, agricultural products. 

The by-laws provide that an initiatory fee of $5 shall be paid 
on becoming members, and that the ladies of the families of mem- 
bers shall be entitled to all the rights of membership. The officers 
are J. G. English, president ; W. P. Chandler, vice-president ; H. A. 
Coffeen, secretary; E. D. Steen, treasurer; J. C. "Winslow, curator; 
II . W. Beckwith, W. P. Jewell and C. M. Taylor, managers. Several 
cases have already been filled with books and articles which come un- 
der the various heads of their preserving care, Indian relics, antiquities 
and interesting articles of merit. 

Vermilion county is exceedingly prolific of things which will yet be 
found in the historical and antiquarian archives of this young society. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. :V.\:\ 

The faces of men who have been prominent in her political, busi- 
ness or religious history would of themselves form a most interesting 
gallery. Early copies of newspapers, catalogues, sketches of the old build- 
ings which are now fast passing away, and hundreds of other interest- 
ing things. The researches which have been made in collecting the 
material for this " History of Vermilion County " have brought to 
light many interesting things which may be made useful in enriching 
the material of this society, and even the defects which may be found 
to exist in it may be made available, in so far as they may call atten- 
tion to certain corrections and additions necessary to perfect history. 

The Danville Lyceum was organized July 4, 1878. Its objects 
are the mutual improvement of its members in literature and debate. 
It numbers forty members, and has the nucleus of a library. They 
hope to succeed in securing the benefit of the bequest of James M. 
Culbertson, who left at his death $2,000 to be expended in the purchase 
of a library, one half of which should be for the permanent benefit of 
the Presbyterian Church, of which body he had long been an honored 
member and officer, the other half should go into a public library 
whenever an equal amount should be raised for that purpose. The 
books were purchased by a committee chosen under the provisions of 
the bequest, and are now in the library room of the church, where 
they are practically free to all. The laudable object of the donor seems 
now to be in a fair way of being accomplished through the Lyceum. 
The meetings are held weekly. The officers are: J. I). Benedict, 
president; W. L. French, vice-president; W. C. Johnson, secretary; 
A. Sommers, treasurer ; W. Heater, marshal ; G. W. Why te, librarian ; 
W. J. Calhoun, J. D. Benedict, J. B. Samuels, P. E. Northrup, J. W. 
Whyte, directors. 

Hacker's Band was organized in 1878, and is composed of the fol- 
lowing members and pieces: F. C. Hacker, leader; A.Watson, drum- 
major ; A. Hutter, E-flat clarionet ; S. Reams, E-flat cornet ; Joseph 
McAlefee, B-flat cornet; Charles Hacker, B-flat clarionet; Charles 
Poke, solo alto ; Charles Leverence, first alto ; Christian Leverence, 
tenor ; John Lewis, baritone ; John Anders, B-flat bass ; Theodore 
Poll, tuba ; C. M. Colter, tenor drum ; Christian Evert, bass drum. 

The Danville Orchestra is composed of the following: V. ( '. 
Hacker, leader; A. Watson, flute; A. Hutter, clarionet; John Lewis, 
violin ; S. Beams, violin, and Joseph McAlefee, bass viol. 

The County Agricultural Society was organized at Danville in 1852. 
After its second fair it located grounds at Catlin, and a history of it will 
be found in the sketch of that township. Hon. J. H. Oak wood has been 
from the first one of its most determined and energetic promoters. 



334 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

The Farmers and Mechanics' Institute was organized at Danville in 
1859, and has held annual fairs since. Their grounds are adjacent to 
the city limits on the north, where they have sixteen acres, which 
are beautifully shaded and supplied with comfortable buildings, amphi- 
theater, floral hall, etc. The principal features of their annual fairs 
have been the mechanical displays and the large show of blooded stock 
which have been drawn by the liberal premiums offered. L. T. Dick- 
ason, president; James Knight, vice-president; W. M. Bandy, secre- 
tary ; W. S. McClenathan, assistant secretary ; V. Leseure, treasurer. 
This society has always been prosperous in its management, and like 
the regular county society seems to merit public approbation. 

The Moss Bank park was laid out by Hon. John C. Short, when he 
was proprietor of the property west of town. About eighty acres was 
laid out in drives and walks, the proprietor intending to make it 
a pleasant place for spending a shady hour, or a retreat from the dusty 
streets of Danville. It abounds in shade, and by nature is beautifully 
situated for such a purpose. 

MILITIA. 

Battery " A," First Regiment Illinois National Guards, was first 
organized in 1875. Captain, Scott; first lieutenant, A. P. Matthews; 
second lieutenant, E. Winter. It was reorganized March 17, 1876. 
Captain, E. Winter ; first lieutenant, J. G. Field ; second lieutenant, 
S. W. Denny ; first sergeant, H. J. Hall ; quartermaster's sergeant, 
W. W. Woodbury; commissary sergeant, C. D. Eoff; first duty ser- 
geant, J. Haptenstall ; second, S. Thompson; third, Wm. Cummings. 
It numbers fifty-three men, rank and file; is supplied with two ten- 
pound Parrott guns, and with the United States regulation uniform. 
Its armory is in Bier's hall. 

" The Danville Guards " was organized February, 1876. Captain, 
L. T. Dickason ; first lieutenant, Edgar C. Dodge; second lieutenant, 
J. D. Benedict ; first sergeant, Jacob Goth ; second sergeant, L. D. 
Gass ; third sergeant, A. C. Bristow ; fourth sergeant, James Pate ; 
fifth sergeant, J. D. Harrison. The company is the only organized 
militia company in the county. It numbers thirty-seven men, and 
is equipped and uniformed. Its armory is Hesse's hall. 

COAL. 

The coal interest has, since the railroads have opened up a market 
for it, proved one of the most important to the county. Though 
largely belonging to, so far as its locality is concerned, Danville town- 
ship, it appertains in a more general way to the county. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 335 

It is a singular arrangement of nature, of which no very satisfactory 
explanation has } r et been given, that coal is generally only found along 
timber belts, or in close proximity to the streams which are an accom- 
paniment of these belts. As a rule, no coal has been found in this state 
rive miles away from these streams and forests. It is no part of the 
duty of the historian to advance theories in explanation of this seem- 
ingly strange coincident. For several } T ears after the settlement of the 
county, though coal was known to exist here, there was no demand for 
it beyond the small amount needed in blacksmithing, and hence there 
was no mining. 

In 1855 the general assembly (February 14) incorporated the Dan- 
ville Coal Mining Company. Ward H. Lamon and others associated 
with him were by this act authorized as a corporation to engage in 
mining coal, iron, salt and other minerals, and the sale of salt, iron, 
lime and other mineral products. The time had not come, however, 
to carry on such business, and nothing was done under this charter. 
Before this date, however, coal was being mined or stripped in small 
quantities. Dudley Lacock, who in 1854 removed to Livingston coun- 
ty, owned a considerable tract west of Danville, where the extensive 
coal mines are, and dug out some of it, which found slow sale. Cyrus 
Tennery early commenced the enterprise, which he continued for some 
years. W. Carruthers and Ball commenced mining as early as 1853, 
and farther south Mr. Kirkland opened up the business. Chandler & 
Donlan were the first to engage extensively in mining, and were fol- 
lowed by Peter R. Leonard. Michael Kelley has for more than tw r enty 
years carried on an extensive business in stripping along the North 
Fork, and employs a number of hands in such business yet. Charles 
Dobbins has for some years carried on the same business, as have also 
Wm. Shaw and B. Bensel. In the Grape Creek region ¥m. Kirkland, 
Hugh Blakney and Graves and Lofferty have carried on the business ; 
while still farther' south, along the streams which flow through George- 
town and Elwood, numerous parties have from time to time opened 
up small mines, and some continue to operate them. The " Carbon 
Coal Company," the Ellsworth Company, the Moss Bank Coal Com- 
pany and others have operated in corporate capacities more or less. In 
Catlin township several shafts were sunk, accounts of which, and of 
their failures and successes, more extended notice is made under the 
appropriate heading. 

The fine body of coal lands lying just west of the city, and known 
as Moss Bank, was opened up and worked by J. C. Short & Co., and 
became the property of the Paris & Danville railroad, and with that 
road was transferred and became the property of the Danville & South- 



336 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

western Railroad Company. General R. H. Carnahan has been for 
some years past in charge of the mining operations of this company, 
and is carrying on a large business. 

The Ellsworth Company's mines south of the river are now under 
the exclusive management of A. C. Daniel, Esq., who is successfully 
raising several hundred tons per da,j. Various parties have worked 
small mines or banks all over the coal tract. 

The great depression which the coal interest has gone through has 
operated to reduce the amount of coal raised and the profits, which 
seemed to be assured, and many have seen the utter failure of their 
plans and prospects. A writer in 1870 made the following statement : 
"And when we call to mind that each acre contains ten thousand tons 
of coal, and that it is worth two cents per bushel to the proprietors 
when placed in the cars, it is apparent that the only financial ques- 
tion with them is to exhaust the coal, as at that rate the land will yield 
$5,000 per acre." This seemed like a very moderate estimate, and 
probably has been, and yet will be, exceeded. There is a wealth of 
great magnitude, not only in the value of the hidden mineral there, 
but in the labor which for ages to come it will afford hundreds of 
laborers in its mines, and thousands of artisans in the various indus- 
trial enterprises which it must draw around it. This does not alone 
give a profit to the proprietors and the tradesmen, but it spreads 
through every artery and enlivens every business. No community or 
state ever became strong, financially or intellectually, which depended 
alone on one branch of industry, however prosperous it may have been. 
It is the coal mines of England which have made her "Mistress of the 
Seas" and has made her Mother-queen Empress of India. The reader 
should not draw from this that the Moss Bank and South Danville 
mines will some time make General Carnahan or Mr. Daniel vice- 
gerents of the world, but they will give to Danville a permanent 
prominence of which nothing can deprive her. 

Though changing the subject slightly, a little reminiscence of the 
war record of the "General of Moss Bank" must find a place here. 
AVhen the general was plain Mr. Carnahan, residing in Fairbury, Liv- 
ingston county, he raised company 1\, of the 3d regiment of Illinois Cav- 
alry, which the Carr brothers led into the heart of "Dixie." While 
Grant was making that brilliant succession of masterly movements which 
resulted in closing around Vicksburg, and fulfilling the promise that 
he " would give us Vicksburg by the 4th of July," Governor Yates 
went down to " see the boys " and to learn something more of the 
great leader whom he had given to the army. , During the sharp 
engagement at Port Gibson, civilian like, he found himself in the hot- 




^i^-JUt 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 



337 



test of the fight, where they were actually "shooting balls." Captain 
Carnahan, recognizing his danger and not thinking that it was neces- 
sary to sacrifice a "war governor" that victory might be assured, 
advised the governor to get behind a fallen tree, and held his horse for 
him until the rebel attack was repulsed. Governor Yates felt grateful 
for the Captain's aid, and rapid promotion soon followed. When the 
regiment reinlisted as veterans, Captain Carnahan was assigned to the 
duty of filling up the regiment, and received the appointment of lieu- 
tenant-colonel ; was promoted colonel, and at the close of hostilities 
retired to private life after a short Indian campaign, as general. Some- 
how he connects his good fortune with that little incident at Port Gib- 
son. In writing the " History of Livingston County " the writer failed 
to make proper mention of the services of one of her most gallant 
soldiers, for the reason that in the adjutant-general's report his resi- 
dence was put down at Danville. Ignorant of the facts then, he desires 
here to make the only amends in his power to make. No truer soldier 
or more accomplished officer ever went into the service of his country 
from that county, and his comrades in arms unite in saying that his 
promotion was based upon better reasons than the accident of his saving 
a war governor from a chance rebel bullet. Livingston county having 
failed to take the credit of his loyal service, Vermilion county will 
assume it. 




ELLSWORTH COAL SHAFT. 

The following figures are taken from the last annual report of the 

county inspector of mines, June, 1879 : Number of shafts, 15 ; number 

of drifts, 14 ; number of slopes, 3 ; number of strip banks, 22 ; number 

of men employed, 325 ; number of mules and horses employed, 100 ; 

22 



338 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

number of tons raised in 1878, 200,000, which at four cents per bushel 
is $200,000. 

BUSINESS. 

The Illinois Printing Company was organized under the laws of the 
state in 1874, — it being a continuation, so far as its business is con- 
cerned, of the printing tirm of G. W. Flynn cv; Co., and the "Danville 
News." Capital, $50,000. Its business is the carrying on of the 
printing business, the publication of the " Danville News," a daily 
morning paper with a weekly edition ; the printing and binding of 
county blanks and records, railroad printing, fair and show printing in 
all its forms, and everything pertaining to the " art preservative." 
G. W. Flynn is president and manager ; W. R. Jewell is vice-president 
and editor, and J. H. Woodmansee, secretary and treasurer. The com- 
pany has a fine building built expressly for the business, and is pro- 
vided with all latest improved machinery for so large a business. They 
have the Taylor, Hoe, Gordon and Colter presses, employ about forty 
hands, and propose to conduct stereotyping as a branch of their business. 

The "Danville Commercial" Company was organized under the state 
law by J. C. Short ife Co., for the purpose of publishing the "Danville 
Commercial," and earring on a general printing business. Several 
changes have been made in its officers, but its business has continued to 
be the same. It publishes the " Daily Commercial " and a weekly edi- 
tion, carries on a regular printing business in all its branches, has a full 
supply of all that goes to make up a first-class printing house. In 
1871, J. C. Short & Co. having disposed of what stock they still held 
in the company, a reorganization took place, and A. Harper was elected 
president ; Park T. Martin, secretary and editor, and later, Mr. A. J. 
Adams became business manager. Under the management of these 
gentlemen, who have had large experience in the printing and publish- 
ing business, a thriving business is being carried on. 

The Great Western Machine and Engine Shops are at present be- 
ing carried on by Mr. P. Pollard, doing a general machine and foundry 
business, steam and gas-ritting, and engine and boiler making. His 
buildings and shops are near the Wabash railway depot, and built of 
brick, with sixty-two feet front on Depot street and one hundred on 
the railroad, — the pattern shop being two stories. Frisbie & Williams 
began this business in 1865, and in 1869 J. V. Logue bought Williams' 
interest, and it continued under the name of Frisbie, Logue & Co. 
until 1871. During this time and until the " panic," a large and lucra- 
tive business was carried on in stationary and portable engines, castings, 
house-fronts, railroad work, and all the various branches of the trade. 
About thirty hands were employed, and often it was necessary to run 



\ 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. :):','.) 



niglit and day to ±111 orders. Thompson & Pollard purchased the 
works in 1874, and the business was becoming again prosperous and 
pressing, when Mr. Thompson's death, recently, made a change in the 
firm name only. 

William Stewart is carrying on a general foundry and machine shop 
near the Junction. The foundry and blacksmith shop is 40X75, brick. 
The buildings were all burned but the pattern shop last year, and the 
machine shop has not yet been rebuilt, but will be another year, 60 X 80, 
of brick. Mr. Stewart is the successor of Reynolds & Stewart, has 
$5,000 capital invested in the business, and employs about fifteen 
hands. 

D. Force commenced the carriage making business here about 1867. 
His shops are at the west end of Main street, where the town began. 
He makes only fine work — carriages, spring wagons and sleighs. He 
occupies seven shops, and employs on an average sixteen hands. His 
market is principally at home, although he has formerly found market 
for some in Texas. 

William Whitehill, whose shops are in the same vicinity, carries on 
a similar line of business, and employs eleven hands usually, and like 
Mr. Force, finds sale for most of his work at home where it is best 
known. 

William Grabs carries on the steam bottling works in his shop on 
West Main street. 

Morris, Hurley & Co., cabinet makers and builders, are established 
in the old "Grange Store" east of the railroad. 

J. Miller & Son are engaged in making cabinet, parlor and church 
organs. Mr. Miller has been engaged in the business thirty years. In 
1875 the firm built their present factory east of the railroad, and em- 
ploy about eight hands. Their organs have stood the test of the most 
thorough trial. 

The wrought-iron wagon works have carried on a pretty large busi- 
ness in past times. 

J. T. Amos has been carrying on the business of tile making for 
about two years, four miles west of town. The attention of farmers 
has been so generally called to the advantage of tile-draining that the 
manufacture of tile has become an important branch of industry. A. C 
Garland commenced the manufacture of tile at his factory near the 
I. B. & W. depot, this spring, and will increase his facilities somewhat. 

The ".Grange Store" was one of the institutions which the " whirli- 
gig of time," or the "march of events," or the "stern logic of facts" 
brought into existence at Danville. It was a joint stock company with 
$3,000 capital, and proposed to do away with " middlemen," largo 



340 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

profits,'' and all the ills that the farmers of Vermilion county were 
suffering under. Finding that more capital was necessary it was nomi- 
nally increased to $15,000, and the subscriptions to the stock were con- 
ditioned on the full amount of the $15,000 being subscribed. The 
store did a general business, — a general "trusting" business,- — deal- 
ing in groceries, implements and every salable thing. When it failed 
the stock subscriptions could not be collected on account of the stipula- 
tions, and notes that had been given had been changed so that they were 
uncollectable. Mr. Charles Giddings was assignee and succeeded in 
paying about 45 per cent of the indebtedness. It was so fearfully 
mixed up that he begs to be excused from ever winding up another 
" reform " store. 

BUILDING ASSOCIATIONS, CEMETERIES, ETC. 

There are in Danville four associations formed under the act of the 
legislature approved April 4, 1872, " To enable associations of persons 
to become a body corporate, to raise funds to be loaned only among 
their members," having for their object the assisting of persons who 
have small means to secure homes at about the price which they would 
necessarily pay per week for rent. 

"The Danville People's Building and Loan Association" was 
organized in 1873, with W. P. Cannon, president ; Win. Giddings, vice- 
president; Asa Partlow, secretary; P. A. Short, treasurer, and F. W. 
Penwell, attorney, who, with J. H. Miller, O. S. Stewart, W. J. Henry, 
Geo. Dillon, G. W. Jones, J. P. Holloway and C. U. Morrison, consti- 
tute the board of directors. The capital stock is limited to $400,000. 
The books were closed when 3,313 shares had been subscribed, at $100 
each. There are now only 775 shares in force. 

The Mechanics' Building and Homestead Association of Danville 
perfected its organization November 22, 1873, with W. W. P. Wood- 
bury, president ; W. A. Brown, vice-president ; J. H. Phillips, secretary ; 
E. H. Palmer, treasurer, and J. W-. Jones, attorney. The 2,500 shares 
of capital stock authorized was subscribed. No person is permitted to 
subscribe for more than 40 shares. There are still in force 790 shares. 
The pressure of the times has compelled the association to assume some 
of the property which its members had given security on. 

The Danville Benefit and Building Association was chartered June 
12, 1874, a few days before the act repealing the act authorizing such asso- 
ciations took effect. An organization was effected February 28, 1877., 
with J. G. Holden, president; S. H. Stewart, secretary, and T. S. Parks 
treasurer, and twelve directors. The same officers have continued till 
now. The authorized capital is $1,000,000, in shares of $100 each. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. :J41 

The rirst series of 2,000 shares is now fall, and a second one was 
opened March, 1879. 

The Danville Building and Savings Association, organized August 
20, 1873, with Judge E. S. Terry, president; J. G. Holden, vice-presi- 
dent; V. Leseure, secretary; A. S. W. Hawes, treasurer, and J. P. Nor- 
vell, attorney. The capital stock was $250,000. The business of the 
company has always been very safely managed, and in no case has there 
been any property thrown on its hands by foreclosures. Four hundred 
and sixty-eight live shares now remain. The officers are : J. G. Hol- 
den, president; Dudley "Watrous, vice-president; B. E. Bandy, secre- 
tary; A. S. W. Hawes, treasurer; J. P. Norvell, attorney, who, with 
the following, compose the board of directors : V. Leseure, G. L. 
English, C. K. Miers, C. J. Palmer, J. B. Mann, E. E. Boudenott, 
J. W. Dale. 

CEMETERIES. 

Like all new places, Danville had for several years various places 
for burying the dead. At first each country church had its " grave- 
yard, " and only those who from religious scruples or by church pro- 
scription were compelled to select some particular place which had 
been set apart by some form, were secure from having the last earthly 
resting place of their beloved dead interfered with by caprice or care- 
lessness. The tract which was given by Mr. Amos Williams, and in 
which the remains of the donor and of his wife still lie, was never 
sufficiently guarded from various encroachments to which such quasi 
public grounds are ever subjected. These and other reasons caused 
those who had been recently called on to bury some loved one to look 
around for some more suitable place, and one which could be beautified 
by art; so that, so far as human hands could do it, the old-fashioned, 
foolish, "yawning" terrors of the grave might be banished. To Mr. 
J. G. English, more, perhaps, than to any one other man, the citizens of 
Danville are indebted for the present appropriate " city of the dead. 1 * 
Making known his views to Mr. J. C. Short, Dr. "Woodbury, Mr. Le- 
seure and A. S. "Williams, an association was formed under the laws of 
the state, and fifty acres of land was purchased north of town, for 
which $2,000 was paid by these gentlemen, they undertaking the 
expense, expecting to be reimbursed by the sale of lots when the 
organization was perfected. April 28, 1864, the name of " Spring Hill 
Cemetery " was taken. Mr. English was elected president ; J. C. Short 
secretary and treasurer, and Messrs. "Woodbury, "Williams and Leseure 
directors. To Mr. Bowman the labor was assigned of visiting other 
cities and deciding on the plan of laying out ; and this labor has been 
so acceptably done that very little more could be done to add to the 



342 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

appropriateness of the grounds. Mr. Bowman adopted the park or 
landscape style of laying out the land, giving here and there, as the 
make of the surface would suggest, a well-graveled road, a running 
stream or elegant lake to diversify the beauty of the peaceful place. 
Several thousand dollars have been expended in the work, and so well 
has it been received that most of the lots in the first fifteen acres laid 
out have been disposed of, and the first and second additions are under 
improvement. The business of the association is still in the hands of 
the same board of directors, with the exception of the substitution of 
Mr. W. T. Cunningham in place of Mr. Short since his removal from 
the city. The rules of the association provide against unsightly fences 
or inclosures, and any improper buildings, vaults or superstructures ; 
against cutting down the trees; against the growing of unsightly trees 
or shrubs, and against improper monuments. The care of the grounds 
is. provided for, and places are set apart for the resting place of soldiers 
and for a monument to the hero dead. 

The Roman Catholics and Lutherans have separate burial places, 
whteh are under the management and rules of their respective churches. 

TOW r NSHIP OFFICERS, ETC. 

The following is a list of the principal township officers elected in 
Danville since the date of township organization : 

Supervisor. Clerk. Assessor and Collector. 

J. A. D. Sconce W. E. Russell W. M. Payne. 

J. A. D. Sconce W. E. Russell J. G. Mills. 

J. A. D. Sconce J. A. Davis J. G. Mills. 

Isaac Froman J. A. Davis W. M. Payne.* 

William Bandy W. M. Payne W. M. Payne.* 

Enoch Kingsbury J. M. Payton W. M. Payne. 

J. W. Miers David Morgan T. R. Forbes. 

J. W. Miers J. M. Lesley J. H. Miller. 

J. W. Miers J. M. Lesley J. H. Miller. 

Levin T. Palmer J. M. Lesley J. H. Miller. 

Levin T. Palmer J. M. Lesley J. H. Miller. 

W. M. Payne J. M. Lesley J. H. Miller. 

W. J. Moore H. W. Beckwith J. H. Miller. 

W. J. Moore H. W. Beckwith J. H. Miller. 

L. T. Palmer A. Matthews J. H. Miller. 

L. T. Palmer A. Matthews J. H. Miller. 

L. T. Palmer C. B. Holloway J. H. Miller. 

L. T. Palmer H. C. Lesley J. H. Miller. 

L. T. Palmer H. C. Lesley J. H. Miller. 

L. T. Palmer W.J. Davis ... J. H. Miller. 

L. T. Palmer W. J. Stewart J. H. Miller. 

J. G. Holden D. K. Woodbury J. H. Miller. 

In 1854 A. P. Chesley was elected collector, and in 1855, T. R. Forbes. 



Date. 


Vote. 


1851.. 




1852. . 


. . 99.... 


1853.. 


. . 171.... 


1854. . 


. . 175.... 


1855.. 


. . 152.... 


1856.. 


. . 248.... 


1857.. 


. . 297.... 


1858.. 


. . 329... 


1859.. 


. . 321.... 


18G0. . 


. . 401.... 


18'il.. 


.. 345 ... 


18G2.. 


. . 445.... 


18G3.. 




1864. . 


. . 560... 


1865. . 


. . 429.... 


1866. . 


. . 642.... 


1867.. 


.. 823.... 


1868.. 


. . 898.... 


1869.. 


. . 701.... 


1870. . 


. . 850.... 


1871 . . 


. . 954... 


1872.. 


. . 917.... 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 343 

Date. Vote. Supervisor. Clerk. Assessor and Collector. 

1873 765 J. G. Holden John Miers, Jr J. H. Miller. 

1874.... 1251.... J. G. Holden H. C. Smith T. S. Parks. 

1875.... 1242.... J. G. Holden H.C.Smith J.H.Miller. 

1876 1254 J. G. Holden John Lane J. H. Miller. 

1877. . . .1683. . . . J. G. Holden John Lane J. H. Miller. 

1878 1380 J. G. Holden John Lane J. H. Miller. 

1870.... 1378.... J. G. Holden John Lane J. H. Miller. 

The justices of the peace have been Nelson Maddox, Milton Lesley, 
Benj. Stewart, A. E. Howe, H. Cunningham, H. G. Boyce, George 
Hillary, Benj. Sanders, J. C. Prather, S. Stansbury, A. A. Dunseth, 
J. A. Bradley, Wm. M. Payne, G. W. English, J. M. Pay ton, J. W. 
Stansbury, P. H. McMillen, J. A. Prather, J. McMahan, John Green, 
H. C. Elliott, G. Klingenspor, James Bracewell, J. W. Parker, Wm. 
Morgan and Peter Wilber. 

Those who have been elected commissioners of highways are S. L. 
Payne, J. G. Davidson, G. H. Graves, R. Hooton, W. M. Payne, E. G. 
Cross, M. Moudy, John Johns, L. T. Palmer, Benj. Crane, Nathaniel 
Henderson, J. L. Tincher, D. Kyger, George Hillary, J. Hinds, J. W. 
Miers, H. W. Beckwith, W. W. R. Woodbury, V. Leseure, J. Q. Yillars, 
A. S. Williams, Geo. Rust, J. H. Andrews, M. Mitchell. 

In the year 1865 Danville became entitled to an assistant supervisor, 
and J. L. Tincher was elected to that position, and continued to hold 
it until his death, in 1871, since which H. M. Kimball, Wm. Morgan, 
James Knight and J. Donnelly have served in that capacity. 

RAILROAD BONDS AND SPECIAL VOTES. 

In 1857, at the town meeting, the question of forming a new county 
was voted on, and resulted in a vote of 36 for, to 252 against, such 
proposed division of the county. In 1859, when the proposition was 
voted on to erect the county of Ford, the vote was 287 for, to IS 
against, such proposition. The same year a vote for or against the con- 
tinuance of township organization resulted in 53 for, to 254 against, its 
continuance. 

In 1863 a proposition was submitted to vote which was called U A 
System of Bridges 1 ' throughout the county. The vote was 515 for, to 
2 against, showing that it was immensely popular at Danville. 

The following is the record of all township votes on the various 
questions of aid to railroads: 

In May, 1867, the question of levying a tax in aid of the Chicago, 
Danville & Vincennes Railroad, provided said road run east of North 
Fork and through the corporate limits of the city, resulted in 441 for, 
to 23 against, such levy. July 9 of the same year another special town 



:U4 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

meeting voted (the former not seeming to have been specific enough), 
by 500 to 23, in favor of said aid, "provided the main line run into the 
corporate limits, as prescribed by the act incorporating Danville, in 
force February 15, 1855." This proposition to be in lieu of all others 
that had been voted for previously. 

To make this still more specific (it will be seen that the people 
were learning something all this time), another meeting was held, 
which voted on the proposition submitted in this form : " For or 
against giving $52,000 to the Chicago, Danville & Yincennes Rail- 
road, provided the road is located and shall run into the city of Dan- 
ville on a line between the North Fork of the Vermilion River and 
Stony Creek, and intersect the Toledo, Wabash & Western Railroad 
north of the Vermilion River and within the city limits." Upon this 
proposition the vote was 407 for, to 6 against. The vote on the propo- 
sition leaving out all after the word and was only 204 in the affirma- 
tive. 

August 28 a special town meeting was held to vote for or against a 
subscription of $100,000 to the capital stock of the Danville, Urbana, 
Bloomington & Pekin Railroad, under the terms of the act chartering 
said road, and on condition that the main track of said road be con- 
structed in and to the city of Danville. The vote resulted in 285 for, 
to 30 against, the proposition. 

August 25, 1868, a special town meeting was held to vote for or 
against a proposition to appropriate $20,000 additional to the Chicago, 
Danville & Vincennes Railroad, on terms exactly similar to the former 
one. The vote was 114 in the affirmative, and 11 in the negative. It 
will be seen that the voters were getting tired of voting. 

December 11, 1869, a special town meeting was held to vote for or 
against a proposition to subscribe $25,000 to the capital stock of the 
Paris & Danville Railroad, "on the express conditions (1st) that said 
subscription is to be paid for by the bonds of said township, payable in 
fifteen years absolutely, or sooner at the option of said township, and 
to bear interest at the rate of ten per cent per annum ; and (2d) that 
said bonds are not to bear date, nor be delivered, nor to bear interest, 
until said railroad is completed, equipped with rolling stock and run- 
ning in successful operation from Paris, in Edgar county, in and to the 
city of Danville, in Vermilion county, Illinois; and (3d) that no part 
of said railroad shall be located or built west of the North Fork of the 
Vermilion River in said city of Danville; and (4th) that said railroad 
shall be completed and in successful operation from Paris to Danville, 
aforesaid, within five years from this date." 1 Upon this proposition, 
thus hedged, as it would seem, with conditions of becoming caution, 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 345 

the vote was 460 for, to 225 against; showing plainly that the people 
were far from unanimous in regard to this additional debt. Future 
proceedings show that the caution which was displayed on this occa- 
sion was well taken. After the road was so far completed as to be able 
to run cars into Danville via the track of the Toledo, Wabash & 
"Western Railroad, the company became insolvent, and was placed in 
the hands of a receiver. From the point where this railroad made this 
intersection with the Wabash road, a track was built across the river 
and along the west side of the North Fork, and thence trains were run 
into the city over the right of way of the Indianapolis, Bloomington 
& Western Railroad. Then a demand was made upon the supervisor 
and town clerk for the bonds which had been conditionally voted more 
than five years before. The demand not being complied with, for the 
reasons that (1st) the road was not completed in and to the city of 
Danville within the five years specified ; (2d) that it was built w T est of 
the North Fork; (3d) that having no independent line into Danville it 
was not yet completed in and to the city, a suit followed, which, after 
various ups and downs, was decided in favor of the township, and it 
was released from any liability to the company. 

A special town meeting was held July 20, 1870, to vote upon a 
proposition to give an additional sum of $75,000 to the Chicago, Dan- 
ville ifc Vincennes Railroad Company, upon the following very explicit 
terms and conditions : One-half on condition that Danville should be, 
and ever remain, the terminus of a running division of said road. The 
other half, that as soon as practicable, said railroad company should 
erect, and ever maintain, shops for the repair and building of cars and 
rolling stock of said company. These terms were accepted by the 
company, and the money was duly paid over. It resulted in a vote of 
C)66 for, to 240 against. On the same day a proposition was submitted 
and voted on to contribute $25,000 to the Rosedale & Danville rail- 
road, upon terms which have not been complied with, and cannot be. 
The vote was 597 for, to 254 against. 

Under the old system of voting township aid to railroads, many 
towns were victimized by irregularity of proceedings or by the 
carelessness of officers; but Danville, while pursuing what must be 
called, with the present light, a very liberal course, has in every case 
got whatever was bargained for, and by the aid of careful and com- 
petent officers, made every step a sure one. The rapid growth and 
development which has followed this railroad building is convincing 
proof that it was the course of wisdom to encourage their building in 
the only way it could be encouraged, — that is, by granting township 
aid. However much it may be condemned now by some, time will 



346 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

no doubt justify the course of the men who took the lead in this 
matter. 

GERMANTOWN. 

Germantown is a village in Danville township, lying northeast of 
the Junction. Soon after building the car-shops of the Illinois Eastern 
Railroad, the employes of the company began to build in that vicinity, 
and their numbers increased so considerably that it was found that cor- 
porate authority was necessaiy. 

A petition was filed in the county court, June 25, 1874, asking that 
the court would direct the holding of an election to vote for or against 
village corporation, under the general law of the state, to embrace the 
territory within the following bounds, and setting forth that there were 
over four hundred people residing within the said limits, to-wit: Com- 
mencing at the point where the eastern boundary of the city of Dan- 
ville crosses the road leading from Danville to Covington, thence north 
with said eastern boundary line to the northern boundary line of said 
city ; thence west along the north boundary line to where it crosses 
Stony Creek ; thence up said creek to a point where the road from 
Danville to Williamsport runs due east from said creek; thence east 
on said Williamsport road two hundred and thirty rods to a road run- 
ning south ; thence south to the Danville and Covington road ; thence 
west to the place of beginning. The petition contained the signatures 
of sixty voters who resided in said limits. The court ordered an elec- 
tion to be held for the purposes set forth in the petition, July 6, 1874, 
and appointed George Rust, August Koch and J. L. Smith, judges. 
At such election 30 votes were cast for, and 1 against, incorporation. 
An election was held July 31 for six trustees to perfect the organiza- 
tion, the same gentlemen being appointed to act as judges. At such 
election 34 votes were cast, resulting in the election of the fol- 
lowing trustees : F. Schlief, August Koch, J. Leverenz, E. Lowe, F. 
Flause and C. B. Davis. On organization, C. B. Davis was elected 
president, John L. Smith, clerk, and George Rust, treasurer. In 1875 
sixty-one votes were cast. J. L. Smith was elected president ; F. 
Schlief, L. W. Taylor, A. Rudolph, J. Leverenz and Fred Schoultz, 
trustees ; M. M. Woodward, police magistrate, and G.W. Davidson, clerk. 

The present officers are : J. A. Thews, president ; D. Lynch, J. F. 
House, John Bahls, Fred Timm and Win. Schultz, trustees ; Alexan- 
der Field, clerk ; L. M. Taylor, treasurer ; M. M. Woodward, police 
magistrate. 

As will be seen, the residents are principally Germans, and are an 
industrious, intelligent and worthy class of people, most of them being 
in the employ of the railroad company. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 347 



CAR-SHOPS. 



The machine and repair shops of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois 
Railroad Company are located near here, having located in this place 
by a vote of Danville township, giving to the company $75,000 on 
condition of their permanent location. The car-shop is 75x142, brick, 
two stories high; machine shop, 75x142, brick; ronnd-house, with 
twelve stalls, is 210 feet in length, of brick and stone; the blacksmith 
shop, 50x100, brick; paint shop, 16x24, frame; office and store, 
16x30, frame; oil room, 16x25, frame. 

The business carried on here is largely the repair and rebuilding of 
cars, coaches and locomotives of the company, though new ones can be 
built throughout when occasion requires. The business has been so 
depressed that new rolling stock has been bought cheaper than it could 
be made here, — a condition of things not likely to remain long. The 
works are under the charge of A. Cook, who has had many years' ex- 
perience on various eastern roads. There are two hundred and seventy- 
five men employed, and the pay roll for labor alone amounts to $11,- 
000, being an average of $40 per man per month. 



SOUTH DANVILLE. 



South Danville is that portion of the township which lies immedi- 
ately across the river south of the city, where the coal mining opera- 
tions of Mr. A. C. Daniel are carried on. 

The village was incorporated in 1874. In February, John A. Lewis 
and thirty-five others, petitioned the county court to order an election 
to vote for or against incorporating under the general act, with the fol- 
lowing boundaries: commencing at the Wabash railway bridge, thence 
southwest with said railroad to a point where the state road from Dan- 
ville to Georgetown crosses said railroad ; thence west to the Paris & 
Danville road (now Danville & Southwestern); thence north to the 
Vermilion River; thence along said river to the place of beginning. 
The petition set forth that there were five hundred persons residing 
within said limits. The election was held March 14, at which 77 
votes were cast — 51 being for incorporation and 25 against. 

An election was held April 22, for six trustees to put the organiza- 
tion into effect, at which 73 votes were cast. James Bracewell, James 
Hall, David Frazee, Joseph Anderson and M. C. Wilkinson w r ere elected. 
B. T. Hodges and J. H. Lewis received an equal number of votes, and 
were in consequence summoned before his honor, Judge Hanford, to 
" draw straws." Lewis drew the short straw, and by this apparent game 
of chance, the dignity of a trustee of South Danville fell upon Hodges. 



348 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

David Frazee was elected president, and H. J. Hall, clerk. The Board 
of Trustees provided a set of ordinances for the government of the 
village, and set the wheels of government in motion. 

In 1875 the following were elected trustees : Isaac Bracewell, Sam- 
uel Trisler, Hugh Graham, Joseph Robson, Lewis Bracewell, Philip 
Pnsoy, and Francis Jones was elected clerk. 

The present officers are Isaac Bracewell, president ; F. Jones, clerk; 
H. J. Hall, police magistrate; James Bracewell, treasurer; W. J. Bran- 
nock and Sylvester Royce, constables. 

By ordinance, trustees receive one dollar for each regular meeting 
and fifty cents for each called meeting; treasurer and clerk, one dollar 
and twenty-five cents for each meeting. The citizens of South Dan- 
ville are largely engaged in coal mining which is being carried on 
there. 

ORGANIZATION. 

There seems to be an undue amount of mystery thrown around the 
official life of the city of Danville. That it was early incorporated is 
generally known, but at a fire which occurred about 1867 all the 
records of the city were destro} 7 ed. Later, or about 1872, the clerk ran 
away, or for some other reason it became an object for some one to 
make away with the records, — or, to put it in the other form, there are 
no records in the city clerk's office prior to 1872. 

In the year 1855 a new special charter was given by the legislature, 
which repealed the former one, and established the limits of the city 
which should contain all of the original town, and such additions as had 
been platted, or such as should farther be regularly platted and re- 
corded as additions to it. In 1867 the old charter seems to have been 
worn out, or at least it was burned up with the records, and a new one 
was granted, under which the city operated until 1874, when it became 
incorporated under the general act of 1872. 

The following have served as mayors since its organization : J. 0. 
Winslow, J. G. English, W. W. r" Woodbury, T.^H. Myers, L. T. 
Dickason. 

The city is now divided into five wards, each entitled to two alder- 
men. The following is the list of officers at present : Mayor, L. T. 
Dickason ; clerk, A. C. Freeman ; treasurer, T. B. Castleman ; attor- 
ney, G. F. Tincher ; aldermen — 1st ward, P. Carey, A. Sieferman ; 
2d ward, A. H. Patterson, B. Brittingham ; 3d ward, W. A. Young, 
D. Watrous ; 4th ward, E. Good, H. W. Beckwith ; 5th ward, John 
Schario, W. C. McReynolds ; marshal, Leonard Myers; fire-depart- 
ment chief, W. H. Taylor; engineer, J. M. Partlow ; police magistrate, 
John McMahon. The following table of population has been compiled 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. :I49 

from " Coffeen's Hand-Book of Vermilion County," and other sources : 
In 1S26, none; 1827, probably 15; 1828, about 55; 1830, nearly 100; 
1835, about 500 ; 1840, 503 ; 1845, nearly 600 ; 1850, 736 ; 1855, 1,125 ; 
1860,1,632; 1865, nearly 3,000 ; 1870, township, 7,181 ; 1875, no cen- 
sus was taken ; 1879, township from careful estimates, 13,324. 

FIRE DEPARTMENT. 

Of the fire department of the city of Danville but little can be said 
up to May 6, 1867, at which time Lincoln Fire Company, No. 1, was 
organized. The company consisted of forty members, without pay, 
except the empty honors of serving the public — not for glory, but for 
pastime. They, however, did the best they could with the inferior 
apparatus at their command, which consisted of a kind of hook and 
ladder truck, bearing about the same relation to the modern hook and 
ladder apparatus as does the old flint-lock musket of a century ago to 
the modern Henry rifle. Of this company D. A. Childs was elected 
foreman ; M. Red ford, assistant foreman : Charles Eoff, secretary, and 
C. Y. Yates, treasurer. 

In the year 1867, during the administration of J. C. Winslow as 
mayor, a second hand engine and 299 feet of leather hose was pur- 
chased for $1,200, and for the time the company felt proud of their 
machine and the people felt secure from the destructive element. But 
the former soon became tired of the toy, and lost interest as they found 
to their sorrow that instead of pastime it was real labor, plenty of 
curses and no glory ; and the latter began to feel less secure as here 
and there through the city a stable or a shed or a dwelling destroyed 
by fire gave evidence of the lack of means of effectual] v "fighting 1 fire." 
However, tilings ran along after a fashion until 1872, when, during the 
administration of T. H. Myers as mayor, it was determined by the 
council to purchase a steam fire engine. The committee on fire and 
water at that time consisted of N. S. Monroe, W. H. Taylor and Wm. 
A. Brown. To this committee was intrusted the selection and purchase 
of the engine. 

After mature deliberation it was determined to purchase one of 
Messrs. Silsby & Co's rotary engines, also an additional hose cart and 
500 feet of best rubber hose. The purchase gave a new impetus to the 
fire department, and the company was reorganized on a more tangible 
basis. The number of members was fixed at sixteen, and salaries suit- 
able to the services performed, and of the ability of the city to pay, 
given to each. Under the new organization the fire department began 
to rise in importance and efficiency, new water supplies were provided, 
and the citizens slept with a feeling of security hitherto unknown. As 



350 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

the city increased in size and number of risks, additional protection 
was found, if not an absolute necessity at least advisable, and an addi- 
tional steamer was purchased in 1875 by the committee appointed for 
the purpose, which consisted of W. H. Taylor, P. Carey and G. W. 
Hooton. After witnessing a severe test of several leading engines, the 
committee selected another of the Silsby engines. After the indorse- 
ment of a citizens' committee, appointed to report on the same subject, 
the council purchased the engine, and the city of Danville now justly 
boasts of a fire department and apparatus unexcelled by those of any 
city of its size. 

Under the excellent supervision of W. H. Taylor, chairman of the 
committee, all the modern improvements have been introduced. These 
consist of a heater, by which the water is kept boiling continually, thus 
facilitating the raising of steam, and thereby saving time; a good team 
of horses for the engine and hose cart have been purchased, and all of 
the apparatus is kept in readiness to be used at a moment's warning. 

Since 1874 little change has been made in the company, except the 
appointment of two engineers, one of which is on duty continually. 
In the year 1879 the company was reorganized, and the office of chief 
of fire department created. W. H. Taylor was appointed chief, and 
under his supervision the engines and apparatus have been put in the 
best possible condition. The following is a list of officers and members 
of the company, as constituted at this writing, with salaries attached : 

W. H. Taylor, Chief of Fire Department $55 per month. 

George Lupt, First Engineer 50 " 

Putnam Russell, Second Engineer 50 " 

W. D. Bearing 50 " 

Isaac Hurlacker 20 per quarter. 

E. Peables 20 " 

A. Brant 15 " 

C. Lindsey 15 

William Dallas 13 " 

J. Peables 13 " 

E. Brant - • • 13 " 

M. Yearkes 13 " 

Charles Adams 13 per month. 

Frank Wells 13 " 

James Harrison 13 

Jackson Brideman 13 

George Cox 13 

DANVILLE TURN-VEREIN. 

This peculiarly German society, established for the purpose of de- 
veloping the muscle and thereby of conducing to the health of its 
members, was instituted March 22, 1874, with a membership of twenty- 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 351 

five. The first officers were: A. Sieferman, president ; A. Oberdorfer, 
vice-president ; John Bross, secretary ; E. Flemming, treasurer, and 
Henry Grube, leader of gymnastics. Active steps were immediately 
taken for the erection of a suitable building in which to practice the 
art of physical development, and in the following year a frame building 
was completed, and on the 25th of December was dedicated with fitting 
ceremonies to the use for which it was designed. This building, how- 
ever, was destined to a short existence, for on the 9th of February, 
1877, only a little over a year after its dedication, it was destroyed by 
fire. With that pluck and steadfastness of purpose bred, perhaps, in 
part by the exercises of the gymnasium, they went to work again, and 
a building much superior followed the same season. This, the present 
fine hall, is of brick, and is 35 x 90 feet in size, with an addition 14 x 30 
feet. It was complete and dedicated on the 12th day of August, 1877. 
Its value is $4,000. The present membership of the society is about 
sixty, of which A. Schatz is president ; John Seidel, vice-president ; 
E. Blankenburg, first secretary ; F. Blankenburg, second secretary ; 
Fred Theis, treasurer ; H. Grube, first leader of gymnastics, and John 
Molter, second leader. 

GEGENSEITIGE DEUTSCHE UNTERSTUTZUNGS VEREIN. 

This society, though it has to non-speaking Germans an unpro- 
nounceable name, is yet a very popular and well-patronized institution, 
established, as its name indicates, for the purpose of mutual aid among 
its members. It ranks high financially and otherwise among the 
societies of Danville. The society was organized February 7, 1872, 
with A. Sieferman as president ; George Dudenhofer, vice-president ; 
E. Blankenburg, secretary; ~W. Schatz, financial secretary, and Stacy 
Miller, treasurer. The meetings of the society are held in Turner 
hall. 

THE BOOK TRADE. 

Nothing indicates more clearly the status of a community in culture 
and enterprise than the condition of its book trade, for it marks both 
the intelligence and liberality of a people to find in their midst well- 
supplied book stores. 

In 1868 Danville was just starting out vigorously in its new march 
of progress. It was about this time that Mr. Coffeen came to Danville 
and started the first exclusive book store in this place. Previously the 
book trade had been left to notion dealers and merchants carrying other 
lines of goods. Mr. Coffeen opened in a store-room belonging to C. K. 
Mires, now occupied by Elliott's dry-goods store. By enterprise and a 
proper appreciation of the wants of the growing city, he built up a very 



352 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 



prosperous book trade, and afterward, in 1874, built the elegant store- 
room on Main street opposite the court-house, where the book store of 
Coffeen & Pollock is now kept. An idea of this establishment may be 
obtained from the accompanying illustration : 




INTERIOR OP COFFEEN & POLLOCK S BOOK STORE. 

About the same time that Mr. Coffeen moved his book store to its 
present location, Mr. McCorkle opened out a store of similar character 
in the room now occupied by E. J. Draper's grocery store. This store 
continued until 1876. In the meantime L. B. Abdill started in the 
trade on the east side of Main street. Mr. Abdill has been quite pros- 
perous, and his is one of the many excellent stores of the city. 

W. W. R. Woodbury, druggist, also handles goods in this line, and 
carries a large and well selected stock of drugs and notions. 

Besides the regular book stores mentioned there are two news 
stands that seem to be doing a good business in periodical literature. 

CHTJKCHEB. 

The following extract from a sermon delivered by Rev. A. L. Brooks 
on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Presbyterian church 
of this place, is a fitting tribute, not only to that particular society, but 
applies with equal propriety to the church in general : 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. :i.">:i 

" We arrogate nothing- when we say that it is a church of the living 
God, that it has been a pillar and ground of those great fundamental 
and vital truths by which the city in which it is located has been 
blessed and prospered. We do not hesitate to say that the influence of 
the church has been very significant and benign upon all the material 
and social and religious interests of the city. Her teachings have been 
in accordance with the wisdom and righteousness and love and grace 
of God. They have served to hold in check the tendencies to lawless- 
ness and crime; they have enforced public morality, stimulated the 
desire for good government, for commercial integrity, for social purity. 
Conscience has been enlightened and its judgment enforced. It has 
carried the peace and piety of our holy religion into many of the homes 
of the city. It has restrained the youth from the follies and crimes 
that afflict the homes and communities where church influences are not 
in the ascendant. It has drawn to our city some of the best and most 
permanent of our business and social element. It has exerted a signifi- 
cant influence on the educational interests of our community. It has 
been the conservator of good order and peace, but especially and 
supremely has it exerted a mighty influence in maintaining these great 
and fundamental doctrines by which alone is it possible to lead men 
out from under the dominion and condemnation of sin. It has done 
a work for this city which no mere secular institution could have clone. 
It has been more to the material, social and christian prosperity than 
any single industry could have been. It has been more to the happi- 
ness and welfare of our families than any or all of the worldly endow- 
ments of a gracious providence could have been without it. It has 
brought to us the best returns of all the investments we have made 
of our worldly substance, and it has brought ns into the highest and 
noblest fellowship of the pure on earth and of the sinless in heaven." 

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

The Presbyterian is the pioneer church of this city and of this part 
of the country. Though religious services had been held prior to 
1829, no definitely organized society existed until the date named. 
This church was organized on the 8th day of March, 1829, by Rev. 
Samuel Baldridge, with the following eight persons as the original 
members : Dr. Asa R. Palmer, Josiah Alexander, Elizabeth Alexander, 
Mary Ann Alexander, Solomon Gilbert, Submit Gilbert, Lucy Gilbert, 
and Parmela Tomlinson. Of these Dr. Palmer was selected as first 
ruling elder. Of the eight named, but one, Lucy Gilbert, still survives. 
The names given will be recognized as among the most worthy and 
honored citizens of the city. Their work in the church was unselfish. 
23 



354 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

and their influence for good was acknowledged by all. Rev. Samuel 
Baldridge, who was instrumental in organizing the church, was also 
first pastor, officiating in that capacity, however, but a few months. 
The honors of the enterprise seem, however, to cluster around the' 
name of the Rev. Enoch Kingsbury, who came to the church in the 
early part of 1831, and settled here permanently in the year following. 
Mr. Kingsbury is remembered as a patriot, a hero, a philanthropist, a 
christian and an enthusiast in the work chosen by him. He served the 
church as pastor faithfully and most acceptably for over twenty years, 
and gave up the pastorate after it became absolutely necessary from 
failing health. Afterward he was engaged in various religious and 
benevolent enterprises, and labored enthusiastically until 1SC8, when 
he received the summons to " come up higher," with the approbation, 
" Well done thou good and faithful servant." 

This church has prospered well, both financially and spiritually, under 
the labors of Mr. Kingsbury and his successors. The present member- 
ship numbers two hundred and eighty -seven, of which Rev. A. L. Brooks 
is present pastor. Under the pastorate of Mr. Brooks, extending from 
December, 1870, to the present writing, the church has been in a most 
flourishing condition, there having been received as members during 
that period two hundred and thirty-seven, ninety-one of whom have 
been on profession of faith. 

Rev. A. L. Brooks was born in Madison county, New York, June 
19, 1819, and is the son of Jesse and Olivia (Lyon) Brooks. His 
father was a native of Connecticut, and in his early life was a merchant, 
and in later life postmaster and magistrate of Mayville, New York. 
His mother was a native of Vermont. 

Mr. Brooks received the principal part of his education at Trenton, 
New York, where he graduated in 1842. He also graduated at Auburn 
Seminary in 1845. In 1840 he was ordained as a minister, and settled 
at Hamilton of the state named. In 1850 he came west and settled in 
Chicago, where he remained seven years 'with the Third Presbyterian 
Church of that city. From Chicago he M r ent to Peoria, remaining three 
years in charge of the Fulton Street Presbyterian Church ; thence to 
Decatur, as pastor of the New School Church of that city for three 
years; and finally, in 1870, to Danville, as already related. 

During the first six years of the existence of the church, its meetings 
were held in the old log court-house, in private houses and vacant rooms 
in different places, as circumstances demanded or permitted. In 1835, 
by great personal sacrifice on the part of its friends, a house of worship 
was erected on the site of the present church. This is believed to have 
been the second Presbyterian church building in the east part of the 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 355 

state. This church building proved to be really historical. It was 
used for many years for almost all public gatherings, Sunday-schools 
and other schools. The building was used until, on account of the 
great prosperity of the church, a new house of worship was an actual 
necessity. This was accomplished in 1858, by the erection of the 
present commodious and convenient building. The house was dedi- 
cated to the worship of God on the 24th of December, 1865, the ser- 
mon on that occasion being preached by the Rev. Joseph H. Tuttle, 
president of Wabash College. The cost of the present building was a 
little more than $12,000. 

A very interesting and joyful event was the holding, on the S.th 
and 9th of March of the present year (1879), the semi-centennial of the 
organization of the society. On that occasion Rev. A. L. Brooks, who, 
as before intimated, has been connected with the church during its 
most flourishing period, preached a historical sermon, and other mem- 
bers related interesting incidents, and laid before the society much 
other valuable facts relating to the church's histoiw. These items have 
all been compiled and printed in a neat pamphlet, to which the reader 
is referred for a more detailed account of this historical church enter- 
prise. 

In connection with the church is a flourishing Sunday-school, whose 
organization was almost coincident. The school at present writing is 
under the efficient superintendency of Mr. Park T. Martin. 

METHODIST CHUKCH. 

The first appointment made by the Methodist church at Danville 
was in 1829, though perhaps some meetings had been held a year 
earlier. This was then a portion of the Eugene circuit, and covered, 
also, appointments in Indiana and all of what is now Vermilion and 
Champaign counties. It was a four weeks' circuit, the preachers upon 
it holding services every day in the week. Rev. James McKain, a 
sketch of whose useful life and valuable services to the infant church is 
given more fully in Blount township, and Rev. J. E. French, of whom 
the reader will find further notice under the head of Elwood, were the 
first preachers on this circuit. After them, Rev. William Harshey and 
Rev. Cotton James appear to have been next. 

In February, 1836,' G. W. Wallace made a warranty deed to the 
county commissioners (in trust) for the lot upon which the church 
now stands. The deed was made to the commissioners for the reason 
that there seem to have been no trustees of the church at that time. 
In the meantime services were being held in private residences, in the 
old log school-house with greased paper windows, and on some occa- 



356 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

sionSj when the narrowness of these quarters (on account of larger con- 
gregations) required more room, in the groves — God's first temples — 
adjacent to the village. The first class leader, as now remembered, 
was Isaac McKinney, who resided near Kyger's mill. He walked to 
town and back for the purpose of holding the meetings. 

Among the first members of the class and church were Samuel 
Whitman and wife, Harvey Luddington and wife, James Hulce and 
wife, Mrs. Mary Sconce and a few others. 

About the time the deed from Wallace was made for the lot, the 
building which now stands in the rear of their present house of wor- 
ship, and now used as a blacksmith shop, was erected. The frame 
building alluded to cost about $800, and continued in use until the 
present building was erected. The new church cost $13,500, and at 
the time of its erection was considered one of the finest houses of wor- 
ship in eastern Illinois. Indeed, for solidity and convenience it is yet 
hardly excelled, but its size, though at the time of its erection thought 
to be commensurate for all time to come, has not prevented several 
new organizations, which, like swarms of bees, have emerged from the 
parent hive and gone forth to work in other portions of the Lord's 
field. 

A Sabbath-school was organized in connection with the church, 
almost coincident with the organization of the first church society. At 
first there were probably two dozen scholars. Now, besides the large 
number attending other schools of this denomination in and about the 
city, the parent school has over three hundred members. The present 
superintendent is George Abdill, under whose wise supervision the 
school has attained a degree of excellence seldom enjoyed by schools 
of this character. The minister in charge of the North Street Church 
is Rev. F. A. Parker. 

Kimber Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in February, 
1 s(i9, and was so named in honor of the memory of the late Rev. Isaac 
C. Kimber. No suggestion of this society can be traced to a remoter 
date than a Sunday afternoon of the month above named. An inde- 
pendent Sabbath-school, under the management of Methodist people, 
held in a frame school-house in the nortlnvestern part of the city, had 
been dismissed, when a number of officers and teachers tarried to 
gather up the books, etc., and while thus employed, incidentally and 
without premeditation the chorister of the school remarked that a 
church building was desirable for the accommodation of the school. 
This led to remarks by others, and it may be said that the church was 
born there and then. They who were present and took part in the 
conversation were Joseph G. English, Maria L. English, Jacob L. Hill, 






DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. :>57 

John M. Lamm, Lizzie Lamm, Edward C. Abdill, Sarah Vaughn, 
Milton Doughty, Anna Doughty and Charles Spedding. 

Rev. Enoch Jones was employed to conduct services, and on the 
18th of the month following he was officially appointed by Presiding 
Elder Sampson Shinn as pastor of the charge. He continued this 
relation until April of the same year, when he was succeeded by Rev. 
Nelson R. Whitehead, who ministered to the society until the meeting 
of conference, when the Rev. James C Rncker assumed the pastorate. 
At the date of its formal organization the society had twenty members. 
Its first quarterly conference was held on Monday evening, June 7, 
1869. A board of trustees consisting of John McMahan, John M. 
Lamm, Jacob L. Hill, George W. Hooton, Thomas Neely and J. G. 
English, who had been appointed by the society, was confirmed by the 
first quarterty conference. A board of stewards was also appointed, 
to wit: Thomas McKibben, E. C. Abdill, G. W. Hooton, T. Neely, 
J. L. Hill, J. M. Lamm, J. G. English and J. Moody. Mr. English 
was appointed recording steward. 

Immediately following the organization of the societ}' the erection 
of a meeting-house was undertaken, and the dedication occurred in 
November, 1869, by the Rev. Granville Moody, of the Kentucky con- 
ference. The appointment of pastors by conference have been as fol- 
lows, to wit : Rev. James C. Rucker, two years ; Rev. George Stevens, 
three years ; Rev. Wm, S. Hooper, one year ; Rev. Wm. F. Gillmore, 
two years, and Rev. W. H. Musgrove, who is now serving upon his 
second year. 

The church property is appraised at $10,000, and its parsonage is 
said by preachers to be the best in the conference. The society's con- 
tributions to the missionary fund have averaged $300 a year. No 
pastor has left with the church in debt to him. The present member- 
ship is two hundred and sixty-one. 

It is placed to the credit of the colored people that they are pecu- 
liarly a religious race. As a verification of the assertion we find the 
colored people of Danville fully up to their general reputation in this 
particular, and, as far as their ability warrants, emulating their white 
neighbors in good works. 

An organization designated as the A. M. E. Church was effected in 
Danville in September of 1872, with G. W. Nichols and three or four 
others as original members, and Rev. Henry Pugh as pastor. The 
membership has increased to twenty at present writing. The society 
was without a church building until 1877, when they erected what is 
known as Allen Chapel, so called in honor of their first bishop. The 
building cost something over $1,200, is 30x46 feet in size, and is a very 



358 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

comfortable structure of its kind. The colored people sustain an 
interesting Sabbath-school in connection with their church, of which 
Mr. G. W. Nichols is superintendent. Rev. R. Holly is present pastor 
of the church. 

The first meetings of Til ton M. E. Church were held in the school- 
house at Tilton. Among the first members were C. B. Scharer and 
wife, M. C. Smith and wife, Noah Morgan and wife and M. Fournier. 
The present church was built in 1872, at a cost of over $1,100. The 
members of this church numbered at one time some fifty ; but on 
account of many removals and some deaths the membership is at 
present only about fifteen. The church was dedicated by Dr. R. N. 
Davies. The present pastor is the Rev. S. H. Huber. The present 
superintendent of the Sunday-school is Mary Lewis; the number of 
scholars is about twenty-five. 

The first meetings of the Mount Zion M. E. Church were held some 
twenty years ago in the old school-house now on Mr. N. Parish's place. 
The first members were J. W. Stine, Elizabeth A. Stine, Nathan Parish, 
Hannah Parish, A. Stine, Eliza Stine and Esther Rose. J. W. Stine 
was the first preacher. In 1873 they built the present church, at a 
cost of $1,025; it was dedicated by the Rev. Mr. Davies. Since 1878 
there have been no meetings held at this church. 

GERMAN METHODIST CHURCH. 

It was in 1857 when Rev. G. Zeiser was laboring on the so-called 
Marshall Mission. His field included Marshall, Paris and Clarksville. 
He was the first one that was invited to come to Danville and preach 
to the Germans. One of his members, moving from Paris to Danville, 
invited him to come here. It was in the month of May, 1857, when 
he visited Danville. He visited the German families from house to 
house, and appointed a meeting in the second story of the house in 
which Mr. Jacob Schatz resided, .and belonging to Dr. Porter. 

The meeting was numerously attended. From that time Danville 
was considered as a regular appointment. In the fall after the next con- 
ference, Danville was given under the charge of Rev. C. Holtkamp, 
residing then at Urbana, until a man could be found specially for Dan- 
ville. Mr. Holtkamp came here every three weeks, fifty miles, on 
horseback, and preached to the Germans of Danville with a remarkable 
success. About Christmas time, in the same year, the first quarterly 
meeting was held in the basement of the North Street M. E. Church, 
by the Rev. Philip Kuhl, Presiding Elder of the Qnincy District. 
On that occasion quite a number joined the church on probation, and 
the society was formally organized. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 359 

As they had no place of their own to hold their meetings in, per- 
mission was granted them to hold their devotional services in one 
room on the second floor of the old court-house. Joseph Bauer and 
wife, Fred. Loehr and wife, and John Bireline and wife were of the 
first members. Some of them have gone to their reward. Under the 
administration of Rev. Schwindt was the first little frame church built 
and completed in the summer of 1859. The building cost $700. The 
following conference was held in Danville, and as the dedication 
Sunday was very rainy, and consequently unfavorable, one Sunday 
evening was set aside on which Bishop Simpson preached a sermon in 
the English church for the purpose of raising subscriptions to free the 
little German church from debt. 

The new brick church, with steeple, 38 x 60 feet, was erected in the 
summer of 1874, and dedicated November 30 of the same year by 
Dr. Fowler, then president of the Northwestern University at Evans- 
ton, 111. The church was built under the pastorate of Rev. Charles 
Stellner, and cost about $7,000. Under the administration of Rev. J. 
W. Roecker, their present pastor, the society enjoys a vigorous condi- 
tion. Their present number is in the neighborhood of one hundred 
members. The prosperity of the society will undoubtedly be greater 
when the last obstruction, their burdening church debt, shall have been 
finally and completely removed. 

The society appreciates very highly the kindness of the community, 
and especially their English friends, in their support and liberal con- 
tributions. The Sunday-school was organized in June, 1858. The 
name of the present superintendent is John Schmidt; the number of 
scholars, seventy. 

The present minister, John W. Roecker, who was born in Adel- 
shopen, Baden, Germany, December 18, 1835, came to America in 
1848; located in Washington county, Wis., where he received his 
principal education. lie was ordained as deacon by Bishop Aimes in 
1860 ; as elder, by Bishop Baker in 1862. He was first appointed at 
Des Moines, Iowa; thence to Burlington, Iowa; Crown Point, Ind. ; 
Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Oshkosh, Milwaukee, Wis. ; Laporte, Ind. ; 
and Chicago. In 1877 he came to Danville. 

The first meetings of the Asbury M. E. Church were held at the 
residence of William Delay in about the year 1830. Among the first 
members were William Delay and wife, Father Boston and wife, Mr. 
Villars and wife, Mr. Howard and wife, George Dillon and wife, Samuel 
Roderick and wife, and Mrs. Rigdon. The meetings of the society 
continued to be held at private residences and in the school-house until 
1851, when their present house of worship was erected. It was named, 



360 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

in honor of one of the great lights of that denomination, Asbury 
Chapel. Among the first ministers who preached here were Revs. 
Mr. Lane, Win. C. Prentis and Oliver Mnnsell. The last named was 
afterward connected with the Wesleyan University at Bloomington as 
president. The pastor in charge at the present writing is Rev. G. B. 
Goldsmith. The church is in good condition and has an active mem- 
bership-of forty-eight. A good Sunday-school, with a fair attendance, 
is also sustained. 

CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY' (PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL). 

The first services of this denomination were held in the city of Dan- 
ville by Rev. Mr. Osborn, of Chicago, who preached occasionally during 
the years 1863-4. The founding of the church was brought about by 
E. J. Purdy, late of Logansport, Ind., who held services here December 
10, 1865, and on the next evening called a meeting for the purpose 
of definite work. At that meeting Mrs. Win. Hessey, Mrs. Henry S. 
Forbes, Miss Matilda Holton, and Messrs. John Donlon, J. C. Winslow, 
Charles Caton, J. R. Baker and R. W. Hanford were appointed as a 
committee of general extension. At the organization there was only 
one communicant in town, and though the building up of a church of 
this faith has been a constant struggle, they have, with a steadfastness 
of purpose peculiar to that sect, pursued the even tenor of their way, 
and to-day finds them with a pleasant house of worship, 27 x 50 feet in 
size, capable of seating comfortably over two hundred persons, a good 
congregation and a flourishing Sabbath-school. Rev. F. W. Taylor is 
rector and superintendent of the Sabbath-school. 

UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST. 

The first preaching service held by this denomination in Danville 
was at the old German church in the winter of 1870. The church 
was organized with the following five members: George Holycross, 
Isaiah Smutz, Mary Smutz, G. W. Vangordon and Robert Wilson, the 
first named being the leader. 

The first quarterly meeting was held at the residence of G. W. Bar- 
low in June, 1871. The work of erecting a house of worship was 
undertaken in April, 1871, and completed the same year. The size of 
the original building was 32 x 41 feet, and cost $1,250. Four years 
later the building was taken down and removed to North Vermilion 
street, where it was rebuilt and twelve feet added to the length, at an 
additional cost of $1,630. Thus the Brethren have a very neat and 
commodious building for the purpose for which it was designed. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 461 

The present membership of the church is twenty-three, of which 
Rev. F. E. Penney is pastor. 

THE GERMAN UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST 

Held their first meetings at private residences, but their first meeting 
for organization and to receive members was held in the German 
Methodist church, at which time and place ten persons — Philip 
Steube, John Buy, Philip Timm, J. Schoultz and Carl Leverenz, 
and their wives — united, thus founding the church, since established 
at the corner of Hayes and North streets. Messrs. Buy and Schoultz 
were appointed as first trustees. In about the year 1862 they built 
the little chapel on the corner next to their present building at a cost 
of about $600. This building they occupied for about ten years, when, 
in 1871, they erected a more commodious building, at an outlay of 
$3,033. The small building is now used for school purposes. 

Over one hundred members now belong to the organization. Rev. 
Mr. Aessel is the present pastor. A good Sunday-school is sustained, 
of which J. Schoultz is superintendent. 

BAPTIST CHURCH. 

The Baptist church of Danville was organized in 1873, holding its 
first meeting for that purpose on the first Sabbath of the year named, 
in Robert McDonald's hall, over Freese & Bayle's store, on Main 
street. Though this was the first organized effort of this denomination 
at this point, it was not the first religious service held by them, as the 
Baptists — at least a branch of that church — were really pioneers in 
religion, not only here, but all over this part of the state. At the date 
to which allusion has been made, Rev. E. S. Graham preached a ser- 
mon, after which he advised the brethren and sisters present to organize 
a Baptist church. To this call E. F. Graham, Mrs. F. B. Freese, Mrs. 
M. F. C. Wilber, Mrs. K. Bayle, Mrs. H. L. Holton, Mrs. S. Kimball, 
J. W. Parker, Mrs. J. W. Parker, E. Wilkinson, Mrs. E. Wilkinson 
and Mrs. Eliza Davis responded by affixing their names to the cov- 
enant and adopting the articles of faith. 

The church then called Rev. E. S. Graham to be their pastor, which 
position he has ever since held. The church has prospered well, both 
financially and spiritually. In the short period of its existence there 
have been received into its fold by letter, 104 members ; by baptism, 
38, and by relation, 15, making a total of 157. Of the original eleven 
members, eight are still connected with the church. 

The society owns a very pleasant and commodious house of wor- 



362 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

ship, valued at about $7,000, which seats comfortably four hundred 
persons. 

CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

The Christian Church of Danville was organized January 13, 1873. 
During the month named Hev. John F. Rowe held the first services, 
in the hall in the third story of the Leseure block. The meetings 
finally resulted in the founding of the society as stated. The church 
soon after called Elder W. R. Jewell, present pastor, and also editor of 
the Danville " Daily News," to take charge of the society. The enter- 
prise, though begun under some inauspicious circumstances, has pros- 
pered well, and to-day numbers over one hundred and twenty members. 
The next year after the organization they concluded to erect a house 
of worship. A very neat and commodious building 34x55 feet in size 
was erected at a cost of $3,500. 

In connection with this church is an interesting Sabbath-school, 
which was organized in 1874, Mr. H. A. Coffeen being the first super- 
intendent. From a small beginning, with about thirty members, the 
school has increased to nearly one hundred. At the present writing, 
the school is under the superintendence of Elder W. R. Jewell. 

The Christian Church of Til ton, by some known as the New Light 
Church, was erected in 1872, at a cost of about $1,400, and was dedi- 
cated by Elder Wilkins. The first pastor in charge was Rev. John 
Green, the present .preacher. Among the original members of the 
society were S. Hodge, Benjamin Hodge and wife, William Hodge and 
wife, John Green and wife and William Butler and wife. The society 
is in a very flourishing condition and the membership is quite large. 
A good Sabbath-school, under the superintendence of John Radliff, is 
also sustained. 

CATHOLIC. 

The first meetings of the Irish Catholic Church were held in private 
residences. In 1852 Father Rhian, who was the first preacher, held 
services in what is known as Tincher Town, in a building near the I. 
B. & W. railroad bridge. In 1S58 they built the present brick church, 
situated on Chestnut near Elizabeth street. The cost of the building 
was about $1,500. The first pastor of the church was Father Lambert, 
and the first bishop who ever preached in Danville (in 1871) was 
Bishop Foley, of Chicago. This church has perhaps the largest mem- 
bership of any in Danville, and is in a flourishing condition. In fact, 
the present building is entirely too small for the congregation. They 
are now (1879) taking subscriptions for a new church edifice, which is 
intended, when complete, to be the finest building of that character in 
this part of Illinois. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 363 

The German Catholic Church, at the corner of Green and College 
streets, was built in 1868. Previous to this date the congregation held 
their services in the Irish Catholic house of worship, and it was in that 
place that their first meetings were held. Indeed, the two branches, 
prior to the date named, had been under the same charge and organi- 
zation. The German branch, however, being desirous of having ser- 
vices in their own language, withdrew from the parent church and 
erected for themselves their present edifice. The building was put up 
at a cost of $4,570, and was formally dedicated by the Rt. Rev. John 
W. Luers, bishop of Fort Wayne. The first priest in charge was Rev. 
A. M. Reck, and the board of trustees, as first selected, consisted of 
George Fuchs and Lawrence Little. George Meyer, T. Young, F. 
Senger, Michael Schroll, Joseph Clements, Frank Stengleberger, Au- 
gust Foeher and John Kneidal were also some of the first members. 

The church has prospered well, and now numbers fifty-three fam- 
ilies. In 1871 the church erected a school building for their own use, 
at a cost of $1,500.* They also have a comfortable parsonage, valued 
at $1,300. The whole establishment is under the charge of Rev. Peter 
Schmal. Father Schmal is a native of Prussia, from whence he came 
to this country in 1871. In 1877 he came to Danville, and has been 
in charge ever since. 

GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH. 

In November, 1862, Rev. H. Schoenberg, from Lafayette, Indiana, 
met a few of the German people of the faith under consideration at the 
house of J. Hacker, and at that meeting were held the first regular 
services of this denomination in Danville. Occasionally thereafter the 
people were called together for the same purpose, until in February of 
the following year it was decided to enter into an organized effort for 
the purpose of establishing a church of their own choice. Among those 
who entered into the organization at the first were W. Hubb, M. Hein- 
rich, J. Hacker, F. Hacker, C. Friedrichs, E. Klingenspor, C. Wendt, 
C. Schultz and F. Anders. The first minister appointed to the charge 
was Rev. G. Markworth. 

In 1865, though a very unfavorable time to begin the erection of a 
church building, owing to the very high price of materials and labor 
then prevailing, with an energy for which the German people are justly 
noted, they went to work and erected a building, at a cost of over 
$7,000 and capable of seating four hundred persons. Besides their 
church enterprise they also sustain a private school for the purpose of 



: Mentioned more at length on another page. 



364 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

teaching the elementary branches of education and the peculiar tenets 
of their religion. Rev. E. Martens is present pastor. 

The Welsh Independent Church was organized in South Danville 
March 10, 1872. Prior to the date named the United Brethren had 
erected a church building (the one now occupied and owned by the 
Welsh church) at a cost of $1,800. The brethren, however, disbanded 
at this place and sold out their property in 1875 to the present owners 
for $500. The organization of the church under consideration took 
place at the residence of Mrs W. Watkins, and consisted of twenty-two 
members. The organization was effected by the Rev. Roderick W. 
Williams, of Cincinnati, Ohio. The first regular pastor of the church 
was Rev. John Price. The church did not seem to prosper well for a 
number of years, and from a statement made to the Superintendent of 
Home Missions in September, 1878, we learn that the membership had 
dwindled down to two persons. At the date last mentioned Rev. John 
A. Griffin was put in charge of the feeble organization, and through 
his strenuous efforts new life and energy have been infused, and at this 
writing thirty-nine active members belong to the societ}\ 

In 1872 a Sunday-school was also organized, but, like the church, it 
had been neglected. An excellent school under the superintendence 
of John A. Lewis is now sustained, and it is largely due to his efforts 
that it has attained its present high standard. 

In connection with the Welsh church the organization known as the 
South Danville Temperance Union is kept up. The Union is in a very 
flourishing condition, and has already done a great amount of good for 
this community. It numbers about three hundred members, of which 
Benjamin Dean is president and Joseph Robinson is secretary. 

SECRET SOCIETIES. 

Danville soil seems to be quite well adapted to the growth of such 
organizations as practice their peculiar rites and ceremonies with none 
to behold but the All-Seeing Eye and those who have been so fortunate 
as to be admitted behind the veil of secrecy. To say that in a quiet 
and unostentatious manner — fulfilling the command of the Great 
Master to let not the right hand know what its fellow-member is doing 

— they have performed many acts of benevolence, is to say only what 
many who have been the recipients of their benefactions would testify. 
They desire no praise — preferring to let their works recommend them 

— therefore we will only add that as far as this city is concerned, their 
reputation, which is based wholly upon what they do and not on what 
they say, is of a character becoming those who profess the principles of 
friendship, love, morality, truth and relief. 






DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. ;W. r > 

The Masons are entitled to the credit of being the pioneers, they 
having established themselves in an organization as early as 1846. At 
that time Danville was but a small village of five or six hundred 
inhabitants, with six or eight stores and but little business of any kind. 
Railroads and telegraphs had not and did not seek out this locality for 
another decade, yet the principles of the order were even then here. 

Olive Branch Lodge, No. 38, A. F. & A. M., is comparatively one 
of the "ancient" lodges of the state, there being but a few that have 
preserved a continuous existence for more than forty-three years. The 
Grand Lodge of the state was organized in 1840, only six years prior 
to the granting of Olive Branch charter, and as the charters of all the 
earliest lodges date from the establishment of the Grand Lodge, and as 
several of the primary lodges have surrendered their charters or have 
been merged with other lodges, it gives to the institution at Danville 
quite a flavor of antiquity. Danville contains but few inhabitants now 
who witnessed the ceremonies of institution or w T ho were even resi- 
dents of this locality. 

W. E. Russell, John Payne and John Thompson were the first prin- 
cipal officers, being Worshipful Master, Senior Warden and Junior War- 
den, respectively. From a small membership at the time of organization 
this mother lodge has been the progenitor of a large number of other 
lodges in the county, besides establisbing on her own territory other 
orders of a higher character. The membership of the lodge at present 
writing is 155, of which George W. Hooton is W.M. ; W. J. Calhoun, 
S.W. ; E. R. Dan forth, J.W. ; H. P. Boener, S.D. ; G. F. Tincher, J.D. ; 
D. S. Pheneger, Sec'y; R. W. Hanford, Treas., and J. T. Culbertson, 
Tiler. 

The fraternity have a very finely furnished and convenient lodge- 
room in the third story of Schmitt block. 

By 1865 the order at this place had greatly increased in numbers, 
having kept pace with the growth and importance of the city itself, 
which had grown to number nearly a thousand to the hundred of 1846, 
and Vermilion Chapter, No. 82, R. A. M., was chartered, with D. R. 
Love, J. C. Winslow, John L. Smith, J. T. Culbertson and sixteen 
others as charter members. This order is not confined in its limits to 
the city of Danville, but embraces territory occupied by several other 
lodges in the county. The membership has grown to number about 
125 members. Of this order A. S. Bixby is present H.P. ; H. P. 
Boener, K. ; L. P. Norvell, S. ; E. R. Danforth, C. of H. ; C. V. Guy, 
P.S. ; T. B. Castleman, R.A.C. ; John Treteline, George Probst and 
C. M. Smith, Masters of Vails ; J. B. Samuels, Sec'y ; A. L. Webster, 
Treas., and J. T. Culbertson, Sent. 



366 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

A Subordinate Council was also (previous to 1877) in operation at 
this place, but by order of the Grand Bodies all Councils being merged 
into the other orders, Danville Council, No. 37, has ceased to exist. 

Athelstan Commandery, No. 45, of Knights Templar, was chartered 
October 28, 1874. There being but about fifty societies of this order 
in the state, Danville is one of the few localities favored with an occa- 
sional sight of the imposing evolutions of these somber soldiers and 
representatives of the twelfth century. 

Rev. N. P. Heath was the first Commander at this point. J. B. 
Mann, W. P. Cannon, J. T. Culbertson, James Knight, R. McCormack, 
D. Watrous, A. S. Bixby and J. C. Probst were also charter members. 

At present writing A. S. Bixby is Eminent Commander; J. P. Nor- 
vell, Gen.; B. Brittingham, C.G. ; W. J. Calhoun, Prel.; A.L.Webster, 
S.W. ; J. Y. Logue, J.W. ; B. E. Bandy, Rec, and D. Watrous, Treas. 
The membership numbers sixty-four. Rev. N. P. Heath, first Com- 
mander of Athelstan Commandery, since his removal from this place 
has held the office of Grand Prelate of the Grand Commandery of 
Illinois. He has since been a resident of Champaign, at which place 
he recently died. John P. Norvell, present Generalissimo of this 
place, has also been honored with offices in the Grand Bodies for the 
past four years. 

The Independent Order of Odd-Fellows w T ere granted a charter for 
the purpose of performing " mystic rites," and for the purpose of prac- 
ticing the principles of F. L. & T. in their own peculiar manner, July 
25, 1850. The charter members of Danville Lodge, No. 49, were John 
L. Tincher, Samuel Frazier, J. B. Gilbert, Joshua Holingsworth and 
H. J. C. Batch. 

The order has prospered well both in number and financially. It 
has numbered among its membership some of the solidest citizens of 
Danville and vicinity, and, like the Masonic order, is the parent of a 
number of other lodges in different portions of the county. The mem- 
bership at the present writing is 105, of which F. Wortman is N.G. ; 
Elias Good, V.G. ; F. C. Hacker, Treas. ; S. Goodman, R.Sec, and S. 
Leaverton, P.Sec. John McMahan, F. W. Penwell, Elias Good, Geo. 
Dillon and S. Leaverton constitute the present board of trustees. An 
organization of the highest order of Odd-Fellows was established at 
Danville by charter from the Grand Encampment, December 16, 1857. 

The charter members of Marsh Encampment, No. 46, were Robert 
V. Chesley, John McMahan, J. D. Hartzler, L. H. Sconce, J. P. Brown, 
Thomas McKibben, G. H. Brown, II. T. Downing and J. H. Davis. 

The Encampment numbers about forty members, most of whom are 
also members of the Subordinate Lodge of this city ; however, as an 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 367 

encampment does not necessarily accompany every lodge, some of its 
members reside at and hold lodge membership at other points. 

In 1872 the German Odd-Fellows of this city being desirous of an 
organization authorizing lodge- work in their own language, petitioned 
for a charter for the institution of Feuerbach Lodge, No. 499, and in 
October of that year such authority was granted to Charles Hesse, 
George Dndenhofer, Michael Kohler, Otto Bein, George Waltz, L. H. 
Kahn, Kilian Knell, Jacob Schorr, Anselm Sieferman, E. Blankenburg 
and F. Brandenberger. George Dndenhofer was first N.G. ; Otto 
Bein, V.G. ; L. H. Kahn, Sec, and Kilian Knell, Treas. The lodge 
has been quite prosperous, and now numbers, — according to the last 
Grand Lodge Reports, — sixty-three members, of which John Zulin is 
KG.; Theodor Ott, Y.G. ; Gottlieb Maier, Sec; A. Oberdorfer, 
P. Sec, and John Shnltz, Treas. 

The Ancient Order of Hibernians, No. 1, was chartered in 1873. 
The objects of the order are of a charitable nature, and in some respects 
is intended to fill the place of the secret orders which are not counte- 
nanced by the Roman Catholic church. It is not secret, but its mem- 
bership is confined to Catholics and is under the supervision of the 
clergy. The officers are: P. Carey, president ; P. Burns, vice-presi- 
dent ; D. Moore, financial secretary; Wm. Ryan, treasurer; P. Ger- 
rety, county delegate ; M. J. Hogan, corresponding secretary ; John 
Buckley, marshal; P. Monahan, sergeant-at-arms ; W. Dougherty, 
doorkeeper. The priest in charge acts as chaplain. The order is 
in good standing and in prosperous condition, having $600 in the 
treasury. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

Under this head we propose to give extended biographies of a large 
number of the leading citizens of Danville Township, not only of early 
settlers, but also of the more modern. Many of them have already been 
mentioned incidentally in the preceding pages, but we think it will add 
vastly to the value of the work as a book of reference and as a basis for 
the future historian, to give to this department the most minute detail. 
As far as practicable, they have been arranged in chronological order, 
or rather in the order of coming to this township or county. 

Perry O'Neal, Danville, farmer, is one of the old settlers. He was 
born in Vermilion county, Illinois, one-half mile east of Westville, on 
the 16th of January, 1825, and is the son of Thomas and Sarah (How- 
ard) O'Neal. Thomas O'Neal was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, 
in 1792, and there learnt the trade of a tanner and currier. He moved 
from his native state to Indiana, and located in Madison, Jefferson 
county, where he was engaged in working at his trade. He remained 



368 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

there until 1821, and in that year with wife and family moved to 
Illinois, and located in Vermilion county near what is now known as 
"Westville. He first entered eighty acres of land and set out in farming ; 
here he erected a tan-yard which consisted of a large shed, 30x30, and 
ground his tan-bark with a large round stone by horse-power. This 
tannery was the first in Vermilion county, and was located about fifty 
3'ards southeast of the home of Perry O'Neal. The old log cabin is 
still standing in the rear of Mr. O'Neal's house. Thomas O'Neal fol- 
lowed the trade of a tanner, and operated the tan-yard for several years, 
and then spent some time in farming, — he owned at one time five 
hundred and forty acres of land. He was coroner of Vermilion county 
for over twenty years ; was elected in 1840 and held office until his 
death. He and his son Samuel O'Neal were both in the Blackhawk 
war of 1832. His son William was a blacksmith at the salt works at 
an early day — probably the first blacksmith in Vermilion count} 7 . 
Thomas O'Neal was a man that was known and respected perhaps as 
well as any man in Vermilion county. He died in 1861, and thus 
passed away one of Vermilion county's old and honored citizens. His 
wife was born in Kentucky, in 1794 ; she died in 1863. She was a kind 
and good woman. Of the O'Neal family four children are now living. 
James O'Neal, who was born in Vermilion county on the 20th of April, 
1822, one of the first white children born in the county, Perry 
O'Neal, Nancy (now the wife of Lewis Ballah), and Cynthia Ann (wife 
of Joel Bates). Perry O'Neal, the subject of this sketch, was brought 
up as a farmer, and this he has through life followed on the old home- 
stead, with the exception of a -few years on the prairie. He has never 
been married. 

George Martin, Danville, retired farmer. This gentleman is one of 
the pioneers of Vermilion county, having made his home here in 1827. 
He was born in Brown county, Ohio, on the 18th of October, 1810, 
and is the son of Hutson and Martha (Lacock) Martin. His father was 
a native of Virginia, and followed farming ; he was a soldier of the war 
of 1812, and died in Oregon, near Fort Vancouver, in 1851, at an old 
age. Mr. Martin remained in Ohio until he was six years old, when he 
moved with his parents to Ripley county, Indiana, where he remained 
until 1827, engaged in farming. He then, with his parents, moved to 
Illinois, and located in Newell township, Vermilion county. His father 
came here with wife and ten children, and now only three girls and 
Mr. Martin are alive. Mr. Martin, in 1854, moved to Marion county, 
Illinois, where he was a resident about nine years, at the expiration of 
which time he returned again to Vermilion county. He married in 
Vermilion county to Mary McKee, who was born in Fleming county, 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 369 

Kentucky, in 1812, and is a daughter of William and Hester (Adams) 
McKee, who moved to Vermilion county in 1832. They came to this 
county with eleven children, and onty four are now living. William 
McKee was born in Pennsylvania on the 17th of January, 1783, and 
died in Vermilion county on the 21st of February, 1872. Mrs. Hester 
McKee was born in Kentucky on the 12th of August, 1785, and died 
on the 1st of December, 1816. Mr. Martin had two sons in the late 
war: George M. enlisted from Indiana for one year; he did good ser- 
vice and was honorably discharged. John H. enlisted in the 125th 111. 
Vol. Inf., Co. A, for three years, as corporal ; he did good service and 
participated in some of the leading battles: Perryville, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Atlanta and Jonesboro, where he was wounded in the 
left shoulder ; he was in the Atlanta campaign to Richmond, and was 
captured at Black River, North Carolina, and taken as a prisoner of 
war to Richmond, Virginia, where he remained about eight days, and 
was then paroled, receiving his final discharge at Springfield, Illinois. 
Mr. Martin states that he and Mr. Norton Beckwith made the first 
brick in Vermilion county. 

Rev. John Villars' grandfather was from England and his grand- 
mother from Ireland. His father was born on the 28th of July, 1774, 
and his mother was born on the 23d of March, 1770 ; her maiden 
name was Rebecca Davison. They were married in Jefferson county, 
Pennsylvania, on the 19th of April, 1796 ; to them were born five 
boys and three girls ; five were born in Ohio. John, the eldest, was 
born on the 14th of February, 1797 ; the names of the others were 
Mary, James, William and Rachael. They moved to Ohio in April, 
1806, and there were born to them George, Rebecca and Hiram. In 
1826 the parents and children were all members of the M. E. Church. 
John joined in 1821 and in 1823 was licensed to exhort; he came to 
Illinois and settled in Vermilion county in 1830, about four and one-half 
miles east of Danville; in 1833 he was licensed by the M. E. Church 
to preach, but in 1838 he joined the United Brethren in Christ, and 
remained a minister in that church until his death, on the 14th of 
March, 1858. From Illinois, in 1852, he went to Milwaukee, Wiscon- 
sin, remaining until 1853, when he returned to this county and re- 
mained until 1857. He then moved to Nemaha county, Nebraska, 
and remained there until the 14th of March, 1858, when he died. 
Rev. John Villars was married to Elizabeth McGee, his first wife, in 
Ohio on the 14th of March, 1816. She was born on the 25th of Sej>- 
tember, 1797. To them were born ten children, — six sons and four 
daughters. Jane was born March 10, 1817; .lames, November 28, 
1819; William. May 22, 1822; Mary, February 14, 1825; Rebecca, 
24 



370 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

September 7, 1827; John Q., May 1, 1830; George, October 16, 
1832; Elizabeth, December 14, 1834; Hiram E., November 25, 1837; 
Jona, November 10, 1842. Elizabeth Villars died on the 22d of April, 
1848 ; she was a. member of the M. E. Church, and her parents were 
Baptists. John Villars was married to his second wife, Elizabeth 
Campbell, on the 10th of October, 1849; she was born in what was 
then known as Harrison county, Virginia, on the 2d of September, 
1816. Her father was from Ireland and her mother from Scotland ; 
they were members of the Presbyterian Church. Rev. John Villars, 
by his second wife, became the father of two sons and one daughter: 
Josephine R., born July 31, 1850; John B., born February 15, 1853, 
and Henry B., born February 26, 1857. Mr. John Villars was a life- 
director in the American Bible Society from the 20th of September, 
1856, and at his death gave over $6,000 to that society. Elizabeth 
Villars, his second wife, has been a life-member of the same society 
from the 8th of December, 1856. Rev. John Villars was a man well 
to do, at one time owning over twelve hundred acres in this county, 
besides other property in Iowa ; he always gave each one of his 
children a good start when they embarked in life for themselves. 

Wm. Fithian, Danville, physician. Dr. fm, Fithian is one among 
the oldest settlers of Vermilion county, and a man who has been iden- 
tified with as much of the development and improvement that has been 
made in the county since 1830 as any of the pioneers of Danville. He 
is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and was born in the year 1800. In 
1822 he began the study of medicine with Dr. Joseph T. Carter, of 
Urbana, Ohio, and was in time granted a diploma by the board of cen- 
sors. He practiced two } 7 ears at Mechanicsburgh and four years with 
Dr. Carter, and in 1830 came west, arriving at Danville on the 1st of 
June, 1830. Before leaving Ohio we may mention the fact that he 
built the first house in both the city of Springfield and Urbana, Ohio. 
In 1834 he became quite interested in politics, and for several terms 
was a member of the legislature and afterward of the senate. He was 
also a soldier in the Blackhawk war. He has been very active in the 
movements which resulted in bringing several railroads to Danville. 
In 1871 he gave to the I. B. & W. road the right of wa}' through a 
large tract of land in Oakwood township and five acres of land. The 
village of Fithian on this line of road was founded and named by the 
company in honor to the Doctor. He is a member of several of the 
medical associations, and is one among the oldest practicing physicians 
of the State of Illinois. 

John Q. Villars, Danville, farmer, was born in Clinton county, Ohio, 
on the 1st of May, 1830, and is the son of John and Elizabeth Villars. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. :i71 

Mr. Villars, with li is parents, came to Illinois and located in Vermilion 
county in 1830. Here Mr. Villars has resided ever since. He has been 
engaged in farming from the time he was able to hold the plow. He 
has held several offices of public trust, overseer of highways and school 
director of Danville township. He married on the 1st of January, 
1851, to Miss Rachael Olehy, who was born in Vermilion county and 
whose parents came to this county at an early day. They have five 
children, Mary E., James W., William D., John P. and Rebecca J., all 
born in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Villars are members of the M. E. 
church. He owns one hundred and eighty-four acres of fine improved 
land. 

Abraham Draper, Danville, retired farmer. The subject of this 
sketch is one of the old pioneers of Vermilion county. He was born 
in Washington county, Pennsylvania, on the 15th of February, 1804; 
his parents were James and Mary (Peden ) Draper ; his father was a 
native of Delaware and his mother of Pennsylvania. When Mr. Dra- 
per was but five years old he, with his parents, moved to Ohio and 
located on a farm in Clermont county, where he remained until 1830 
engaged in farming. He married in Clermont county on the 21st of 
October, 1827 (fifty-two years ago), to Miss Eliza Porter, of Westmore- 
land county, Pennsylvania. She was born on the 17th of January, 
1805. In 1830 Mr. Draper, with his wife and one child, came to Illi- 
nois and located in Vermilion county, near the present homestead here 
in Danville township, which has now been his home for forty-nine 
years. A tree stands on his farm that he remembers of noticing in 
1830. Mr. Draper came here very poor, having borrowed a horse and 
hired a wagon to bring himself, wife and family here from Ohio. He 
settled on congress land, and with hard labor and good management 
paid for the place in five years. His first one hundred pounds of 
flour was obtained on the other side of Attica, Indiana, and the second 
hundred weight was gotten on the other side of Covington. He 
found a market for his grain at Terre Haute and Chicago, and hauled 
it there in wagons. With hard work and economy he accumulated six 
hundred acres of land. He has given land to each of his children. He 
had two sons in the late war, Alexander S. and Abraham I., who did 
good service and were honorably discharged. Mr. and Mrs. Draper 
have been members of the Baptist church for the last forty-four years. 

Eben H. Palmer, Danville, cashier First National Bank, was born 
in Danville, Illinois, on the 10th of August, 1830, and is the son of 
Dr. A. P. Palmer, who was born in South Coventry, Connecticut, on 
the 9th of March, 1783. He, with his parents, moved to Vermont 
when he was very young, where he remained until he was about eigh- 



372 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

teen years old ; be then moved to the Black River country, in New 
York. At Moscow he commenced the study of medicine, and gradu- 
ated from a medical college, where he received his diploma and com- 
menced the practice of medicine in about 1824 or 1825. In 1826 he, 
with his wife and three children, came west to Indiana, coming down 
the Ohio River from Pittsburgh in a fiat-boat and then up the Wabash 
River, and located in Vermilion county on a farm, where he was en- 
gaged in farming and the practice of medicine, which extended to a 
circuit of forty miles. In 1828 they moved to Danville, Vermilion 
county, Illinois, where he was engaged at his profession and in the 
drug business in company with his son, E. F. Palmer, thus forming 
the firm of E. F. Palmer & Co., which was perhaps the first drug store 
in Danville. It was located on the corner of Main and Walnut, in the 
house now occupied by Mr. Woods, the hatter. Dr. Palmer continued 
his practice of medicine for a number of years, his circuit extending 
throughout Vermilion county. He was married three times ; twice in 
the east, and his third wife, Delia Hawkins (the mother of E. H. 
Palmer), he married in Vermilion county, Indiana. She was a native 
of West Bloomheld, New York, having come west with her parents at 
an early day; she died in 1851, and Dr. Palmer died in August, 1861. 
Thus one by one the old settlers of Vermilion county are passing be- 
yond the shore of the unknown river. By the marriage of Dr. A. R. 
Palmer and Delia Hawkins they had eight children ; of this family 
only three are now living, Clara, John J. and Eben H. Our subject 
at fourteen years of age commenced clerking in a drug store ; at 
twenty-five 3'ears of age he entered, in company with S. A. Humphreys 
and R. Partlow, the dry-goods business, which continued about two 
years. He then was appointed school commissioner, to fill the vacancy 
left by his uncle, N. D. Palmer, who died. In 1859 he entered the 
private bank of English & Tincher as clerk and book-keeper, which 
position he held until the organization of the First National Bank of 
Danville, when he was elected cashier, which position he has held ever 
since. In 1854 Mr. Palmer married Fannie B. Nelson, of Pennsylva- 
nia ; by this union they have four children. Mr. Palmer is a member 
of the Presbyterian church, of which his father was one of the founders 
and elders. 

Sarah Ann Olehy, Danville, was born in Kentucky on the 11th of 
October, 1822, and is the wife of the late Dennis Olehy, who was born 
in Ohio, on the 12th of October, 1802. In about 1830 he, with his 
mother (his father having died in Ohio) and one brother, came to Ver- 
milion county and located on the farm where Mrs. ( )lehy now lives. 
Flere he set out in farming, first building a place out of rails in which 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. :M-\ 

they might live. This served until they could find better quarters, 
which he afterward built with a linn tree, making a puncheon floor, a 
door and a table for the cabin. They came here very poor, he having but 
ten dollars in his pocket. His first clearing and farming was done with 
one horse, on a forty-acre farm very thick with timber and hazel-brush. 
He worked hard and faithfully, and before his death had accumulated 
two hundred and sixty acres of land. He married his first wife, Eliza- 
beth Glaze, in Vermilion county. She lived some sixteen years after 
marriage. He then married, on the 6th of May, 1847, to Miss Sarah 
Ann Jones, the subject of this sketch. Pie had eleven children — 
three by the first wife and eight by the second. Mr. Dennis Olehy 
died a good Christian, being a member of the Baptist Church for a 
number of years. He died on the 2d of March, 1877. Thus one by 
one the old settlers of Vermilion county are passing away. 

Edmund P. Jones, Danville, farmer, was born in Vermilion county, 
on the 13th of January, 1830, and is the son of William and Jane 
(Martin) Jones. His father was a native of Kentucky, and came to 
Vermilion county with his wife and family at an early day, locating on 
a farm and commenced farming, which he followed up to his death. 
William Jones was born on the 24th of February, 1796 ; died on the 
30th of October, 1859. Jane (Martin) Jones was born on the 15th of 
April, 1795 ; died on the 10th of September, 1867. They were mar- 
ried on the 25th of January, 1816. Edmund P. Jones was brought up 
on the farm, engaged in farming, and to-day he owns a good improved 
farm of one hundred and seventy-six acres, made by his own industry. 
He has twice been married : First to Sarah Cox, of Vermilion county, 
on the 19th of October, 1854 ; she died in 1858. He married the 
second wife, Mary E. Villars, on the 21st of February, 1861 ; she was 
born on the 11th of December, 1840. They have four children living. 
Mr. Jones is a member of the Christian Church. 

Joseph T. Ross, Danville, retired farmer. The above-named gentle- 
man is, perhaps, one of the best known and most respected citizens of 
Vermilion county. He was born in Mason county, Kentucky, on the 
30th of May, 1810, and is the son of John Ross, a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, who came to Kentucky at an early day, when there were plenty 
of Indians. There he remained until 1830, and then, with his wife and 
ten children, he came to Illinois and located in Vermilion county, on 
Stony creek. Here he died a respected and good citizen, leaving a 
wife and family to mourn his loss; his wife died on the farm. Mr. 
Joseph T. Ross has been engaged in farming from the time he was able 
to hold the plow until some years ago. He at one time owned eight 
hundred and fifty acres of fine land, and gave to each of his children 



::74 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

a fine farm. Mr. Ross made a trip from Vermilion county to New 
Orleans, Louisiana, on a fiat-boat loaded with produce. He had two 
sons in the late war, James and Hiram, who enlisted in the 125th 111, 
Vol. Inf. for three } 7 ears; both did good service. James served three 
years and was honorably discharged ; he died about 1871 with the 
heart disease and lung fever, contracted principally while in the war. 
Hiram, on the account of sickness, was honorably discharged ; he is 
now farming in Danville township, near his father's home. Mr. Ross 
has been married three times. His first wife was Minerva Ticknor, a 
native of New Hampshire and a daughter of James Ticknor, who came 
to Vermilion county with a family in about 1824 or 1825. He then 
married A. J. Black, a native of Kentucky; his third wife is Olivia 
Ann Morton, of New York ; he is the father of five children living — 
four by his first wife and one by the second. 

A. S. Williams, Danville, dealer in qneensware. A. S. Williams, 
of the firm of Hawes & Williams, was born in Danville on the 22d of 
August, 1831. His father, Amos Williams, whose name is found so 
often in the general history of this county, was, as will be found in that 
history, one of the early and prominent pioneers of the county. A. S. 
had been engaged in several kinds of business until February of 1877, 
when he and V. L. Hawes became proprietors of the establishment they 
are now running; Hawes having been in the business for several years 
previous to the organization of the present firm. Theirs is the only 
large and exclusively qneensware house in the city, their store-room 
being 22-| feet front bj 125 feet in depth, with a basement and part of 
the second story; in addition to this they have a ware-room 22^x30, 
All of this extensive establishment is well stocked with everything 
pertaining to the qneensware trade. Mr. Williams has never sought 
any favors of the public, but has always given liberally to any enter- 
prise pertaining to the public good; though, we may add, from 1875 
until 1878 he held the office of Commissioner of Highways. He is so 
old a resident of the city and so well known that any compliments of 
the press are wholly unnecessary. 

William C. Wait, Danville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 12th of July, 1831, and is the son 
of George and Nanc} r (Ray) Wait. His mother was a native of Indi- 
ana; his father, who was from New York, with parents, moved to 
Ohio and located near Columbus ; he then moved to Vigo county, 
Indiana, and there married. He and his wife then came to Vermilion 
county, Illinois, and located at Marysville in about 1826, where he was 
engaged in farming, and then moved on the farm now owned b}' Mr. 
Wait. His wife died in Marysville, and he, after going west and 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 375 

remaining two years in Missouri, one year in Texas and one in Ar- 
kansas, returned to Vermilion county, Illinois, and died in 1857, at the 
age of sixty-six ; he had married the second wife, Eulia Cox, who 
died in "Woodford county, Illinois. There are four children living — 
Stephen, James, Catharine, and William C, the subject of this sketch, 
who has since followed farming and stock-raising, owning a fine im- 
proved farm of three hundred and twenty acres of land. Mr. Wait 
lias been married three times. His first wife was Catharine Foley, now 
deceased ; his second wife was Margaret M. Moudy, and his third 
wife Sallie M. Farris. She was born in Monroe county, Indiana. He 
is the father of six children living — four by his second and two by his 
present wife. 

George M. Villars, Danville, farmer, was born in Vermilion county, 
Illinois, on his present farm, on the 16th of October, 1832, and is the 
son of John and Elizabeth Villars, who were among the early settlers 
of Vermilion county. Mr. Villars was raised on the farm, and has 
been engaged in farming on the old homestead since he was able to 
hold the plow up to the present time. He owns a fine improved farm 
of two hundred and six acres of land, and also eighty acres in Sidell 
township and eighty acres in Warren county, Indiana. Mr. Villars has 
held several offices of public trust, — school director and school trustee. 
The latter office he now holds. He was married in 1854 to Miss 
Amanda Srouf, of Indiana. They have ten children, all born on the 
old homestead. Mr. Villars is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, of which church he has been a member for the last twenty 
years. 

William Emley, Danville, farmer, was born in Vermilion county, 
Illinois, on the 11th of December, 1832, and is the son of Isaac and 
Rebecca (Hathaway) Emley. Isaac Emley was born in Virginia on the 
21st of April, 1806. He moved to Ohio with his parents when he was 
about two years old, and here remained for a number of years, engaged 
in farming. From Ohio he went to Perrysville, Indiana, where he was 
married in about 1829 to Rebecca Hathaway, who was born on the 4th 
of May, 1810, and died about 1874. From Perrysville they moved to 
Vermilion county, and located about four miles east of Danville; here 
he set out in farming. He was for a number of } r ears a preacher in the 
Christian Church, of which he was one of the founders in that neigh- 
borhood. He died on the 14th of June, 1877, on the farm adjoining 
that of Mr. E. P. Jones. Thus passed away another of the old settlers, 
honored and respected. Mr. William Emley, the subject of this sketch, 
has all his life been engaged in farming here in Vermilion county, with 
the exception of about two years, when he was herding and driving 



376 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

cattle. He was married in Vermilion county to Catharine Lynn, of 
Vermilion county, Indiana. They have four children living. Mr. 
Emley owns one hundred and ninety-six acres of land. 

Daniel Kyger, Danville, proprietor of Kyger's Mill. This gentle- 
man was born in Monroe county, Ohio, on the 22d of January, 1829, 
and is the son of John and Mary (Sheets) Kyger. He started from 
Grandview, Ohio, on the Ohio River, in a rlatboat for Illinois. They 
floated down the Ohio River to the mouth of the Wabash, and with 
ropes pulled the boat up stream to the Vermilion River, and camped a 
short distance up that stream. They landed and located in Vermilion 
county. Illinois, on a farm near Georgetown. Here Mr. Kyger was 
raised on the farm until he was about eighteen years old. He then 
commenced to work at the millwright business. In 1849 he, in com- 
pany with Win. Sheets, Thomas Morgan and IT. T. Kyger, commenced 
the erection of a steam flour-mill in Georgetown, which was the first 
steam flour-mill built in Vermilion county. In 1850 it was finished 
by Daniel Kyger, Thomas Morgan, N. Henderson and Son at a cost of 
about $6,000. This mill had three run of stone. Here Mr. Kyger re- 
mained in the mill until 1854. This year, in company with Nathaniel 
Henderson and Sons, he went to Danville and commenced the erection 
of what is now known as the Danville Flour Mills. This was also the 
first steam flour-mill erected in Danville. It had three run of stone 
and commenced grinding in 1856. Here Mr. Kyger remained about 
eight years. In 1865 he came to the present mill. This mill was first 
built by William Sheets and Thomas Morgan in about 1833, and com- 
menced grinding in 1834. It was known for a number of years as the 
Morgan & Sheets Mill. In connection with their grist-mill they 
erected a saw-mill. This was one of the first water mills in this neigh- 
borhood, and drew custom for forty miles around. The} r first com- 
menced with one run of stone, but soon after had two run of stone. 
Morgan & Sheets continued until about 1842. In 1850 Henry Kyger 
became owner of the mill. In 1865 the firm of Kyger Brothers was 
formed, and continued until 1873, when Mr. D. Kyger took full charge. 
In 1865 the Kyger Brothers made improvements to the mill at a cost 
of about $8,000. 

Henry Martin, Danville, farmer, was born in Elwood township, Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, on the 22d of February, 1S32, and is the son of 
Henry and Mary (Morgan) Martin, natives of Virginia, who made their 
home there at an early day. Mr. Martin, the subject of this sketch, was 
brought up on the farm and was engaged in farming until the breaking 
out of the late war, when he enlisted, on the 27th of August, 1861, 
for three years, in the 4th 111. Cav., Co. F, as private. He partici- 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 377 

pated in some of the most severe battles during the war, such as 
Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Shiloh. After serving his three years 
he reenlisted in the same regiment and served until the 29th of May, 
1866, having served four years, nine months and two days. He entered 
as private, but was promoted, first to sergeant, then to orderly sergeant 
and from that to first lieutenant. This office he filled for over one 
year. Mr. Martin had one horse shot from under him during one of 
the engagements. He was sick about four months, and with this ex- 
ception he served full time. At the close of the war he returned to 
Vermilion county, and has been a resident there ever since. Mr. Martin 
was married in 1854 to Miss Miranda H. Gebhart, daughter of Anthony 
and Ellen Gebhart, who made their home here in Vermilion county at 
an early day. By this marriage they have seven children. Mr. Martin 
has held several offices of public trust, — that of justice of the peace, 
constable and town collector of Georgetown township. In these offices 
he has given entire satisfaction. 

Martha McMillen, Danville, was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, 
on the 13th of October, 1821, and is the wife of the late R. H. McMil- 
len, M r ho was born in Ohio, near Columbus, on the 17th of June, 1816. 
His father was a farmer and a miller by trade, having in operation a 
flour and saw-mill on his farm. Here Mr. McMillen was engaged in 
working in the mill and on the farm. In 1832 he, with his parents, 
came to Illinois, and located in Vermilion county. His father built 
about the first saw and flour-mill in Denmark, and here Mr. McMillen 
helped his father. He was married near Denmark, in this county, to 
Martha Oder, the subject of this sketch. She moved with her parents 
from Kentucky to Cincinnati, Ohio, and from there to Vermilion 
county, Illinois, at an early day. Some twenty-two years ago they 
moved from Blount township to Danville township, on the farm oppo- 
site the present homestead, and from there they moved to where Mrs. 
McMillen still resides. Here Mr. R. H. McMillen died, on the 1th of 
May, 18T6, with ulcer of the stomach, after being sick some three 
months. Thus passed away one of the good old settlers of Vermilion 
county, and a man that was loved and respected by all. He and Mrs. 
McMillen had been members of the Christian Church for the last 
thirty years. They had two sons in the late war, — J. G. and fm. M. 
Both enlisted in the 125th 111. Vol. Inf., and did good service, being 
honorably mustered out. William is now farming on the old home- 
stead, and J. G. is farming in the county. By the marriage of R. H. 
McMillen to Martha Oder they had nine children, seven of whom are 
living. 

Joseph Peters, deceased. Joseph Peters, the subject of this sketch 



378 HISTOEY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

and whose portrait appears in this work, was born in Franklin county, 
Ohio, on the 19th of May, 1819. His father was a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, and his mother of Virginia. They were of English and German 
descent. But little of the surroundings of his early life is known. In 
1833 he came to Vermilion county, Illinois. For several years he was 
engaged in almost any honorable employment that would furnish 
means for him to complete his education. After completing his literary 
studies he began the study of law under Mr. J. J. Brown, of Danville. 
In 1840 he went to the city of Springfield to be examined, with a view 
to being admitted to the bar. Here he was directed to the residence 
of Mr. Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln had been married but a short 
time, and when called upon by Mr. Peters was found sitting in the 
shade of a tree, reading to Mrs. Lincoln. He often remarked many 
years afterward, when hearing people speak lightly of her, that he 
could only think of Mrs. Lincoln as he saw her when making that call 
— pleasant, social, and in every word and jesture a lady. After being 
examined by Mr. Lincoln, at the proper time and place he was admitted 
to the bar. From Springfield he went to Marion county, where he 
practiced law until 1845, when he returned to Danville. Here he fol- 
lowed the practice of his profession as a principal business. For a time 
he filled the office of police magistrate, and in 1858 was elected county 
judge. He also represented the county in the lower house, and at the 
time of his death, which occurred on the 4th of July, 1866, he was a 
member of the state senate. During the rebellion of 1861-65 Mr. 
Peters served his country as quartermaster of the 135th 111. Vol. Inf., 
a history of which regiment is found in this work. He was a member 
of the order of A. F. and A. M., and also of the M. E. Church. On 
the 20th of October, 1842, he was married to Miss Henrietta Blakeley, 
who is a native of Christian county, Kentucky. Their family consists 
of four children, as follows: Anna B., Mary E., Prier G. and "Willie. 
W. W. P. Woodbury, Danville, druggist and bookseller. One 
among the oldest residents of the city of Danville or of Vermilion 
county is Dr. W. W. R. Woodbury. He was born on the 19th of No- 
vember, 1824, in Ripley county, Indiana. In 1833 he came with his 
father's people to Vermilion county, Illinois. During his early life the 
Doctor had but few chances of getting an education. His father being 
permanently crippled, there were but few advantages to be had either 
by going to school, which was the old subscription system, or by study- 
ing at home. All due honor, however, must be given his father, who, 
to raise money to pay for the Doctor's last term of school, sold the old 
family clock. Not being able to give him the advantages he would 
like, his father allowed him to become a member of old Dr. Fithian's 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 



M9 




familv, with whom he began and completed the study of medicine, 
graduating at Rush Medical College, of Chicago, on the 7th of February, 
1850. Returning to Danville after graduating, he proposed to follow 
his profession ; but became interested in the drug trade with Dr. J. A. 
D. Sconce, and finally made it a permanent business. He began in the 
drug trade in April of 1850, and is now the only man engaged in the 
mercantile trade that was at that date doing business in the city of 
Danville. In company with John W. Myers, in 1859 he built the 
Lincoln Opera Hall, which at that time was the wonder of the country. 

The proprietors were laughed at 
very much for building their mon- 
ument of folly, as it was called. 
But real estate about that time 
taking an upward turn, Mr. Wood- 
bury came out all right. He has 
filled several public offices, among 
which may be mentioned that of 
commissioner of highways and the 
office of mayor of the city of Dan- 
ville. He has built some twelve 
or fifteen different buildings in the 
city and added four additions to the 
city plat. In 1853 Mr. Sconce sold out to Stephen and John W. Myers. 
In 1857 Stephen died, and Mr. Woodbury then bought their interest 
in the business, and has since conducted it alone. It is now twenty- 
nine years since he began on the same ground where he is still engaged 
as one of the successful men of Danville. 

Samuel Frazier, Danville. This gentleman, perhaps, is one of the 
best known and highly respected citizens of Vermilion county. He 
was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, on the 18th of September, 1806, 
and is the son of Samuel and Mary (Massey) Frazier, natives of Mary- 
land. His father was a boot and shoe-maker by trade; he was also a 
soldier of the war of 1812 — a major in General Harrison's army. In 
1818 he moved to Indiana and located in Dearborn county. Here he 
commenced farming, and remained there until 1838, when he came to 
Vermilion county and located where Catlin township now is. Here 
they set out in farming and remained until they both died, in Catlin 
township, and were buried in the Danville City Cemetery. Mr. 
Frazier, the subject of this sketch, remained on the farm in Ohio until 
1833; he then came to Vermilion county, Illinois, and entered two 
hundred acres of land. He returned to Ohio, and in 1834 came to Ver- 
milion county, which has been his home ever since; he came here 



LINCOLN OPERA HALL. 



380 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

witb his wife and one child, and settled in what is now Catlin town- 
ship; here he remained until 1838, when he moved to Danville. In 
1840 Mr. Frazier was elected sheriff of Vermilion county, and filled 
this office until 1846 ; in 1850 he was re-elected to the same office, and 
filled it until 1852; this office he filled with honor and credit to him- 
self and to the people of Vermilion county. When the announcement 
of the fall of Fort Sumter was made the people were at once aroused, 
and no time was lost in setting about to solve the problem as to what 
could be done to help to restore and save the union of the states. 
Captain Frazier raised company C of the 12th 111. Vol. Inf., which 
was the first company raised in Vermilion county. It was mustered 
in for three months and did good service. Mr. Frazier was captain and 
William Mann first lieutenant. Edward, the son of Captain Frazier, 
enlisted in company A, 71st 111. Vol. Inf., for three months. He took 
sick near Columbus, Kentucky, was brought home, and died with that 
dreadful disease, camp diarrhoea, in 1862. His remains were interred 
in the Danville City Cemetery. Captain Frazier married in Ohio, to 
Beulah Ann Finley, by whom they have had twelve children. 

Achilles Martin, post-office Danville ; real estate and abstract 
office, township Danville, was born in Georgetown. Vermilion coun- 
ty, Illinois, on the 25th of February, 1834, and is the son of Henry 
and Mary (Morgan) Martin, who were both natives of Virginia and 
among the first settlers of Vermilion county, having made their home 
here at an early day. Mr. Martin, our subject, was brought up on his 
father's farm, where he remained until he was about twenty-two years 
of age. In 1861, at the breaking out of the late war, he enlisted for 
three years in the 25th 111. Vol. Inf., Co. A, as private. He was 
in a number of the most severe battles fought during the war: Pea 
Ridge, Stone River, Chickasaw Mountain, siege of Atlanta and other 
engagements. He received a wound in the left arm. From private 
Mr. Martin rose to first sergeant, then to second lieutenant, and from 
thence to first lieutenant. In 1864 he was mustered out, at which time 
lie returned to Vermilion county. In 1868 he moved to Danville, 
which he has made his home ever since, and has here been engaged in 
the real estate and abstract business. Mr. Martin married Miss Lucre- 
tia Underwood, of Wisconsin. She died in 1859. He then married 
Miss Helena Monroe, of New York. He is the father of one child b} - 
his first wife. 

W. T. Cunningham, Danville, deputy circuit clerk. This gentle- 
man was born in Danville, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 8th of 
February, 1834, and is the son of Hezekiah Cunningham, who was 
born in Virginia on the 3d of March, 1803. He was the son of David 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 381 

and Nellie (Burnett) Cunningham. Both parents were of Irish descent. 
His father was a fanner. In 1819 Mr. Cunningham came west with 
his mother and the Murphy family, by wagon, taking them seven 
weeks in making the trip. They arrived and located on the North 
Arm, in Edgar county, Illinois, in the fall of 1819, there being but ten 
families in that part of the country. In 1825 Mr. Cunningham came 
to "Vermilion county and married Mary Alexander, daughter of John 
B. Alexander, by whom the}' had five children, two of whom are liv- 
ing, — the wife of Judge O. L. Davis and of W. T. Cunningham, the 
subject of this sketch. In 1828 Mr. Hezekiah Cunningham moved to 
Danville, where he has resided ever since. While a resident here he 
has been engaged in the mercantile business some ten years. He was 
a soldier in the Blackhawk war of 1832-3. His wife was born in 
1791, and died on the 5th of September, 1867. She was buried in the 
old Danville Cemetery. Mr. Cunningham helped to bury the first 
corpse in the Danville Cemetery, which was in 1828. W. T. Cunning- 
ham, our subject, was raised and educated in Danville. He was clerk 
in a drug store for five years, and for a number of years clerk in other 
departments here in Danville and Washington City. He was appointed 
collector of the seventh district by President A. Lincoln. During 
his term of office he collected over $3,700,000. He is now deputy cir- 
cuit clerk, which office he has filled for some eight years. Mr. Cun- 
ningham married, in 1859, Miss Lucy A. Lemon, daughter of John 
Lemon, one of the early settlers of Vermilion county. She died in 
1876. By this union they had five children, four of whom are living, 
two boys and two girls. 

Theodore Lemon, Danville, physician. Dr. Theodore Lemon, one 
of the old pioneers of Danville, was born on the 16th of December, 
1812. He began the study of medicine in Bunker Hill, Virginia, 
coming to Vermilion county in 1835. His first business was to teach 
a term of school in what at that time was the Presbyterian church. 
After this he began the practice of his profession, and at that early day 
was sometimes called upon to ride fifteen miles to attend the calls of 
his patients. He has passed a long life of usefulness in Vermilion 
county, and has seen and helped to make many of the changes in the 
development and improvement that have taken place since he became 
a resident of the county. He married Miss L. E. Sconce, who is a 
native of Kentucky. They have a family of eight children, six sons 
and two daughters. The doctor is of that class of men who have not 
been seekers of notoriety, yet he has made many warm friends, and 
will long be remembered by the citizens with whom he has spent so 
manv vears. 



382 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

William I. Moore, deceased. William I. Moore (now deceased) 
was probably as well known to the citizens of Danville and vicinity as 
any old resident of the county. He was born in the State of New 
Jersey in the year 1804. his ancestors being formerly of England. 
He came west and located in Vermilion county as early as the year 
1835, beginning in the mercantile trade, which he followed until 
1857, when he retired from active business. During the early days 
in this county, when it was impossible to do business with the rush 
and jam of the present times, Mr. Moore used to buy large quan- 
tities of flour, pork and other produce, which he used to stow away 
in a large wareroom which he had built at Perrysville, Indiana, and 
when sufficient quantities had accumulated he shipped to New Or- 
leans. His method of transportation was by the old-time fiatboat, 
well remembered by the early settlers, who thus transported their 
goods down the Wabash and Ohio rivers. About the year 1844 or 
1845 Mr. Moore served the people of this county as their represent- 
ative in the state legislature. In March of 1857 he was married to 
Miss Mary A. Rowland, daughter of Thomas Rowland, who was one 
of the early pioneers of Vermilion county. Coming to the county in 
the fall of 1826, he located at what was known for miles around as the 
salt-works. He remained there until the following spring, when he, 
with his family, moved to Champaign county, remaining there for 
about seven years. When he had completed all arrangements for 
returning to Vermilion county he was taken sick and died, leaving the 
family to return alone, which they subsequent^ did. Mr. Moore, after 
his marriage, remained a resident of Danville until his death, which 
occurred in April of 1877, he being in his seventy -fourth year. But 
little of the surroundings of his early life are known, but with over 
forty years of the latter part of his life many of the old citizens of this 
county are familiar. He was a man liberal in his support of all public 
institutions for the benefit of the people. After a residence of over 
forty years in this county he died, leaving a wife, but no children, to 
mourn his loss. 

E. R. Lynch, Danville, farmer, was born in what was then known 
as Harrison county, Virginia, on the 16th of May, 1830, and is the son 
of John and Mariah (Campbell) Lynch. His father, born on the 8th 
of July, 1794, was a cabinet-maker by trade, but lived on a farm. He 
moved from Virginia with his family to Lancaster, Ohio, where he 
remained about three years. He then went to Illinois, and located in 
Pontiac, Livingston county, which at that time had but two cabins in 
the town. He remained there but a short time when, in 1835, he 
came to Vermilion county, and here, on the 21st of July, 1836, he 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 383 

died, and was buried in the Lynch graveyard, being the first person 
buried in that graveyard. His wife (Mariah Campbell Lynch) died on 
the 22d of November, 1874; she was born on the 13th of February, 
1802. Here, on the farm, Mr. E. R. Lynch, the subject of this sketch, 
commenced farming at nine years of age, and has been engaged on the 
present farm since. He owns a fine improved farm, obtained by his 
hard work and industry. He was married on the 16th of September, 
1850, to Elizabeth Villars, who was born in Vermilion county, Illi- 
nois, on the 14th of September, 1834, and is the daughter of John and 
Elizabeth (Magee) Villars, whose biographies appear in this history ; 
they have had nine children, seven living. 

E. W. Cramer, Danville, farmer, was born in Virginia, on the 9th 
of September, 1825; son of John Cramer, of Virginia; both parents 
were of German descent. His father was a farmer, but a carpenter by 
trade. From Virginia they moved to Ohio, and remained there for 
about eight years; then, in about 1835, moved to Vermilion count}', 
Illinois. They first located in Blount township on a farm, and his 
father and mother died at a good old age. Thus passed away two of 
the old pioneers of Vermilion county. Mr. Cramer commenced a poor 
man, but by hard work and good management he owns one hundred 
and twenty acres of fine improved land. He married Maria Jane 
Hiller; she died, and he was married the second time to Malindia 
Albart. They have one adopted child, Charles W. Mr. Cramer's 
father was a soldier of the war of 1812 in the six month's service. 

C. J. Langley, Danville, farmer, was born in Vermilion county, Illi- 
nois, on the 25th of February, 1835, and is the son of Nathaniel and 
Margaret (Holthouser) Langley, both natives of Kentucky, who were 
married in Nelson county of that state, and with two children (Eliza- 
beth and Thomas) came to Illinois and located on a farm in Danville 
township, Vermilion county, in 1832. Nathaniel Langley was a sol- 
dier of the war of 1812. Having come here with moderate means, he 
entered one hundred and sixty acres of land, but with hard labor and 
good management he owned four hundred and eighty-seven acres. 
He died in March, 1848, at about sixty years of age. Margaret Langley 
died in 1864 or 1865 ; she was nearly sixty-five years old. Thus passed 
away two of Vermilion county's old and respected citizens. Both 
were buried in what is known as Langley's graveyard. Mr. Langley, 
the subject of this sketch, was brought up on the farm, and this busi- 
ness he has followed through life. He owns a fine improved farm of 
four hundred and sixty acres. Mr. Langley was married in 1865 to 
Miss Belle Anderson, of New York, by whom they have six children, 
Leona, Nora, Maggie, Hortense, Laura Belle and James Eosco. 



384 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Richard T. Leverich, Danville, farmer. The subject of this sketch, 
whose portrait appears in this work, was born in Queens county, New 
York, on the 27th of August, 1815, and is the son of John and Alletta 
(Berrien) Leverich. His father was a blacksmith by trade, and lived 
on a farm, and here Mr. Leverich was brought up, engaged in farming. 
In 1835 he, in company with Dr. Fithian, left New York for Danville, 
Vermilion county, Illinois. He had made arrangements with Dr. 
Fithian to clerk in his store. Mr. Leverich went to Dayton, Ohio, 
riding Dr. Fithian's horse from there to Indianapolis. From here he 
took the stage to Perrysville, Vermilion county, Indiana, and from 
there to Danville, where he arrived on the 14th of September, 1835, 
taking him about two weeks in making the trip. The first two years 
he clerked for Dr. Fithian at twelve dollars per month, and on account 
of business he worked for his board the third year. From there he 
entered into partnership with L. T. Palmer in the general store busi- 
ness. These gentlemen continued in partnership some fourteen years. 
From that he entered into partnership with his brother, J. G. Lev- 
erich, which connection continued about five years. Then Mr. Lev- 
erich continued alone in business some five years longer. He then 
came to the farm, where he has resided ever since. He was married 
in Danville, on the 22d of November, 1843, to Miss Lydia F. Gilbert, 
who was born in Ontario county, New York, on the 15th of Septem- 
ber, 1S22, and is the daughter of Solomon Gilbert, who was one of the 
pioneers of Vermilion county. Mrs. Leverich states that her parents 
brought the first stove to Danville. On her way to Danville from 
New York, with her parents, who came down the Ohio river in a flat- 
boat, she fell into the Ohio river at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and 
came near drowning. She was rescued by a stranger, after going 
under water the third time. By their union they have had seven chil- 
dren, five living. 

Edward L. Gutterridge, Danville, farmer, was born in Virginia in 
1799, and is the son of Edward and Elizabeth (Thrap) Gutterridge. 
Mr. Gutterridge, with his parents, moved to Ohio when he was very 
small. In 1835 he moved to Vermilion county, where he has been a 
resident ever since. He located on the present homestead, and here 
he has made nearly all the improvements. He was married in Ohio 
to Elizabeth Thompson. 

Levin T. Palmer, Danville, real estate and loan agent, was born on 
Long Island, New York, on the 3d of December, 1814. His father, 
( Jharles Palmer, was born on the 18th of December, 1790, in Newtown, 
New York ; he was engaged in farming, and died on the 30th of August, 
1*22. Mr. Palmer received a common-school education in his native 





DANVILLE . 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 385 

state. In 1835 he came west to Illinois, and in July of the same year 
located in Danville, which he lias made his home principally ever 
since. He first commenced to clerk for Dr. Fithian, having arrived 
here a poor boy, and with only twenty-rive dollars. He clerked one 
year for Dr. Fithian, and then went to Milwaukee, where he remained 
for several years, when he returned to Danville and entered the dry- 
goods and general store business in company with Richard T. Leverich, 
whose biography and portrait appears in this work. These gentlemen 
continued in business about fourteen years. From the mercantile busi- 
ness Mr. Palmer entered the loan and real-estate business with Thos. 
C. Forbes. This firm was dissolved, and Mr. Palmer then, in 1872, 
entered into partnership with his son, Charles J. Palmer, which firm 
to-day is L. T. and C. J. Palmer, real estate and loan agents. Mr. 
Palmer was married on the 17th of August, 1812, to Miss Esther Gil- 
bert, who was born in Ontario county, New York, on the 29th of No- 
vember, 1821, and is the daughter of Solomon Gilbert, who was born 
in Massachusetts on the 19th of June, 1787, and died on the 5th of 
February, 1857. He married Esther Green on the 6th of April, 1809; 
she was born in Massachusetts on the 13th of December, 1789; she 
died in Danville on the 31st of January, 1839. Solomon Gilbert, when 
very young, moved with his parents to Ontario county, New York, 
where he married Esther Green, a daughter of Captain Henry Green, 
who was a soldier of the war of 1812; Mr. Gilbert also was a soldier 
of the war of 1812. In 1828 they started for the far west, and arrived 
in Danville in July, after being out since April. They came via Pitts- 
burgh, Pennsylvania, by flatboat to Cincinnati, then by wagon to Iro- 
quois county. Mr. Gilbert built the first grist-mill in Danville. 

M. A. McDonald, Danville, hardware merchant. The subject of 
our sketch was born on the 11th of November, 1836, in Vermilion 
county, Illinois, and is the son of Alexander McDonald, who was born 
in Elbert county, Georgia, on the 11th of February, 1796. Mr. Alex- 
ander McDonald was engaged in farming, and moved from Georgia to 
Tennessee. He was married on the 21th of November, 1818, in Lin- 
coln count}', to Katherine, daughter of John B. Alexander. She was 
born on the 20th of April, 1800. From Tennessee they moved to Illi- 
nois, and located in Vermilion county about 1821. The land not being 
surveyed they moved to Edgar county, where they raised one crop, 
when they returned to Vermilion county and located on the Little 
Vermilion river, near Indianola, on a farm, where he remained for a 
number of years. He then moved to Georgetown to school his chil- 
dren. He had held several offices of public trust ; he was assessor and 
collector for several years. He died in Georgetown about 1861. Thus 
25 



386 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

passed away one of the pioneers of Vermilion and Edgar comities, — a 
man that was loved and respected by all. M. A. McDonald, our sub- 
ject, remained on the farm until he was about eighteen years old, when 
he entered school, where he received a common-school education. He 
then commenced clerking in his father's drug-store in Georgetown, 
and from there he went to Pontiac. He was married in Terre Haute 
to Anna W. Jackson ; she was born on the 17th of Jul} 7 , 1840, and is 
the daughter of Charles D. Jackson, of New York, who moved west 
and settled in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1817, and from there he went to 
Terre Haute. By this marriage they have had eleven children. In 
1861 Mr. McDonald came to Danville and commenced clerking in a 
dry-goods store. He then went into the hardware business, and has 
continued in this since. 

J. G. Davidson, Danville, farmer, was born in Rockbridge county, 
Virginia, on the 24th of June, 1817, and is the son of John and Eliza- 
beth (Goodbar) Davidson, of Virginia. His father was a carpenter by 
trade, and followed farming; he was also a soldier of the war of 1812. 
They both died in Virginia. Mr. Davidson first went to Ohio in 1835, 
and remained there until 1837, when he came to Vermilion county, 
Illinois. Here he was first engaged in school-teaching, and was the 
first regular school-teacher. He organized the first singing-class in 
that neighborhood which is now Catlin township. He taught school 
until 1840. He married Harriet J. Rodgers, of Butler county, Ohio, 
the daughter of Samuel and Annie Rodgers. They have eleven chil- 
dren. Mr. Davidson has held the office of school-director for a num- 
ber of years. He had one son in the late war, John G., who enlisted 
in the 125th 111. Vol. Inf. (a history of which regiment appears in this 
work) ; he, after serving about eight months, took sick, and was honor- 
ably discharged. 

George Dillon, Danville, clerk of the circuit court. This gentle- 
man was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, near Georgetown, on the 
16th of January, 1837, and is the son of Luke and Charity (Wright) 
Dillon. His father was born in North Carolina in 1790, and moved at 
an early day to Ohio, where he, married Miss Charity Wright, who 
died in Vermilion county, Illinois, in 1838. She was the mother of 
ten children. From Ohio Mr. Luke Dillon moved and located in Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, in 1830, on a farm near Georgetown, where he 
was engaged in farming. He married the second wife, Miss Sarah 
Haworth. He died in 1852, and was interred in the cemetery of the 
Friends, near Georgetown, where rest the remains of his first wife, 
they both having been connected during life with this religious order. 
Mr. Dillon, the subject of this sketch, was engaged in farming until 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 387 

the breaking out of the late war. He enlisted as private in Co. D, 
125th 111. Yol. Inf., for three years; he did good service, and partici- 
pated in some of the most prominent battles. He was wounded June, 
1864, in a skirmish after night near Dallas, Georgia, and from the 
effects of this he lost his right arm ; he was first sent to the hospital at 
Chattanooga, then to Nashville, Tennessee, and finally to Mound City, 
Illinois, where he received his final discharge in 1865. He returned 
to Vermilion county, and in 1866 he moved to Georgetown. Mr. Dil- 
lon has held several offices of public trust. In 1866 he was elected 
town clerk of Georgetown township; in 1867 he was elected assessor 
and collector of the same township, and in 1868 reelected to the same 
office; in the fall of 1868 he was elected to the office he now nils, and 
in which he has served since he was first elected. He has ably and 
punctually discharged the duties of these offices, and shares, as a result, 
a gratifying degree of popularity. The officers of Vermilion county, 
more than any other gathering of county officers in the state, are sol- 
diers, and to their honor be it said they are, without exception, soldiers 
who earned their spurs by the faithful performance of duty, their cour- 
age in action and their meritorious conduct. No higher tribute could 
be paid to the people of Vermilion county than to take a stranger into 
the court-house, and point out the maimed heroes of the w T ar busily 
filling the positions that the people of Vermilion county have be- 
stowed upon them. Mr. Dillon married in Vermilion county, on the 
7th of March, 1861, Miss Desdamona Martin, the daughter of Henry 
and Mary (Morgan) Martin, who made their homes in Vermilion 
county in about 1818. By this marriage they have had seven children, 
five living. 

William Bandy, Danville, money-broker. This subject is one of 
the old pioneers of Vermilion county. He was born in Bedford county, 
Virginia, on the 22d of July, 1812, and is the son of James and Nancy 
(Brown) Bandy, both natives of Virginia. His father was a farmer, 
and about 1820 he moved to Tennessee, near Nashville. Mr. Bandy 
remained in Virginia, working on the farm, until 1828, and then, with 
his brother, Washington Band}', who died in about 1837, and Samuel 
Howell and wife, he came by wagon and team to Illinois, and located 
in Vermilion county, taking about forty days to make the journey. 
Mr. Bandy came here very poor. He first was engaged in clerking in 
an Indian store, which was a trading-point for Gurdon S. Hubbard. 
When he came here he located on one hundred and sixty acres of land, 
but his brother married, and moved on the place and improved it. Mr. 
Bandy was also clerking for Dr. W. Fithian in a general store. About 
this time the Blackhawk war broke out, and he enlisted as a volun- 



388 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

teer under Colonel Moore; with a command- of about four hundred 
men went to Joliet and built the fort at that place. Here was where 
the first man was killed by the Indians out of this regiment. From 
Joliet the regiment reported at Ottawa, and from there they returned 
home. He enlisted the second time, after making two applications, 
and did service in Illinois and Wisconsin. During this time the sol- 
diers suffered very much from cholera in Wisconsin. All returned 
home except sixteen men who remained there until the time expired. 
Mr. Bandy was one of the sixteen men. He returned to Danville, and 
was made marshal of this district. He read medicine for a short time. 
On the 16th of October, 1833, he married Harriet J. Murphy, daugh- 
ter of William Murphy, who was one of the first settlers of Edgar 
county, Illinois, having moved there about 1818. Mrs. Bandy was 
born in Virginia on the 27th of July, 1812; came to Edgar county, 
Illinois, with her parents. B} r this union they have had seven chil- 
dren, five boys and two girls. They had two sons in the late war y 
William M. and Samuel J., and both did good service. Mr. Bandy, 
at the breaking out of the late war, took an active part in raising a 
company of cavalry, but on account of the quota being filled he was 
rejected. Many are the interesting stories of the good old times in 
Vermilion county that Mr. Bandy can relate. 

The Giddings family. There is probably not an old settler in the 
city of Danville or Vermilion county but who, if he were asked 
who the Giddings family are, would answer without any hesitation, 
" One among the first and most honorable families of the county." 
Mr. William Giddings, the father of the family, and whose portrait 
appears in this history, was born in Silso, Bedfordshire, England, on 
the 8th of January, 1813; his death occurred on the 20th of Septem- 
ber, 1875, the superscription upon the silver tablet of his metallic 
burial-case being as follows : " William Giddings. Died September 
20, 1875. Aged 62 years, S months and 12 days." His wife, who 
died on the 25th of May, 1874, was also a native of England. She 
was born on the 29th of July, 1814. They were married on the 3d of 
December, 1834. They came to the United States in 1837, coming 
direct to Danville, where they arrived on the 21st day of April of the 
year above mentioned. At the date of their deaths they were both 
consistent members of the North Street Methodist Episcopal Church. 
They came to Danville during the pioneer days of the county, and 
were obliged to put up with many of the hardships and privations 
incident to pioneer life. Mr. Giddings was a manufacturer of wagons, 
carriages and plows, and began business in Danville when it was nec- 
essary to go to the timber to find a tree whose crooked growth was of 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 389 

the proper shape for the manufacture of mold-boards, which he used in 
the construction of plows of that date. Beginning business in this 
manner, he, by a life of energy, honest industry and a close attention 
to his business, accumulated a property of one hundred and seventy- 
five thousand dollars. Danville, at his death, mourned the loss of one 
of her best citizens. The citizens, in respect for him, closed their busi- 
ness houses during the funeral services. His four sons, to whom the 
following sketch relates, are among the honorable business men of the 
city, and have not thus far disgraced the teachings of their father in a 
single instance. J. "W. Giddings, the eldest of the four sons, was born 
in Danville on the 21st of April, 1842. His early life was spent with 
his father, with whom he learned the trade of manufacturing wagons 
and carriages. In 1863 he entered the Union army in the war of 
1861-65, enlisting first in Co. A, 71st Regiment, three-months ser- 
vice. Upon the completion of this term of service he again enlisted, 
this time in the 135th 111. Vol. Inf., Co. K. On returning from the 
army he again became a resident of Danville, and in 1879 began busi- 
ness in his present line (that of heav} T hardware), his partner being 
Mr. J. A. Patterson, and the firm name being Giddings & Patterson. 
They are located on the corner of Main and Franklin streets. They 
are the only dealers in this line of goods in the city. Though they 
have been engaged in the business but a short time the}' have every 
prospect of success. Charles H. Giddings, the second eldest of the 
brothers, is also a native of Danville. He was born on the 11th of 
March, 1844. He also learned the trade of his father, and for some 
time after his father retired from the business in 1865, was, in com- 
pany with his brother, John W., and O. S. Stewart, engaged in the 
same line of manufacture under the firm name of Giddings, Stewart & 
Co. They were together about nine years, when the brothers bought 
the interest of Mr. Stewart, and continued the business together for 
about one and one-half years. He then sold out to his brother, John 
W. He, Mr. I. H. Philips, and his brother, John W., were the exec- 
utors of his father's large estate. This business they settled to the sat- 
isfaction of all parties interested, and without any of the wrangling 
which so often occurs in the division of a large property. One request 
in the will of Wm. Giddings was that all his children might be pleased 
and satisfied with his apportionment of the property. Charles H. was 
appointed receiver of the Vermilion County Grange, when that insti- 
tution collapsed. This business he also settled up satisfactorily. He 
has recently engaged, in company with Mr. Ganor, in the ice trade ; 
they have begun only on a small scale, but they have commenced with 
a view of increasing the business as they become familiar with it. 



390 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

They began business in 1879. He, like the rest of the brothers, is a 
good financier, and there is but little doubt of his success in this under- 
taking. George E. Giddings, the third son, is now junior member of 
the firm of Smith & Giddings, proprietors of the Lustro Mills. He 
was born in Danville on the 20th of July, 1848. His early life having 
been spent at home, he very naturally learned the business of his father. 
For five years previous to his engaging in the milling business, he had 
been engaged in the hardware trade. Closing out business in this line, 
he, in March, 1875, became a partner of Mr. Smith in the Lustro Mills. 
Though not a practical miller by trade, he has already become quite 
familiar with the business. He, like the others, seems to have chosen 
a business that, with proper energy and industry, can only bring him 
success. Albert Giddings, the youngest of the four sons, was born 
in Danville on the 3d of December, 1850. He, like his brothers, has 
received a good education, and like them also the early part of his life 
was spent at the business in which his father was engaged. He is now 
junior member of the firm of Johns & Giddings, dealers in groceries, 
the partnership having been formed in September of 1876. The build- 
ing they occupy belongs to him, and is located on the corner of Main 
and Hazel streets. It is a fine brick structure, built by his father in 
1866. In size it is 21 feet front by 85 feet deep, two stories and base- 
ment, and is known as the Giddings block. Here he may be found 
during business hours engaged in a business that, if one may judge by 
his pleasant and courteous treatment of friends and customers, is both 
pleasant and profitable. In conclusion, we may say it has seldom been 
our good fortune to meet a family of brothers situated similar to these 
four, who seem each to have the friendship for the other that existed 
in the times gone by when they were four boys under the care and 
guidance of their parents. We can only add that there are three sis- 
ters, whom we hope will be pleased with our sketch of the Giddings 
family, and our only apology for its being less complete than they 
might wish, is an ignorance of the necessary facts relative to themselves. 
E. W. Eakin, Danville, county treasurer, was born in what was then 
known as Wythe county, Virginia, on the 12th of August, 1828, and 
is the son of Samuel and Sarah (Lockett) Eakin. His mother was a 
native of Virginia, and his father of Georgia. He was a farmer. In 
1838 Mr. Eakin, with his parents, moved to Vermilion county, Illinois, 
and located on a farm in Georgetown township. Here Mr. Eakin was 
brought up, engaged in farming in the summer and in the winter 
months attending school. He received his principal education in the 
Georgetown Seminary, then one of the leading institutions of learning 
in eastern Illinois. He, when twenty years old, was engaged in teach- 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 391 

ing school. The first school which he taught was in Coles county, and 
of that county he was afterward appointed assistant county surveyor. 
From there he was engaged in stock-trading and farming. In 1859 he 
was married in Vermilion county, Illinois, to Miss Ellen M. Fairbank, 
of Vermont. He then moved to a farm in Carroll township, this 
county, where he was engaged until 1862, when he enlisted for three 
years in the 125th 111. Vol. Inf., Co. D., as fourth sergeant. He did 
good service, and participated in some of the most prominent battles 
during the war. He was in the battle of Perrysville, Chickasaw 
Mountain, siege of Atlanta and Jonesborough, Georgia. Here Mr. 
Eakin received a very painful wound in the face while his company 
was making an assault on the enemy's works. He was honorably mus- 
tered out at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1865, when he returned home to 
Vermilion county, where he was engaged in farming. In 1877 he was 
nominated and elected by the republican party treasurer of Vermilion 
county, which office he now holds. Mr. Eakin is a strong republican 
in politics, and has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
for the last forty years. 

Joseph Smith, Danville, miller. The Lustro Mills, which are now 
so well known to the people of Vermilion county, were built in 1870 
by Knight & Fairchild, the firm making several changes before the 
present proprietors, Smith & Giddings, took it. This firm was estab- 
lished in 1875, though Mr. Smith, the senior member of the firm, was 
connected with the mills as early as 1874. The mills have three run 
of stone and a capacity of flouring about forty barrels per day. Their 
trade is both merchant and custom milling. 

Mr. Joseph Smith was born on the 1st of August, 1819, in Oxford- 
shire, England. In 1834 he came to the United States with his people, 
they locating in Herkimer county, New York. He came to Vermilion 
county as early as 1838, though he only remained about one year. In 
1840 he began learning the trade of a miller in Elmira, New York. 
He remained milling in that state about ten years, then came to 
Indiana and began in the same business at La Fayette. From there he 
went to Lebanon, Boone county, Indiana, where he purchased an 
interest in a mill and continued the business until about 1855, when 
he came to Vermilion county and located at Myersville, still in the 
same line. From there he came to Danville, and was for one year 
connected with M. M. Wright. About this time he was unfortunate 
enough to have a team run away with him, and by this accident was 
crippled for five years. There seemed sometimes to him to be but 
little chance of recovery, but he did recover, and at present may be 
found almost any time at the Lustro Mills or on his farm, which is 



392 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

located close to the city, a pleasant, genial gentleman as well as a good 
financier. 

E. J. Draper, Danville, grocer, was born in Vermilion county in 
1838, and is the son of Jonathan and Filena (Galusha) Draper, his 
mother being the daughter of Governor Galusha. When he was five 
years old his people moved to the State of Vermont, and there E. J. 
remained until the age of nineteen years, receiving his education at 
North Bennington. In 1857 he came west, stopping at Sidney, where 
he engaged in business, and from that time until thirteen years ago, 
when he began business in Danville, in the grocery trade, was engaged 
in different kinds of business and in different localities. In Septem- 
ber of 1862 he entered the Union army in the war of the rebellion, 
enlisting in Co. C, 125th 111. Vol. Inf., three-years service, Captain 
Win. W. Fellows. He participated in many of the heavy battles, 
among which ma} r be mentioned the battle of Perrysville, siege of 
Chattanooga, and the Atlanta campaign. During this campaign, for 
about three months, there was fighting nearly all the time. During 
his service he was a part of the time engaged as adjutant's clerk and 
some of the time as hospital steward. When he returned from the 
war, in 1865, he was for a time employed in the office of J. C. Short, 
county clerk. After engaging in the grocery trade, he was for eight 
years located on Main street, but is now at No. 62 Vermilion, where he 
has an establishment 20 x 110, well stocked with everything pertaining 
to the grocery business. 

Samuel G. Craig, Danville (deceased), was one of the old pioneers 
of Danville. He was born in the state of Kentucky in 1812. From 
that state he moved to Indiana, and from there to Danvylle in 1838. 
For twelve years he filled the office of circuit clerk. He then engaged 
in the dry-goods trade, which he followed for many years. For a time 
he represented Vermilion county in the state legislature. His death 
occurred in 1871. In 1856 Mr. Craig was married to Mrs. Gilbert. 
She is the daughter of Henry Klien, and a native of the state of Penn- 
sylvania. Her home is still in Danville. 

Frank M. Riley, farmer, lives in Indiana, was born in Vermilion 
county, Indiana, on the 14th of April, 1844, and is the son of Jacob 
and Elizabeth (Nichols) Riley. Mr. Riley's father, Jacob Riley, was 
born in Hardin county, Kentucky, on the 10th of February, 1803. In 
1827 he came to Perrysville, Vermilion county, Indiana, and was en- 
gaged in the saddle and harness business for about twelve years. He 
was married in Perrysville, in 1831, to Elizabeth Nichols, of Virginia. 
From Perrysville they moved to Vermilion county, Illinois, some forty 
years ago. Here Mr. Riley has been a resident ever since. His first 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 393 

wife died on the old homestead. He then married the second time to 
Catharine Blunk, of Kentucky. He is the father of five children, liv- 
ing, all by his first wife. Mr. Frank M. Riley was brought up on the 
farm, engaged in farming. He, in 1861, at the first call, enlisted in the 
hundred-day service in the 71st 111. Vol. Inf., Co. H, and did good 
service. He was honorably mustered out. Mr. Riley is a member of 
the Perrysville, No. 344, Masonic society. He is a republican in poli- 
tics. He was married in 1877, to Miss Martha W. Rodgers, of Warren 
county, Indiana, daughter of Elisha and Mary Ann Rodgers. Mr. 
Riley is flagman for the Evansville, Terre Haute & Chicago Railroad, 
which makes it convenient for any one to get on the cars at his farm, 
as it is a flag station. He also took an active part in helping to get 
the right of way for this railroad in this vicinity. Mr. Riley was in 
Wayne county, Illinois, one and one-half years, in the stock business. 

R.M.Price & Bro., Danville, livery stable. These gentlemen were 
both born in Vermilion county, Illinois. R. M. Price was born on the 
9th of April, 1840, on his father's farm, where he remained until he 
became of age. He then commenced school-teaching, and from that 
he commenced the practice of law in Danville. In 1863 he enlisted in 
the late war, in Jacksonville, Illinois, in the 61st 111. Vol. Inf., Co. A. 
He was detailed as clerk in the quartermaster's department, and then 
in the United States arsenal at Little Rock, Arkansas, and from there 
he went to Franklin, Tennessee. He then went to Nashville, where 
he acted as clerk for the government. He remained in service until 
the close of the war. His brother, Thomas J. Price, was born in 1842, 
and was raised on a farm. In 1861 he enlisted in the late war, in the 
125th 111. Vol. Inf., Co. B, for three years, but after serving about nine 
months, he took sick and was discharged, returning to Vermilion 
county. These gentlemen to-day own one of the leading livery stables 
of Danville. They keep on hand twelve horses, with a good stock of 
carriages and buggies. Their father, Lloyd H. Price, was born in Pike 
county, Ohio, in 1812, and is the son of Robert G. Price, who, with a 
family, came to Illinois and located in Vermilion county, near Den- 
mark, in 1835. Here Robert G. Price died in 1850, and he and his 
wife were buried on the farm near Denmark. Lloyd H. Price remained 
on his father's farm until he was about twenty three years of age, when 
he married Minerva Howard, who was born in Pike county, Ohio, in 
1817. By this union they had nine children, four of whom are living. 
Lloyd H. Price commenced farming, a poor boy, but with hard work 
and good management had accumulated considerable property, and was 
recognized as one of the most successful farmers of Vermilion county. 
He owned sixteen hundred acres of fine land, and other valuable prop- 



394 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

erty. He died a christian, being a member of the Christian Church. 
He departed this life in 1876, respected and honored, and was buried 
at Newell Grove, in Newell township, in the graveyard where his wife 
was buried in 1864. 

Oliver L. Davis, Danville, judge of the circuit court, was born in 
New York city on the 20th of December, 1819, and is the son of Wm. 
and Olivia (Thompson) Davis. His father was a native of New York, 
and was born near Saratoga Springs. He was a commission merchant 
in New York city. Judge Davis received his principal education at 
an academy in New York state. He was in the employ of the Amer- 
ican Fur Company as clerk for seven years. In 1841, in company with 
J. G. Leverich, Esq., he came west and located in Danville, Illinois, 
where he has made his home ever since. Here he commenced the 
study of law with Isaac P. Walker in December, 1842, and was ad- 
mitted to practice law at the Illinois state bar. While at his profession 
he associated himself as law partner with Colonel O. F. Harmon and 
J. B. Mann, Esq. In 1851 Judge Davis was elected by the democratic 
party a member of the legislature. In 1857 he was elected to the 
same office by the republican party. In 1861 he was made judge of 
the twenty-seventh circuit. In 1861, when the new circuit was formed, 
he was reelected. This office he filled until 1866, when he resigned. 
In 1873 he was elected judge of the fifteenth circuit. In 1877 he was 
made a member of the appellate court, third district. By the consoli- 
dation of the fifteenth and sixteenth circuits the fourth judicial circuit 
was formed, and Mr. Davis has been judge of this circuit ever since it 
was organized. Judge Davis was married on the 5th of December, 
1844, in Danville, Illinois, to Miss Sarah M. Cunningham, who was 
born in Illinois on the 3d of September, 1827. She is the daughter of 
Hezekiah Cunningham, one of the pioneers of Vermilion county, Illi- 
nois. By this union they have six children. 

John G. Leverich, Danville, master in chancery, whose portrait 
appears in this work, is a fair example of what may be attained by per- 
severance, industry and energy. He was born on the 10th of October, 
1819, in Newtown, Queens county, New York, a suburb of New York 
city, and is the son of John and Alletta (Berrien) Leverich, both 
natives of New York. John Leverich, the father of Mr. Leverich, was 
a blacksmith by trade, and followed farming. He was a sergeant in a 
company of New York militia in the war of 1812. Both parents died 
on Long Island, New York. At fourteen years of age Mr. Leverich 
accepted a clerkship in New York city, where he remained until 1841. 
This year, in company with Judge O. L. Davis, he set out for the far 
west, arriving and locating the same year in Danville, which has been 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 895 

his home ever since. Here he commenced clerking in a store, and from 
that he entered the mercantile business in company with his brother, 
R. T. Leverich, keeping a general stock of merchandise. He continued 
in business with his brother about five years. In 1860 he was appoint- 
ed master in chancery, which office he has held ever since, and to-day 
is perhaps the oldest master in chancery in the state of Illinois. He 
has ably and punctually discharged his official duties, and shares as a 
result a gratifying degree of popularity. In 1847 Mr. Leverich mar- 
ried Miss Sarah Tilton, by whom they have had five children, two de- 
ceased. In politics he is a republican, of which party he has been a 
member ever since its organization. 

Francis M. Allhands, Danville, ex-county treasurer, was born in 
Montgomery county, Indiana, on the 17th of January, 1832, and is the 
son of Andrew and Margaret (Swank) Allhands. His father, a native 
of Ohio, was engaged in farming. He moved, with his wife, from Ohio 
to Indiana, where she died. He then married Mrs. Martha Campbell, 
formerly Miss Willhite. By these two companions he raised a family 
of nine children, — five by the first and four by the second. Mr. 
Allhands can trace his family through the paternal line back to Ger- 
many, when his great-grandfather came over from that country to 
America. In 1842 Mr. Allhands, with his parents, moved to Vermilion 
county, Illinois, and located in what is now Catlin township. Here 
they set out in farming, and here, also, his father, born in 1806, 
died in 1851. Mr. Allhands learned the carpenter and joiner's trade, 
which business he engaged in until the breaking out of the war. In 
the fall of 1861 he enlisted as a recruit in Co. E, 35th 111. Yol. Inf., and 
participated in some of the most severe battles. In the engagement at 
Pea Ridge, Arkansas, he was struck three times with grape and musket 
balls. One very painful wound was in the big toe, by which he was 
temporarily disabled, and fell a prisoner into the enemy's hands. He 
was taken to the hospital with the rest of the wounded, and there 
bound up his own wound, which bled quite freely, thus making it look 
more severe than it really was. The next day they received orders 
that all who could walk would be obliged to move forward; but seeing 
Mr. Allhands' foot bandaged and bloody, they allowed him to remain 
with a rear guard, who left him in a farm-house by the roadside. He 
managed to get hold of an old broken-down mule, which he rode back 
to the Union lines, and rejoined his regiment. He was afterward en- 
gaged in the battles of Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge 
and other battles. He was again wounded at Tunnel Hill, or Rocky 
Face, Georgia, from the effects of which it became necessary to ampu- 
tate his right foot, which was done at Nashville, Tennessee, on the 18th 



396 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

of July, 1864. Mr. Allhands entered the army as a private, but on his 
soldierly qualities he was promoted to second, and afterward to first, 
lieutenant. He was honorably mustered out of the service at Nash- 
ville, Tennessee. Mr. Allhands has held several offices of public trust, 
and has proven himself a man of acknowledged ability. In 1865 he 
was elected assessor and collector of Catlin township. In 1867 he was 
elected treasurer of Vermilion county, Illinois, and held the office for 
ten years. On the 4th of March, 1858, he married Mary J. Hilliary, 
daughter of George and Sarah Hilliary, who were among the early 
settlers of Vermilion county. Mr. Allhands is the father of seven chil- 
dren ; three died with scarlet fever. 

William H. Newlin, Danville, deputy circuit clerk, was born in 
Georgetown, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 4th of September, 
1842, and is the son of John and A. (Henderson) Newlin. His father 
was born in North Carolina. He was a saddler by trade, and coming 
west located in Indiana about 1830. In 1832 he came to Illinois, and 
was for a number of years a justice of the peace. Mr. William H. 
Newlin received his principal education at Georgetown. He was a 
soldier in the late civil war*. He enlisted July, 1862, as a private in 
Co. C, 73d 111. Vol. Inf. (a history of which regiment appears in this 
work). He participated in some severe battles, and was taken prisoner 
by the enemy in the battle of Chickatnauga, Georgia, on the 20th of 
September, 1863. He was taken to Richmond, Virginia, where he 
remained until the 14th of November, 1863, when the prisoners were 
moved to Danville, Virginia. Here the small-pox had made its ap- 
pearance among the prisoners, and on the 14th of December Mr. New- 
lin was taken sick with that disease, and was sent to the hospital, 
where, after receiving sufficient strength, on the night of the 19th of 
February, 1864, with five other Union soldiers, he made his escape and 
set out for the Union lines. Mr. Newlin has written and published a 
very interesting work of one hundred and twelve pages, relating their 
escape to the Federal camp. Of the six that made their escape only 
four are known to have ever reached the Union lines, and they arrived 
there on the 20th of March, 1864, and on the 29th of March they 
reported at post-headquarters at Cincinnati, Ohio, where they received 
a furlough. Mi 1 . Newlin arrived home on the 3d of April. His visit 
was unexpected, and the first intimation his parents had received for 
many weeks that he was yet alive was when he entered the old home. 
Mr. Newlin rejoined his regiment, and served until the close of the 
war, being made first lieutenant of his company. At the close of the 
war he returned to Georgetown, where he was engaged in the mercan- 
tile business about three years. Mr. Newlin has held several offices of 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 397 

public trust. He was collector and assessor, township clerk and school- 
director ; he tilled each of these offices for several years with marked 
ability, giving entire satisfaction. In 1876 he was made deputy circuit 
clerk, which office lie has filled ever since. Mr. Newlin was married 
in 1868 to Miss Amanda Ann Hawes, of Georgetown, daughter of Dr. 
A. Hawes, one of the pioneers of Vermilion county. B3 7 this marriage 
they have three children. 

G. W. Hooton, Danville, lumber dealer, is a native of Clermont 
county, Ohio, though he came to Vermilion county with his people 
when he was but seven years old. This was in 1842, and he has since 
remained a resident of the county. During his early life he had not 
the advantages of getting an education that are enjoyed by the present 
generation, though he improved all opportunities and became a fair 
scholar. He did some farming; learned the trade of a carpenter and 
joiner, at which he did some work, and taught several terms of school, 
as well as spending about three years on the road, though this was 
in later years. The firm of Hankey & Hooton has been familiar to 
the people since 1876, the Mr. Hankey being a brother of his present 
partner, Mr. C. F. Hankey, who became a member of the firm on the 
1st of January, 1879. Mr. Hooton has dabbled a little in political 
affairs, having been a member of the city council during the years 
1873, 1874 and 1875. He is also W. M. of the Olive Branch Lodge of 
A. F. and A. M. In business affairs they have established a good 
trade and reputation, their trade now amounting to about twenty-five 
thousand dollars per year. 

William Cast, Danville, farmer, was born in Clinton county, Ohio, 
on the 17th of April, 1821, and is the son of A. and Mary (Villars) 
Cast. His father was a farmer, and a native of Kentuckv, having 
moved to Ohio at an early day, and died there in about 1831. Mr. 
Cast was brought up on his father's farm. He was married in 1843 to 
Miss Rachael Villars, of Ohio, and the same year they came to Illinois 
and located in Vermilion county. Here they have remained ever 
since on the present farm. Mr. Cast came to Vermilion county worth 
about five hundred dollars; he invested in one hundred and forty 
acres of land, and commenced farming ; to-day he owns three hundred 
and twenty acres of fine improved land, which he has accumulated by 
his own industry. They have had four children, three living. 

George F. Coburn, Danville, attorney at law, is one of the success- 
ful attorneys of Vermilion county. He was born in Brown county. 
Ohio, on the 29th of December, 1841, and is the son of Francis D. Co- 
burn, a native of New Hampshire, who, with a wife and three children, 
moved to Illinois and located on a farm in Danville township, Vermil- 



398 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

ion county, in 1843. Here he was engaged in farming until 1871, 
when he departed this life, an honored and respected man. Here, on 
the farm, Mr. Coburn grew into manhood ; engaged in farming from 
the time he was able to hold the hoe or handle the plow, and in the , 
winter months attending the district schools of the period. When 
nineteen years old he commenced teaching school, and taught five 
winters and one summer. He was also engaged in the study of law. 
He came to Danville and commenced reading law under Judge O. L. 
Davis, where he remained about one year. In 1867 he was admitted 
to practice law at the Illinois bar. Here he has been engaged in Dan- 
ville in the practice of law ever since, with the exception of one year. 
Mr. Coburn has formed a partnership with Joseph W. Jones and Daniel 
W. Limder, now law partner of W. II. Mallory, which was formed in 
the fall of 1878. Mr. Mallory was born in Cortland county, New 
York, on the 14th of December, 1812, and was admitted to the bar in 
1837. He came west in 1841, first locating in Fountain county, Indi- 
ana, thence (1867) to Du Page county, Illinois, and in 1870 came to 
Danville. Mr. Mallory is one of the oldest practicing attorneys of the 
Vermilion county bar. 

Hiram W. Ross, Danville, farmer, was born in Yermilion county, 
Illinois, on the 8th of November,. 1843, and is the son of Joseph T. 
Ross, whose biography appears in this work. Mr. Ross was raised on 
the farm. In 1862 he enlisted in the 125th 111. Vol. Inf., Co. B. He 
participated in the battle of Perrysville. He was taken sick and moved 
to the hospital at Nashville, Tennessee, where he remained until 1863, 
and on account of sickness he was honorably discharged. He returned 
home, and in 1872 he married Tilda Ann Smith, daughter of Abraham 
Smith, who was an early settler of this county. They have one child. 

The following appropriate tribute to the memory of Hon. John L. 
Tincher has been prepared and kindly furnished us by A. G. Smith : 

John L. Tincher was born in Kentucky in 1821. Eight years later 
his parents removed to Vermilion county, Indiana. When the subject 
of this sketch had arrived at the age of seventeen years his parents had 
died, and then he addressed himself to acquiring an education. He 
attended school for about three years in Coles county, Illinois, and then 
took service in the store of Jones & Culbertson, at Newport, Indiana. 
In 1843 he came with J. M. Culbertson to Danville, and was a clerk in 
his store until 1853, when the notable firm of Tincher & English was 
organized — first as merchants and afterward as bankers. The First 
National Bank of Danville stands as a monument of their united 
energy, labor and prudence. Mr. Tincher acquired a handsome prop- 
erty, to which his wife and children became heirs without the interfer- 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 399 

ence of a will. In 1804 Mr. Thicker was elected a member of the 
lower house of the general assembly of the state. In 1867 he was 
transferred to the senate, to membership in which he was re-elected in 
1870. He was also, in 1870, a member of the convention that revised 
the fundamental law of the state. For many years Mr. Tincher's busi- 
ness affairs were very exacting, and in the later years of his life official 
trusts increased the demands upon his energies, and added to these 
were churchly and social obligations, in all, making the demands upon 
him exceedingly onerous; the unceasing strain upon his mind and body 
may be supposed to have shortened his life. In 1845 Mr. Tincher 
united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and soon afterward was 
chosen to occupy a subordinate clerical relation to the church, which 
relation he maintained until his death. He was frequently called upon 
to preach. Though without classical education or technical theological 
training, he was a forcible, logical and acceptable preacher. It would 
be impossible for one not endowed with superior powers of mind to 
meet the degree of success in business, in politics and in social life that 
attended Mr. Tincher. It is not an extravagance of language to say 
that he was a gifted man. The Hon. John L. Tincher died at the 
Revere House, Springfield, Illinois, at half-past six o'clock, on Sunday 
evening, the 17th of December, 1871. His disease was pleuro-pneu- 
monia. During the greater part of his life he had been in delicate 
health, and as tar back as. 1855 it was thought that his career would be 
terminated by consumption. In the summer of 1869 he was attacked 
by apoplexy, and thenceforward he complained of cerebral irregulari- 
ties, and was never without apprehensions of a return of apoplexy. 
His attack came upon him while sitting in the office of his bank. The 
Rev. James P. Dimmitt observed his drooping head and pallid counte- 
nance. Upon being spoken to, Mr. Tincher said he was sick and 
thought he would die; and then starting with a couple of friends to 
walk home, no carriage being convenient, he sank down after walking 
about a square, named Eben H. Palmer to settle his estate, and passed 
into unconsciousness. He recovered, however, and was restored to the 
degree of health above spoken of. At the time of his death Mr. 
Tincher was in Springfield attending to his duties as senator. He was 
surrounded in his dying hour by his wife and children ; Mr. C. L. Eng- 
lish, Mr. C. B. Holloway, Mrs. J. G. English, the Rev. James Coe and 
the writer of these lines were also with him. On the morning follow- 
ing, Mr. Tincher's remains were brought to Danville for burial. An 
immense throng of two or three thousand people were at the depot, 
shivering in the bitter winter air, waiting to catch a glimpse of the 
casket that contained the mortal parts of their old friend and neighbor. 



401) HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Funeral services were conducted in Kimber Church, of which Mr. 
Tincher was a member, on the Thursday following his death. A me- 
morial address was read by the Hon. O. L. Davis, and a discourse was 
preached by the Rev. George Stevens. Rev. A. L. Brooks, Rev. W.. 
N. McElro} 7 and Rev. P. Woods assisted in conducting the service. 
Pall-bearers were chosen from a list of Mr. Tincher's oldest acquaint- 
ances, namely: Dr. W. H. H. Scott, Hon. Alvan Gilbert, John W. 
Mires, Samuel Frazier and Victor Leseure. By common consent, Mr. 
Tincher was recognized as the controlling spirit of this community. 
He made the poor man's cause his cause; he left no one to charge him 
with circumvention ; he left no taint upon his name and memory. 

" How populous, how vital is the grave ! 
This is creation's melancholy vault, 
The vol funereal, the sacl cypress gloom ; 
The land of apparitions, empty shades ; 
All, all on earth, is shadow ; all beyond 
Is substance ; the reverse is Folly's creed : 
How solid all, where change shall be no more ! " 

We hope in God's good time to meet our dear friend in the vernal 
fields of paradise, and to engage with him in the rapturous exercises 
that fancy paints as belonging to them who enter the kingdom of 
eternal rest. Farewell ! dear friend, brother, farewell ! As we march 
down life's uneven main, we are cheered by sweet memories that come 
unbidden, but ever welcome, hopefully trusting that in the realms of 
the blest, where are no aching brains, nor weary limbs, nor congested 
lungs, we may enjoy in perennial day the abiding friendship begun 
below. Farewell, Tincher! once more, farewell! 

W. H. Johns, Danville, grocer, is a native of Vermilion county, 
Blount being his native township. He had the advantage of free 
schools, and received a good education. In 1862 he entered the army 
in the rebellion of 1861-5, enlisting first in Co. A, 71st 111. Vol. 
Inf., three-months service, under Colonel Gilbert, who was elected 
captain at Springfield and made colonel at Chicago. After this term 
of service he reenlisted, in 1864, this time in Co. K, 135th 111. Vol. Inf., 
hundred-day service, under Colonel Wolf. The first time he was mus- 
tered in at Camp Butler, Springfield, and the last time at Mattoon, 
Illinois, the 135th being mustered in at that place. Previous to his 
engaging in his present business he had been in the mercantile busi- 
ness, three years in the dry-goods and grocery trade, and five years in 
the lumber business. He is one of the natives of the county, who, by 
an honorable treatment of his friends and customers, has won for him- 
self a good name and reputation. 

John Charles Black was born on the 27th of January, 1839. His 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 401 

father, John Black, of Pennsylvania, was born on the 19th of July, 
1809, and was married to Josephine L. Culbertson, of the old Penn- 
sylvania family of that name, on the 9th of September, 1834. From 
this marriage four children grew up, three of whom still survive. The 
father entered the Presbyterian ministry, and went south when twenty- 
three years of age, remaining there until about a year prior to his death, 
which occurred on the 13th of February, 1847. The mother still sur- 
vives, and is now the wife of Dr. Wm. Fithian, of Danville, to which 
place Mrs. Black removed in the spring of 1847, after the death of her 
husband, above referred to, taking with her her four children. Before his 
death the father obtained a wide repute as a preacher of unusual power, 
eloquence and fervor, and was made a Doctor of Divinity w r hen thirty- 
six years of age. At the time of his death he was the pastor of the 
Fifth Presbyterian Church of Alleghany City, Pennsylvania. Since 
her removal to Danville, in 1847, General Black's mother has been 
continuously a resident of that place, and there, too, General Black has 
resided during the greater part of this interval, so that they class among 
the old residents of Vermilion county. In 1858 J. C. Black entered 
Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Indiana, remaining there until he 
abandoned "the groves of the academy" for the tented field, in April, 
1861. On the very day on which Fort Sumter was attacked he enlisted 
as a private soldier in the " Montgomery Guards," of Crawfordsville, 
which company was, a few days later, mustered into the three-months 
service as Co. I, 11th Ind. Inf. Zouaves, Colonel (afterward Major-Gen- 
eral) Lew Wallace commanding. Upon the organization of this regi- 
ment J. C. Black was made its sergeant-major, which position he occu- 
pied until the muster out of the regiment, some four months afterward. 
Immediately thereafter he returned to Danville, and engaged in re- 
cruiting a company for the three-years service, which was mustered in 
as Co. K, 37th 111. Inf., Colonel (afterward Major-General) Julius White 
commanding. In the organization of this regiment General Black was 
chosen and commissioned its major. From this position he fought his 
way up, being commissioned lieutenant-colonel and colonel, and finally 
brigadier-general, by brevet, for gallant services on the field of battle. 
Each commission issued to him by the state and national authorities 
was by them marked as for gallantry in some special engagement, or for 
meritorious conduct. General Black remained in the military service 
until after the last battle was fought, commanding a brigade, of which 
the 37th Illinois, which "veteranized" in 1864, formed a part, and par- 
ticipated in the storming of " The Blakeleys " and the capture of Mo- 
bile, as well as in the subsequent military events in Alabama and 
Texas which formed the closing scenes of the rebellion. Then, in the 
26 



402 HISTOEY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

summer of 1865, he returned to civil life, in which he has since been 
engaged, taking a very active and prominent part in the political affairs 
of his district and state. On coming out of the army he studied law 
in Chicago with the firm of Gookins and Roberts, and commenced the 
practice of his profession in the early part of 1867 in Danville, but he 
shortly thereafter removed to Champaign, where he resided until about 
June, 1874, since which time he has resumed residence in Danville, 
which is now his home. As souvenirs of his service General Black 
bears two wounds. The first was received in the battle of Pea Ridge, 
Arkansas, on the 7th of March, 1862, being a gun-shot through the 
right arm. The second wound was received in the battle of Prairie 
Grove, Arkansas, on the 7th of December, 1862. He has suffered in- 
tensely, and for years, from these wounds and the surgical operations 
necessitated thereby, his life being several times despaired of and his 
death currently reported. But a strong constitution has enabled him 
to maintain the struggle for life, and he survives, in the full vigor of 
intellect and with fair general health, although crippled in both arms. 
Upon returning to civil life General Black became identified with the 
democratic party, in a state and congressional district which were alike 
strongly republican. Twice since then has he been selected by his party 
as its candidate for congress, and once by the democracy of the state as 
candidate for lieutenant-governor. While unsuccessful in these con- 
tests, yet in them all General Black has run largely ahead of his ticket, 
reducing the majority in his district when a candidate for congress, and 
running many thousands ahead of his ticket when a candidate for lieu- 
tenant-governor. Finally, General Black received the entire democratic 
vote for the office of United States senator in 1878, when General 
Logan was elected to that office. He is the senior partner in the pros- 
perous and successful law firm of Black & Blackburn. He is enjoying 
a large practice in the state and federal courts, and is paying earnest 
attention to his business affairs. 

R. B. Leverich, Danville, farmer, was born in Danville, Vermilion 
county, Illinois, on the 17th of October, 1847, and is the son of Richard 
T. and Lydia F. (Gilbert) Leverich. Mr. Leverich was raised in Dan- 
ville ; he clerked in his father's store ; in April, 1865, he came on the farm, 
where he has remained ever since engaged in farming. He married on 
the 24th of December, 1868, to Miss Hannah M. Silliven, who was 
born on the 1st of August, 1848. She is the daughter of Andrew and 
Frances Silliven. By this marriage they have had six children, four of 
whom are living (Conrad R., born on the 19th of May, 1870 ; Richard 
A., born on the 10th of January, 1873; Othniel G., born on the 17th 
of September, 1874; Charles E., born on the 4th of September, 1876). 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 403 

Two are deceased ; Lydia, born on the 15th of September, 1869, died 
on the 19th of September, 1870, and Lulu, born on the 7th of March, 
1878, and died on the 7th of May, 1878. 

R. L. Porter, Danville, physician, is a native of Pittsburgh, Penn- 
sylvania, and a physician of about forty years' practice. He is one of 
the early settlers of Danville, having been a resident of the place since 
1818. His wife is also a graduate of medicine, and while a resident 
of Danville has sometimes done a practice of several thousand dollars 
per year. In 1874 the Doctor and his wife went to England, his object 
being to have a very difficult surgical operation performed upon him- 
self by the celebrated Sir Henry Thompson, of London, one of the 
finest physicians and surgeons of Europe. The operation was per- 
formed successfully, Sir Henry refusing any remuneration, though his 
usual price was $500 for similar service'. Dr. Porter has not only 
proven himself a success professionally, but also as a financier. Be- 
sides his property in Danville he has a splendid farm of eight hundred 
acres, located on sections 28, 29 and 82 of Sidell township, this county. 
He can very truthfully be called one of the successful men of the county. 

C. V., Baldwin, Danville, dentist, is a native of Henry county, In- 
diana, his people being among the early and prominent pioneers of 
that county. His father was the representative of Henry county in 
1847. In 1849 Dr. Baldwin came to Vermilion county, Illinois, with 
his people, he being at that time fifteen years old. He has since 
remained a resident of the county. In 1866 he began the study of 
dentistry. On account of ill-health for the past ten years the Doctor 
has spent the winters in Franklin, Louisiana. There he has established 
a fine business in his line, the people waiting patiently his return for 
the execution of dental work at his hands. 

M. Ganor, Danville, dealer in lime, cement, etc. There is probably 
not a resident of Danville who has been more observing of the changes 
that have been made during his time than Mr. Ganor. He is a native 
of Ireland, coming to the United States in 1844 with his parents. They 
located on Long Island, he being at that time about four years old. 
Here they remained about five years, and then came west, and on the 
20th of September, 1849, arrived at the then village of Danville. They 
made the journey from Chicago in wagons, hiring a man to bring them 
and their goods from that point to Danville for $15. Mr. Ganor's 
father, who died on the 14th of October, 1861, aged sixty-one years 
and four months, probably did more toward clearing up the land where 
Danville now stands than any of the old pioneers. For years he carried 
on farming on the land now known as Tinchertown. Mr. Ganor tells 
us that he and his dogs have spent many hours of lively sport chasing 



404 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

rabbits over what is now the eastern part of the city, and is yet known 
as Rabbittown. He began business for himself in 1859, and is now 
located corner of Main and Hazel streets, where he is carrying on quite 
an extensive business in lime, cement, hay, oats, corn, etc., and is also 
interested with Mr. C. H. Giddings in the ice trade. He is a lively, 
energetic business man ; in the habit of looking out for No. 1, and 
managing his own business affairs. 

Victor Leseure, Danville, merchant, was born in France, on the 
25th December, 1816, and is the son of Peter and Ann Leseure, both 
natives of France. In 1832 Mr. Leseure immigrated to America, and 
located in Covington, Kentucky, where he was engaged in farming; 
from thence he went to Clarke county, Indiana, and from thence he 
came to Illinois. He first embarked in the mercantile business in 
Georgetown, Vermilion county. In 1849 he came to Danville, Illinois, 
where he remained for several years, when he returned to Georgetown. 
In 1851 he returned to Danville, which he has made his home ever 
since he entered the mercantile business, which he has followed princi- 
pally from that time. In 1876 he entered the hardware business. 
Mr. Leseure has held several offices of public trust. He was mayor of 
the city of Danville one term, and was commissioner of highways three 
terms. He is a republican in politics. He married, in 1849, Caroline 
B. McDonald, daughter of Alexander McDonald, one of the old pioneers 
of Vermilion county. She died; he then married Mrs. Mary J. 
McDonald, nee Smith. Mr. Leseure is treasurer, secretary and super- 
intendent of the Danville Gas-Light Company. 

"W. R. Lawrence, Danville, attorney -at-law, was born in Blooming- 
ton, Monroe county, Indiana, on the 14th of January, 1840, and is the 
son of John Lawrence, a native of New York, who was a mechanic 
and farmer. He moved to Indiana, and located in Bloomington, 
Monroe county, about 1836, being among the early settlers. In 1849 
Mr. W. R. Lawrence, with his parents, moved to Vermilion county, 
Illinois, and located in Georgetown, where he received his principal 
education at the Georgetown Seminary. In 1862 he enlisted, for three 
years, as private, in Co. C, 73d 111. Vol. Inf. (of which a history appears 
in this work). He participated in a number of engagements: Perrys- 
ville, Stone River and Chickamauga, at which battle he received a 
wound in the face. At Stone River he was captured, and taken as a 
prisoner of war to Libby prison, but was exchanged, and rejoined his 
regiment. Mr. Lawrence, from private, was first made sergeant, and 
then second lieutenant, and afterward first lieutenant. In 1864 he 
resigned, and came home to Vermilion county. He went to Bloom- 
ington, McLean county, Illinois, where he commenced the stud}' of law 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 405 

with Tipton & Benjamin, and, in 1865, he was admitted to the bar. 
He commenced the practice of law at Boonesborough, Iowa, where he 
remained until 1873, when he came to Danville, and has here been 
engaged at his chosen profession ever since, ranking among the leading 
lawyers of the Vermilion county bar. Mr. Lawrence's political opinions 
are republican. He married, in 1867, Miss Josephine Frazier, daughter 
of John Frazier, one of the old settlers of Vermilion county; by this 
marriage they have two children. 

O. Leseure, Danville, physician and surgeon, is a native of Danville, 
Vermilion county, where, in 1869, he began reading medicine under 
Dr. Morse. He later studied with Dr. Lemon, and became a graduate 
of medicine at the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in 1873. 
For a time succeeding this he was in the United States Hospital at 
Detroit, Michigan, where he remained but a short time, and then went 
to New York, and in 1871 became a graduate of the Bellevue Medical 
Hospital, and the same } 7 ear began his practice in Danville, where he 
has since resided, giving his time fully and exclusively to the practice 
of his profession. He is a member of the Homoeopathic Physicians 
and Surgeons of the Wabash, and though he has practiced in Danville 
but since 1874, he has already established a name and reputation pro- 
fessionally of which he need not be ashamed. . 

Charles Moran, Danville, groceries and provisions, is a native of 
County Antrim, Ireland. Before leaving his native country he had 
learned the trade of a brick and stone mason, the latter being worked 
by him the most. In September of 1850 he landed in the city of New 
York, where he remained a resident for nearly two years ; then, in 
1852, he came to Danville, where he has since resided. On the 18th 
of March, 1855, he married Miss Catharine O'Conner, who is also a 
native of Ireland. Until five and a half years ago, when he engaged 
in the grocery trade, Mr. Moran had been following his trade. There 
is probably not a single resident of the city of Danville who has made 
as many changes in the mechanical work of the city as himself. He 
used to employ a large number of men, and hardly a building of any 
importance in the city but of what he did the stone-work. Among 
them may be mentioned the residence of Mr. L. T. Palmer, the Dan- 
ville Mills, the Danville high-school building, H. W. Beckwith's resi- 
dence, and many others. His last job of stone-work was for the city, 
being a curbing contract of four thousand dollars, which he executed 
satisfactorily. His present place of business is No. 151 East Main street. 
His store is 22x80, and stocked with a nice fresh line of everything 
pertaining to the grocery trade. 

James II. Miller, Danville, tax-collector, is one of the self-made men 



406 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

of Danville. He was born in Jefferson count} 7 , Virginia, on the 20th 
of December, 1823. His mother died when he was four years old ; he 
then resided with his grandmother until he was ten years of age, and 
since then has been dependent upon his own resources. In the early 
part of his life he had but little opportunity of securing an education, 
but by his own efforts he became a fair scholar. In 1846 he went 
from Virginia to Pickaway county, Ohio, and there remained about six 
years. In 1852 he came to Danville, where he has since resided. He 
has built two residences and one business-house. He, by energy and 
good financiering, has accumulated a good property. For the last 
twenty years he has held the office of tax-collector, except during the 
year 1874, when Mr. Thos. Parks held the office one term ; he is also 
assessor of Danville township, the entire revenue derived from taxation 
passing through his hands. Any man who, being left an orphan, as he 
was, and beginning work for himself as he did, at a salary of seventy- 
five cents per week, and paying his own expenses out of this, and who, 
by an honest and legitimate business, has accumulated a good property, 
is certainly worthy the respect of the better class of citizens of any 
community. He has not only won, but enjoys, and he is surely entitled 
to, the confidence of the citizens of Danville. 

Colonel O. F. Harmon (deceased), the subject of this sketch, and 
whose portrait appears in this history, was born in the year 1827, in 
Monroe county, New York. But little of the surroundings of his early 
life are known. In 1853 he came west, and shortly after began the 
practice of law, this being his profession, subsequently becoming the 
partner of Judge O. L. Davis, with whom he practiced for many years, 
being well known as one of the leading attorneys of the county. In 
1857 he served the people of Vermilion county as their representative 
in the state legislature. During the war of the rebellion of 1861-5 
lie, in August of 1862, entered the Union army as colonel of the 125th 
111. Vol. Inf. This regiment was made up almost entirely of Vermilion 
county men, a complete history of which is given in this work, written 
by William Mann, adjutant of the regiment. Colonel Harmon was 
much above the average height, being six feet three inches, and well 
proportioned mentally, morally and physically. No better man of the 
regiment could be found to be their commander. This regiment, with 
Colonel Harmon at its head, participated in many of the hard battles, 
among which may be mentioned the battles of Penysville, Chicka- 
mauga, Mission Ridge and the Atlanta campaign, during which, while 
making a charge at the head of his regiment at the battle of Kenesaw 
Mountain, Georgia, on the 27th of June, 1864, he was shot and almost 
instantlv killed. In his death the 125th mourned the loss of a brave 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 407 

and honest commander, a family in the far north the loss of a father 
and husband's kind care and protection, and old neighbors and associ- 
ates the loss of a true and honest friend. Colonel Harmon was mar- 
ried in 1854 to Mrs. E. C. Hill, her maiden name being McDonald. 
Her father was one of the early settlers of Vermilion county, and this 
is Mrs. Harmon's native county. She still resides in Danville, one of 
the honored and respected ladies of the city. 

J. M. Sirpless, Danville, as a grocer of Danville, requires more than 
a passing notice. He is a native of this county. His parents, James 
and Catharine (Wright) Sirpless came to the county as early as 1852, 
entering government land at that date. The name is of Irish origin. 
J. M. is a printer by trade. He first began learning the trade in Homer, 
Illinois. Previous to his engaging in the grocery trade, in March of 
1878, he had for five years been at work in the office of the Danville 
" Times." He has been dependent upon his own resources in the ac- 
cumulation of property. The grocery business, when he began it in 
1878, was entirely new to him, though he soon made himself thoroughly 
familiar with the business, and has already built up a good trade, run- 
ning a free delivery wagon in connection with his business. He is still 
a young man, but by his own efforts has acquired a fair property. 
Should he succeed financially in the future as well as he has in the 
past he will soon have established a business of which he may well be 
proud. 

A. G. Webster, Danville, grocer, was born in St. Albans, Franklin 
county, Vermont, in 1822. Leaving there with his people in 1836 he 
went to Saline, Michigan, remaining there eight years, and then re- 
moved to Lafayette, Indiana, where he remained also eight years, dur- 
ing which time he was employed in the capacity of clerk. From there 
he came to Danville in 1853, bringing with him a small stock of dry 
goods. Here he was engaged in the dry-goods trade for about two 
years, and in 1856, after having closed out his stock of dry goods, he 
began in the grocery business, which he has principally been engaged 
in since, having for the past ten years been doing business in the build- 
ing he now occupies. He is now the oldest groceryman in the city, 
there being none other now engaged in the business who began as 
early as 1856. He is a man who has always been interested in any 
matters pertaining to the public good, and has done his share toward 
the development and improvement of Danville and Vermilion county, 
of which he has now been a resident twenty-six years. 

C. D. Henton, Danville, physician and surgeon, has been a resident 
of Vermilion county since 1853. He was located at Marysville until 
May of 1872, when he removed to Danville, where he has since resided. 



408 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

He is a native of Fountain county, Indiana. At the age of six his 
people took him to Hillsborough, Ohio, where the early part of his life 
was spent. In 1861 he became a graduate of the Rush Medical Col- 
lege, of Chicago. After graduating he located at Marysville, and began 
the practice of his profession, which he has since followed. The doctor 
is a man who has been wholly dependent upon his own resources both 
for his literary and medical education, having when only sixteen years 
old taught his first term of day-school. He is now a member of the 
Vermilion County Association of Physicians and Surgeons, and a man 
whose standing is high in the community, both in professional and 
private life. 

Charles V. Guy, Danville, superintendent of public schools, was 
born in South Charleston, Clark county, Ohio, on the 28th of June, 
1850, and is the son of Asa II. and Ruth (lams) Guy, natives of Ohio. 
A. H. Guy was born in Ross county, Ohio, on the 16th of March, 
1823, and is the son of Willis and Jane (Hawkins) Guy, of Virginia,, 
they having moved to Ohio about 1808 or 1810. When Mr. Guy was 
young, his parents moved to Madison county, Ohio, where Mr. Guy 
was brought up on a farm. He entered the Ohio Wesleyan University,, 
of Delaware, Ohio, and graduated in 1849. He then was engaged in 
teaching school in Ohio, where he remained until 1853, when he came 
to Vermilion county, Illinois, where he taught school in Georgetown, 
and other parts of Vermilion county. In 1855 Mr. Guy was elected 
by the republican party surveyor of Vermilion county. This office he 
has held off and on for the last twenty-four years. Mr. Guy, in his 
official duties, has given entire satisfaction. He has laid out and sur- 
veyed the villages of Fairmount, Catlin, Paxton (Ford county), part of 
Hoopeston, and other towns. In 1862 Mr. Guy was appointed assistant 
revenue assessor, which office he filled until 1865. Mr. Guy married 
Miss Ruth lams, of Licking county, Ohio, daughter of William and 
Lydia (Foster) lams, of Pennsylvania. By this marriage they have 
had seven children, five living. Mr. Guy is a republican in politics, 
and has been a member of the M. E. Church for the last thirty-eight 
years. Charles V. Guy, the subject of this sketch, with his parents, 
came to Vermilion county when he was three years old. He received 
his principal education at Georgetown. When sixteen years old he 
commenced teaching school, his first school being near Fairmount. 
Mr. Guy remained teaching school until he was nineteen years old. 
He then entered the State Normal School, at Normal, Illinois, where 
he received a good normal education. He returned to Vermilion 
county and was appointed deputy clerk, which office he filled for one 
and a-half years. In November, 1873, he was elected superintendent 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 409 

of the county schools, to which office he was reelected in 1877, and 
still holds. In this office Mr. Guy has given entire satisfaction, having 
proved himself a gentleman of acknowledged ability. Mr. Guy was 
also principal of the high school of Hoopeston, with his wife as assistant. 
He married Miss Ellen Bales, of Georgetown, Illinois, daughter of 
Elwood Bales, who was one of the early settlers. They have two chil- 
dren. Mr. Guy is engaged in conducting a Normal Summer Institute, 
which is meeting with good success. 

Joseph G. English, Danville, president First National Bank of 
Danville, began his career a poor boy, and has by his own effort risen 
to an honorable position both in business and social life. He was born 
in Ohio county, Indiana, on the 17th of December, 1820, and is the 
son of Charles and Nancy (Wright) English. His mother was a native 
of England and his father of Connecticut. Mr. Charles English was a 
blacksmith by trade, and followed it for a time at the Washington navy 
yard, but in his latter days he was engaged in keeping tavern. In 1829 
Mr. J. G. English, with his parents, moved from Ohio county, Indiana, 
to the Wabash valley, and located at Perrysville, Vermilion county, 
Indiana. Here his father was engaged in keeping tavern (the first 
tavern in Perrysville), which he did until his death, which occurred in 
1856. Mr. English is a lineal descendant of the old Mayflower stock. 
The subject of this sketch at nine years of age entered the "district 
school of the period" here in Perrysville. He remained until 1834, 
finishing and receiving a common education in a log cabin with a 
puncheon floor. In 1834 he first embarked for himself by engaging 
himself as a clerk in a prominent dry-goods store in Lafayette, Indiana, 
where he remained until 1839, working for his board and clothes. He 
returned to Perrysville and again filled the capacity of clerk until 1843. 
In the fall of that year he married Miss Mary Hicks, who was born in 
Perrysville on the 13th of June, 1824, and is the daughter of George 
and Mary (Curtis) Hicks, who had located in Perrysville in about 1820. 
In 1844, in connection with his father-in-law (George Hicks), Mr. 
English opened an extensive general store in Perrysville, which occu- 
pied his attention until 1852. During this time they traded very 
extensively in produce, which they sold at the New Orleans market. 
They would build a flat-bottom boat on the shores of the Wabash, load 
it with their produce, etc., and with assistance, and Mr. Joseph G. 
English acting as bow-hand, would float down to New Orleans; the 
voyage being long and tedious, taking them sometimes twenty-five 
days in making the trip. There they would sell their stock and return 
by steamboat to Evansville, Indiana, and travel from there to Perrys- 
ville bv wagon. In this business Mr. English made some four or five 



410 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

trips, all being very profitable. In 1853, with his wife and four chil- 
dren, he came to Danville, where he entered the dry-goods business 
with John L. Tincher (whose biography and portrait appear in this 
work). They continued in the dry-goods business in a frame house 
on the corner of the alley on Main street, above the present bank, until 
1856. In 1S56 they became assignee of the Stock Security Bank, 
which had tailed. This bank was owned and operated by Daniel 
Clapp. They then commenced a general brokerage and banking busi- 
ness, doing business as private bankers until 1864. During this year the 
"National Banking Act" was passed and the} 7 were among the first to 
organize a national bank in the state. The " First National Bank " of 
Danville being established, Mr. English, at its first meeting, was duly 
elected as president, which position he holds to-day. This bank was 
owned by Messrs. English and Tincher, with the exception of three 
thousand dollars, which was owned by William I. Moore, Benjamin 
Crane and E. H. Palmer. Under Mr. English's management and con- 
trol the " First National Bank " has increased steadily from year to 
year, until now its business exceeds that of any national bank in the 
state outside of Chicago. Mr. English, in 1870 and 1871, was elected 
mayor of the city of Danville. He also was alderman of his ward. 
To these respective offices he was elected by the temperance people of 
Danville. In 1865 Mr. Englis h was one of six who laid out the Spring 
Hill cemetery. In 1863 he had charge of the subscription list for fill- 
ing the quota of men for the late war from Danville township. This 
money was raised without tax. He is one of the original stock-owners 
of the Danville Gas Works, of which he has been president almost ever 
since its organization. Mr. English's political opinions are republican. 
He is a member of the M. E. Church, of which church he has been a 
member since 1856, being superintendent of the Sabbath-school for 
a number of years. He, in 1871, was selected by the lay delegates of 
the Illinois Conference of the M. E. Church to represent them in their 
general conference in Brooklyn, hold in 1872. Messrs. English and 
Tincher were perhaps the largest real estate dealers in town lots and 
plats in Danville. They bought land cheap. Where the fair grounds 
are the} 7 paid $16 per acre. Where the junction now is they obtained for 
$10 per acre. In 1864 the wife of Mr. English died. v By this marriage 
they had eight children ; six living. In the spring of 1865 he married his 
second wife, Mrs. Maria L. Partlow, nee Casseday, who was born in Paris, 
Illinois, on the 10th of November, 1828, and is the daughter of George 
W. and Delilah (Murphy) Casseday, who were married in 1824. George 
W. Casseday was born in Bedford county, Virginia, on the 1st of De- 
cember, 1803. In 1825, with his wife, he moved to Vermilion county, 

J 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 411 

Illinois, where he engaged in farming. In 1827 he went to Edgar 
county, Illinois, and from there he moved to Paris, of the same county. 
In 1834 he returned to Vermilion county, and in 1851 went to Joliet, 
where he died on the 23d of July, 1863. Thus passed away one of the 
old and prominent settlers of Illinois, and so, one by one, they are 
passing beyond the shores of the unknown river, and in a few years 
not one will be left of the noble band of pioneers who made their 
homes in what was then a wilderness, inhabited by red men. How- 
ever, their descendants, and those who come after them, will live to 
enjoy the full measure of happiness and prosperity built upon the solid 
foundations laid by the old settlers. 

F. C. Hacker & Bro., Danville, dry goods and groceries. In 1873 
the above named gentlemen opened therr present business, and since 
then no men have been more uniformly successful than they. In the 
first place they rank among the shrewdest and hardest working citizens 
of Danville, while their complete knowledge of the business in whjch 
they are engaged, and their geniality to customers and all with whom 
they come in contact, give them many advantages of which all business 
men have not possession. These gentlemen were both born in Prussia. 
They emigrated to America with their parents, John and Dorthy (Lev- 
erence) Hacker, and came west to Illinois, locating in Chicago in 1852. 
In 1853 they came to Vermilion county, in which place they have 
made their home ever since. F. C. Hacker was for a short time en- 
gaged in farming, and from that was engaged in the woolen mills .of 
Danville. He was also for a number of years clerking in Charles 
Palmer's store. In this way he saved enough money to embark in the 
mercantile business in 1872. Then, in 1873, he took in as a partner his 
brother, C. F. W. Hacker, which forms the well known firm of F. C. 
Hacker & Bro. Mr. C. F. W. Hacker was engaged for a number of 
years working for Peter Beyer, in the boot and shoe business. These 
gentlemen own one of the leading dry goods and grocery houses of 
Danville; the size of grocery store is 20x75 and the dry goods 22x85. 
They have eight or nine clerks, and are doing a good business. 

Peter Beyer, Danville, boot and shoe dealer, is one of the old set- 
tlers of this county. He is a native of Germany, and at the age of 
eighteen years came to the United States, and located first at Rochester, 
New York, where he learned the trade of manufacturing boots and 
shoes. In 1854 he came west and expected to buy land or engage in the 
mercantile business, hut unfortunately for him the bank where he had his 
money on deposit, like the majority of other banks of that time, failed, and 
he was obliged to begin at the beginning once more, which he did by 
going back to the cobbler's bench. From this humble beginning, in 



412 HISTOEY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

1854, Mr. Beyer has accumulated his fine property. His store is 
located at No. 73 West Main street, and is thirty feet front by one 
hundred deep, stocked with everything pertaining to a full and well 
selected stock of boots and shoes. The basement, which is the same 
size, has been remodeled and stocked with a fine line of fresh groceries. 
In this later enterprise he engaged in the spring of 1879. Thus far 
it has proved a success, and is only in keeping with his other move- 
ments, which are those of a first-class financier. 

John McMahan, Danville, police-justice, was born in Harrison 
county, Indiana, on the 18th of November, 1822. In 1833 he went to 
Clermont count} 7 , where he remained until 1840. He has been de- 
pendent upon his own resources since the age of fourteen. He began 
learning the trade of a blacksmith in Clermont county, and in 1840 
went to Cincinnati, where he completed his trade and followed it 
many years as a business. In 1854 he came to Danville, and began 
business for himself by opening a blacksmith-shop and following his 
trade until about 1870. In lb69 he was elected mayor of the city r 
and in 1872 he was elected justice of the peace and police-magistrate, 
both of which offices he has held since. He is one of the honorable 
and well-respected citizens of the city. Whatever he may have accom- 
plished during life has been the result of his own enterprise, as during 
his early life he had no opportunities for schooling, there being nothing 
but the old subscription system, and the old log school-houses with 
puncheon floors and seats and greased paper for windows. With these 
few r remarks we close our sketch in regard to the man known so well 
to the citizens as 'Squire McMahan. 

James T. Amis, Danville, tile manufacturer and farmer, was born 
in Hardin county, Kentucky, on the 18th of June, 1831, and his par- 
ents are Wilburn and Frances (Davis) Amis, both natives of Tennessee. 
His father was a farmer. Mr. Amis, with his parents, moved to Ver- 
milion county, Indiana, when he was about two years of age, and here 
remained on the farm until 1854, when he moved to Vermilion county, 
Illinois, and located near Pilot Grove, there working by the month on 
a farm. In 1869 he came to Danville township, which has been his 
home ever since. In 1877 Mr. Amis commenced the manufacture of 
tile on his place, putting up a first-class factory with great facilities for 
manufacturing a large amount of tile, and having a capacity for manu- 
facturing from ten to twelve thousand per day. He manufactures all 
the sizes needed by the farmer : 24-, 3, 34, 4, 5, 6. Mr. Amis owns 
two hundred and twelve acres of land. He was married in Vermilion 
county in 1855 to Nancy Hessey, of Nelson county, Kentucky. By 
this union they have had ten children, four of whom are living. Mr. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 413 

Amis has held several offices of public trust in his township; that of 
school-treasurer, trustee and road-overseer, and in these offices he has 
given entire satisfaction. He is a democrat in politics, and a member 
of the United Brethren Church. His father died in Iowa and his 
mother in Indiana. 

John Kilborn, Danville, farmer, was born in Hamilton county, 
Ohio, on the 17th of April, 1817, and is the son of Joseph and Rebecca 
(Howe) Kilborn, both natives of Virginia. His father was a comb 
maker by trade, but principally followed farming. Both parents died 
when Mr. Kilborn was very young. He set out in the world and com- 
menced farming in the summer time and in the winters attended the 
district schools of the period. When about nineteen years old he com- 
menced teaching school, and taught until he was twent}'-two. He 
then entered the mercantile business at Venice, Ohio, which he fol- 
lowed some eight years. In 1850 he was chosen and elected by the 
democratic party as representative of Butler and Warren counties, 
Ohio. He was reelected to the same office in 1852, which he held un- 
til 1854. He was a member of several very important committees; 
he was a member of the committee on militia, and chairman of the 
committee on canals. This office Mr. Kilborn filled with honor and 
credit, having proven himself a gentleman of acknowledged ability. 
In 1854 he came to Vermilion county, Illinois, and located in Danville. 
Here he was engaged in land speculation. He built and improved the 
brick residence, east of Danville, now owned by R. Hooton. In 1862 
Mr. Kilborn moved on the present farm on which he has been ever since 
he commenced to farm. He has on his place a steam saw-mill. Mr. 
Kilborn was married in Ohio in 1841 to Miss Susan M. Lutes, who was 
born near the birthplace of Mr. Kilborn. They have had nine chil- 
dren, six of whom are living. 

George F. Tincher, Danville, attorn ey-at-1 aw, was born in Danville, 
Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 14th of June, 1854, and is the son 
of John L. and Caroline R. Tincher. Mr. Tincher received his princi- 
pal education at the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois; 
he also attended the Michigan University at Ann Arbor, Michigan, 
and was admitted to practice law at the Illinois bar in 1875. No 
young attorney at the Vermilion county bar stands higher in the esti- 
mation of his colleagues than Geo. F. Tincher. In 1879 Mr. Tincher 
was elected city attorney, which office he is filling with entire satisfac- 
tion. 

Ephraim Burroughs, Danville, blacksmith, is a native of Marion 
county, Ohio. He was born on the 4th of January, 1815, and when 
but a child his people removed to Dearborn county, Indiana. Here 



414 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

the early part of his life was spent, having but few opportunities for 
gaining an education. At the age of eighteen years he went to the 
city of Cincinnati, Ohio, and began an apprenticeship of three years 
with Mr. C. Cassatt at the trade of manufacturing edged tools. He 
remained in Cincinnati for about fourteen years, and then went south 
for a 3'ear or so. Returning to Indiana he married Miss Emeline Ran- 
dall, a native of Trumbull county, Ohio. They had one son in the 
army in the war of 1861-65. Mr. B. came to Vermilion county first 
in the spring of 1855, and located in the city of Danville in 1861. 
Since his residence here he has been engaged in the blacksmithing 
business, which he learned very readily after having learned and 
worked at the trade of manufacturing edged tools. Mr. Burroughs' 
people are of Scotch origin. He is one of the early settlers of Vermil- 
ion county, and has witnessed many of the changes from a new region 
to a well-improved country. 

Charles L. English, Danville, timber merchant, of the firm of Dick- 
ason & English, is a native of Vermilion county, Indiana. He was 
born in 1847, and at the age of eight years came with his people to 
Vermilion county, Illinois. Erom this time until the age of twenty he 
was kept at school, receiving a very liberal education. For about six 
years after leaving school he was employed in the First National Bank 
of Danville, of which his father is president, and in 1872 began, in 
company with Mr. L. T. Dickason, the grain trade. This they are still 
engaged in, though not so extensively as formerly, their business being 
now principally the timber trade, in which they have become quite 
extensively engaged, giving employment to from three to five hundred 
men. Their business now extends over several different states. The 
firm of Dickason & English has become well and favorably known, not 
only in Vermilion county, where during the winter they are engaged 
extensively in mining coal, but among prominent railroad men outside 
of the State of Illinois. 

Peter Walsh, attorney-at-law, Danville, was born in 1845 in New 
York city, and is the son of John and Mary (Warren) Walsh, -who were 
natives of Ireland. Mr. Walsh in 1855 came west to Illinois, and 
located in Danville, which place he has made his home ever since. In 
1861 he enlisted in the Union army, and served for three years in Co. K, 
37th 111. Vol. Inf., and participated in some of the most prominent bat- 
tles during the war — Pea Ridge, Perry Grove, etc. He did good service, 
and was honorably mustered out. At the close of his war experience he 
returned to Danville, and commenced the study of law. He attended 
the law school at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in 1867 was admitted to 
practice law at the Illinois state bar. Mr. Walsh, when studying for 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 415 

the bar, was under the instruction of Mark Hawes, who is now a prom- 
inent preacher. Mr. Walsh has held several offices of public trust : 
city attorney for the city of Danville for five terms, and state's attorney 
for one term. In these offices he has given entire satisfaction, having 
proven himself a gentleman of acknowledged ability, whose duties have 
been performed in a faithful manner. Mr. Walsh's political opinions 
are republican. 

Spencer N. Monroe, Danville, jeweler, is one of the oldest merchants 
of Danville. He was born in Vernon, Oneida county, New York, in 
September, 1820, and is the son of William and Elmira (Willard) 
Monroe, natives of Virginia. His father was a glass manufacturer. 
Mr. Monroe remained at his native home until he was eighteen years 
old. He then went to Syracuse, New York, and commenced to learn 
the jewelry trade. In 1853 he came west to Indiana and worked at his 
trade in Attica and Oxford until 1855, when he came to Danville and 
opened a jewelry store in a small frame house on the corner where 
Short's block now stands. From there he moved to a frame building 
on the ground where he is now located, 67 Main street. Here he has 
remained ever since, with the exception of a short time when he occu- 
pied a room across the street until the old frame building was torn 
down and the present building erected. Mr. Monroe is to-day the 
owner of one of the leading jewelry stores of this part of Illinois. He 
employs two men. In 1861 he married Miss Matilda Boyce, of Ohio, 
she having made her home in Danville about the same time Mr. Mon- 
roe did. They have two children. Mr. Monroe has represented with 
credit the city of Danville for two terms as alderman of the third 
ward. 

William Craig, Danville, livery, was born in Montgomery county, 
Indiana, in 1848, and is the son of Samuel G. and Catharine A. 
(McCrea) Craig, whose history appears in this work. Mr. Craig, our 
subject, was raised in Danville. His first business in life was clerking 
for his father in a dry-goods and shoe store. In 1875 he entered the 
livery business with Wm. and Jacob Kuykendall, and formed the firm 
of Kuykendall Bros. & Craig, which is the leading livery firm in Dan- 
ville. These gentlemen own two first-class stables, one located in the 
rear of the ^Etna House, on North street, and the other on Hazel, be- 
tween North and Main streets. 

Joseph Bauer, Danville, miller, was born in Baden, Germany, on 
the 2d of February, 1831. The early part of his life was spent in his 
native land. In 1854 he came to the United States, though not before 
he had received a good education and had learned the trade of a miller. 
He first spent a couple of years in the eastern states, and in 1856 came 



416 HISTOKY OF VEEMILION COUNTY. 

to Danville. Upon his arrival here he helped to organize the German 
M. E. Church, of which he has since been one of the leading members. 
A more complete history of this church is given elsewhere. Mr. Bauer 
is something of a genius, having mastered the different trades of milling, 
carpentering, cabinet making and engineering, though milling has been 
his principal business, having followed this for about twenty-four years. 
At present we find him filling the capacity of head miller in the City 
Mills. He is well known in Danville as a steady, sober and upright 
citizen. 

William Morgan, Danville, justice of the peace and insurance agent, 
is one of the old settlers of this county. He is a native of Jefferson 
■county, Virginia, where the early part of his life was spent. He had 
but few advantages in the way of schooling, there being nothing but 
the old subscription system, schools being so few and far apart that he, 
at the age of seven years, was obliged to -walk four miles in his daily 
attendance. At the age of twenty-three he was called upon to take 
charge of the farm by the death of his father. This he did until 1856, 
when he came to Vermilion county, where he has since resided. Dur- 
ing his first summer he followed teaming, and in the winter did some- 
thing of a coal business. In the spring of 1858 he was elected constable 
and deputy county sheriff. He also held the office of deputy collector 
of revenue under W. T. Cunningham, his territory or district being 
Iroquois, Ford and Vermilion counties. After this he again farmed 
for three years, and then took the post-office under Andrew Johnson's 
administration for two years and a half. Following this he was in the 
insurance and mercantile trade until 1877, when he was elected justice. 
In connection with his official duties he does quite an extensive insur- 
ance business. He is well known to the citizens of Danville as a man 
whose word is as good as his bond. 

J. E. Tuttle, Danville, physician, was born in Fountain county, 
Indiana, in 1841. In 1856 he became a resident of Vermilion county, 
locating at Marysville. He there began the study of medicine with 
Dr. C. D. Henton in 1862, and in 1865 became a graduate of the Kush 
Medical College, of Chicago. After graduating he returned to Ver- 
milion county, and continued his practice at Blue Grass, where he had 
done some practice before graduating. He remained there until 1869. 
He then went to Marysville, and there was engaged in practice until 
1874. At this date he removed to Danville, where he has become 
firmly established and is already known as one of the thoroughly reli- 
able M.D.'s of the city. 

H. M. Kimball, Danville, grocer, may be classed among the old 
settlers of Danville. He is a native of ISTew Hampshire, spending the 










•TJ^-t .. 



OEC'o. 
AN VIlLE. 



^ 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 417 

early part of his life and receiving his education in that state. He 
came to Danville in 1856, after having spent some time in contracting 
and doing stone-work on some of the different railroads which at that 
date were being constructed throughout the middle states. Among 
other jobs under his supervision was the stone piers and abutment* of 
the Wabash railroad bridge across the Vermilion river at Danville. 
He also started the first marble works at Danville, lie has never 
sought public offices, though he held the office of supervisor of Danville 
township in 1872. He has now been engaged in the grocery trade 
about twelve years. During this time he has some years done a busi- 
ness of $40,000 per year. He is now located on North Vermilion 
street, where he is doing a fair business, giving employment to two 
men. 

J. H. Palmer, Danville, was born in Queen's county, New York. 
His parents are Samuel and Elizabeth (Hyde) Palmer. His father 
was a farmer. Mr. Palmer was partially brought up on the farm. 
In 1856 he came west to Illinois and located in Danville, Ver- 
milion county, which has been his home ever since. In 1862 he 
enlisted for three years in the 37th 111. Vol. Inf., Co. K., as a private, 
and was on detached duty with the General Department of the Gulf. 
He served full time and was honorably mustered out in 1865. When 
he returned to Danville he commenced farming. He was in Short's 
bank for a time, and from that he entered the dry-goods trade. In 
1877 the firm of J. H. Palmer & Co. was formed, which continued 
until May of 1879, when he sold his interest to the coal company. 
Since then Mr. Palmer has been engaged with the company. 

Xaver Miller, Danville, was born in Germany on the 25th of No- 
vember, 1838. In September, 1856, he emigrated to America, and 
landed in New York city. He then came direct to Illinois, and located 
in Danville, where he has been a resident since with the exception of 
two years. While here in Danville Mr. Miller was in the hotel busi- 
ness, and afterward started a sample and billiard room. This he has 
now. Mr. Miller came to America a poor man, but, with hard labor 
and good management, he has been quite successful in life, and ranks 
among Danville's prominent Germans. He was married in Danville 
to Abelina Uhlein, of Baden, Germany, by whom they have seven 
children. 

John Beard, Danville, grocer, corner of South and College streets, 
is a native of Brooklyn, New York, though he has been a resident of 
Danville twenty-two years, being but a child when he was brought to 
this place. For the last eight years he has been engaged in the gro- 
cery trade on his own account. He is a much larger dealer than at 
27 



418 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

first might be supposed, his trade reaching about $25,000 per year. 
In connection with groceries he handles a line of queensware and 
tinware. He gives employment to two men. His store is twenty 
feet front by fifty feet deep. By good financiering and careful man- 
agement he has established a good trade and permanent business. 

Joseph McClure, Danville, miller, was born in Augusta county, Vir- 
ginia, on the 23d of January, 1819, and at ten years of age came to Greene 
county, Ohio, where he served an apprenticeship as a miller, which 
trade he completed at twenty-one years of age. In 1857 he came 
west and located in Danville, Illinois, where he has been one of the 
foremost m his trade. He ground the first grist in Henderson & 
Kyger's mill. He has been engaged with the firm now known as M. 
M. Wright for fifteen years as manager. He has been twice married. 
The name of his present wife was Margaret Sanders, a native of Vir- 
ginia. He has a family of five children by his former wife, Elizabeth 
Charles: Walter, Lether, Albert, Harvey and Mary. 

A. C. Daniel, Danville, coal operator, whose portrait appears in this 
history, was born in Roxbury, Delaware county, New York, in 1835. 
During his early life he had but little opportunity of attending school, 
but, being of that peculiar class of men who do not seem to be de- 
pendent upon anybody except themselves, he " helped himself" to a 
good business education. In 1857 he came to Danville, arriving at the 
place in the spring. His whole " stock and store " at that time was 
an ordinary suit of clothes and $2.50 in money. Beginning work in 
the mines, at whatever they had for him to do, he gradually worked 
his way up, until now he is the principal stockholder in the Ellsworth 
Coal Company, and its general manager. As general manager of this 
company he has done more to develop the mining resources of Ver- 
milion county than any of the operators who, from time to time, 
have been interested in this line of business. We do not design giv- 
ing a history of the mines here, as a more complete sketch will 
be found elsewhere in this work. Mr. Daniel is a man who has not 
thus far become mixed up in political affairs or " public wranglings," 
further than to help forward any enterprise for the improvement of the 
city or the public good generally. He has provided himself with an 
elegant home on West North street, and is satisfied in attending to his 
own business. By his own exertions he has changed his position and 
station in life from a poor boy's to that of one of the wealthy, influen- 
tial and prominent citizens of the community. On the 3d of January, 
1865, he was married to Miss Jane C. Palmer, daughter of L. T. 
Palmer, one of the early and prominent pioneers of Vermilion county. 
They have one daughter, Gertrude, who was born in 1865. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 419 

Raymond W. Hanford, Danville, judge of the Vermilion county 
court, was born in Middlebury, Summit county, Ohio, on the 24th of 
June, 1829, and is the son of John and Sarah E. (Noble) Hanford. 
His father was born in Vermont on the 16th of April, 1792; he was a 
hatter by trade, but followed farming for the last twenty years of his 
life. Judge Hanford left home when he was about fifteen years old to 
learn the printer's trade; he entered a printing-office in Portage 
county, Ohio, where he remained until he learned his trade as a 
printer. By working at his trade he managed to save money and 
school himself, his father not being a man of means. He entered Ken- 
yon College at Gam bier, Ohio, where he graduated in 1855. He re- 
turned to his trade, and was afterward editor of the "Ashtabula Tele- 
graph," of Ashtabula, Ohio, and the "Vermilion County Press," of 
this county. In 1857 he arrived in Danville very poor. Here he fin- 
ished his legal studies under John M. Lesley, and was duly admitted 
to the bar in 1859. In 1861 he entered the United States service (12th 
111. Vol. Inf., Co. C) in response to the first call of the government for 
troops for a term of three months. At the expiration of his term he 
immediately reenlisted for three years in the 4th 111. Cav., Co. F, and 
was elected second, and in a short time afterward first, lieutenant of 
his company. He was, on the organization of his regiment, detailed 
as quartermaster of the second battalion. In 1862 he was detailed as 
regimental quartermaster, and in December of the same year he was 
again detailed as post-quartermaster at Trenton, Tennessee, serving 
afterward in same capacity at Benton Barracks, St. Louis. He after- 
ward returned with his regiment, and continued with it till the expi- 
ration of his term of enlistment. Judge Hanford was captured by 
General Forrest at Trenton, Tennessee, and was immediately paroled. 
In 1864 he returned to Danville and commenced the practice of law 
with II. W. Beckwith, which continued as a law-firm until the 1st of 
December, 1868. In 1868 he was elected to the office of county judge, 
filling the unexpired term caused by the resignation of Daniel Clapp ; 
he was reelected in 1869, and again in 1873 and 1877. Judge Han- 
ford was married on the 5th of November, 1866, to Miss Henrietta M. 
Prince, by whom they had two children, one living: Henrietta N. 
Mr. Hanford is a republican in politics, and a member of the Episcopal 
Church. 

James H. Wells, Danville, was born near Indianapolis, Indiana, on 
the 28th of March, 1836, and is the son of Robert and Emily Wells, of 
Nicholas county, Kentucky. Mr. Wells was raised on the farm until 
he was about fourteen years of age; he then went to Indianapolis and 
commenced to learn the trade of a harness-maker, which business he 



420 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

has followed principally ever since. From Indianapolis Mr. Wells 
went to Kokomo, Indiana, and in 1857 he came to Illinois and located 
in Danville, Vermilion county. From Danville he went to Indianola, 
Vermilion county, where he remained about ten years. While a resi- 
dent of Indianola Mr. Wells enlisted in Co. E, 150th 111. Vol. Inf., on 
the 14th of February, 1865, as first lieutenant. The 150th was organ- 
ized at Camp Butler on the 14th of February, 1865, for one year's 
service. A full sketch of the movements of this regiment appears in 
the War History of this volume. Mr. Wells resigned and came home 
in July, 1865. In 1875 he returned to Danville and was engaged as 
traveling salesman for D. K. Woodbury in the harness business for one 
year. He then went to Marysville, Vermilion county, and remained 
there until August, 1878, when he came back to Danville and entered 
Messrs. Good & Cowan's saddlery and harness establishment. Mr. 
Wells held the office of township clerk in Carroll township of this 
county. He was married in Peru, Indiana, to Miss Rebecca E. Kimble. 
They have had seven children, of whom two are deceased. 

William Mann, Danville, dry goods, was born in Somerville, Som- 
erset county, New Jersey, on the 3d of February, 1836, and is the son 
of John M. and Eliza (Bonnell) Mann. His mother was a native of 
New Jersey, and his father a very prominent attorney of Pennsylvania. 
When Mr. Mann was only fourteen years old he entered a leading dry- 
goods house in Somerville as clerk. From there he went to Philadel- 
phia and entered a prominent wholesale house, and from thence came 
west to Illinois and located in Danville. In 1861 he entered the ser- 
vice and participated in the late war. He enlisted in the 12th 111. Vol. 
Inf., Co. C, as first lieutenant for three months. After serving his 
time out he reenlisted in the 125th 111. Vol. Inf., and w r as made adju- 
tant of the regiment. Here he served until the close of the w r ar, when 
he returned to Danville and embarked in the dry -goods business, and 
to-day ranks as one of the leading dry-goods merchants of Danville. 
Mr. Mann married Miss Kate E. Harmon, daughter of S}dvester Har- 
mon ; they are the parents of two children, one boy and one girl. 

Leonard Myers, Danville, city-marshal. It is something quite com- 
mon to meet old citizens who have held an office for several terms, but 
we do not remember having met any who have held one office, and so 
difficult a one through which the people may be pleased, so long as Mr. 
Leonard Myers, who, for nine years, has been marshal of the city of 
Danville, having been elected to the office eight different times and 
appointed once. He is a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. 
The early portion of his life was spent in his native county and Fair- 
field county, Ohio. In 1858 he came to Vermilion county, and began 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 421 

\ 

farming and dealing in stock. This he followed for about five years, 
when he moved to Danville and began the butchering business, and 
at the same time bought and shipped stock, horses being his principal 
line of stock-trade, of which he bought and shipped many a car-load to 
the east. He is one of the old residents of Danville and Vermilion 
county, and as an officer has probably traveled more miles, made more 
arrests, and sent more criminals to the penitentiary, than any officer 
of the law in eastern Illinois. He also has the supervision of the 
police department, and has been an officer so long that he seems to be 
recognized as authority in almost any of the city offices and under any 
circumstances. 

Joseph Shipner, Danville, grocer, of the firm of J. Shipner & Son, 
grocerymen, No. 67 North Vermilion street, is a native of Prussia, Ger- 
many. He came to the United States in 1846, and for a number of 
years was located in Detroit, Michigan. He afterward came to Chicago, 
where he remained a short time, and in 1858 came to Danville. He is 
one of the old soldiers of the rebellion of 1861-5, having first enlisted 
in Co. C, 12th 111. Vol. Inf., three-months service. At the expiration 
of this term of service he again enlisted in the same company and in 
the same regiment, three-years service. After this service he again 
enlisted, this time also in the same company. He served a longer time 
and saw more hard fighting than the average soldier. Among some 
of the hard battles in which he was engaged are the following : the 
sieges of Fort Henry, Donelson and Corinth, the battle of Shiloh and 
the Atlanta campaign, which was a succession of hard-fought battles. 
Returning from the war, he again became a resident of Danville, and 
for eleven years was superintendent in the mills of Samuel Bowel's. 
He, in company with his son, as above stated, is now engaged in the 
grocery trade, in which they have already established a good trade, in 
connection with which the} T run a free delivery wagon. 

A. H. Van Allen, Danville, car inspector of the Wabash Railroad. 
When speaking of the railroad men of Danville we wish to make a 
personal mention of Mr. A. H. Van Allen, who is a native of Paterson 
county, New Jersey. When he first left Paterson county he went to 
New York, and from there to Ontario county, New York. He re- 
mained there about eighteen years. In the spring of 1 858 he came 
west and located at State Line, where for about three years he was 
engaged at the carpenter's trade. He then began work for the then 
Great Western Railroad Company, but what is now known as the 
Wabash road. In 1865 he came to Danville, still acting in the same 
capacity, that is, car inspector for the Wabash Railroad Company at 
this point. He has usually about three men in his department subject 



422 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

to his instructions. They have in all about four hundred cars on an 
average to inspect daily. Mr. Van Allen has been at this business so 
long that it is common for new men that he employs to come to the 
conclusion that he can smell a flaw or break in the mechanism of a car 
if by chance he should happen not to see it. He is a man possessing 
the confidence of both the company and the citizens of Danville, and 
has done his share of improving by providing himself with a good 
home on South Vermilion street. 

Carl Leverenz, Danville, No. 69 Vermilion street, dealer in and 
manufacturer of boots and shoes, is a native of Prussia, Germany. He 
is now a man fifty-one years old. He came to Danville twenty-one 
years ago, after having spent a short time in Toledo, Ohio, when he 
first came from the old country. He has been a man of energy and 
hard work. For many years he had nothing to depend upon except 
the earnings of his day labor; but by this he finally earned and saved 
enough to engage in the boot and shoe trade — fourteen years ago. 
This he has followed quietly, doing a strictly cash business, until now 
he has a nice trade established, doing a business of about $8,000 per 
year. This has been the result of his own efforts, energy and industry. 

There are probably few people in Danville or vicinity who are not 
acquainted with T. H. Myers, " the express agent." He is a native of 
Jefferson county, Virginia, but left that county when fourteen years 
old, and in 1858 came to Danville. During his early life he had the 
advantages of none but the old subscription system of schools. When 
he came to Danville he opened a grocery store, and has been engaged 
in this business since in connection with his business as express agent. 
He has now been agent for the United States Express Company for 
twenty years, and for the American Express Company two years. 
Under his management the people have all the advantages that can 
possibly be given them by this method of transportation. His ex- 
press business in Danville requires the employing of five men; two 
wagons are also kept busy. This, in connection with his grocery busi- 
ness, does not leave much idle time on his hands. We may also men- 
tion that recently he has taken a partner in the grocery business, the 
firm now being Myers & Hessey. Their business house is located at 
No. 68 Main street, and is 20 feet front by 80 feet deep, with base- 
ment. This is stocked with everything pertaining to the grocery 
line. 

Fred Buy, Danville, grocer, of the firm of E. B. Martin & Co., is a 
native of Prussia. He came to the United States in 1857 with his 
parents, they locating in York state, where he was for about one year. 
He then came to Danville. For five years he was engaged at work in 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 423 

the Danville woolen factory. He then began clerking in a dry-goods 
store, where he remained about one year, and then began as a grocery 
clerk. He is now junior partner in a firm that does a business of about 
$30,000 per annum. During the war of 1861-5 he entered the Union 
army, enlisting in 135th 111. Vol. Inf., Co. K, a history of which regi- 
ment is found in this work. This was the hundred-day service in which 
he enlisted. After serving his time he again enlisted — this time in the 
149th regiment, under Colonel Kefner. His wife, who is also a native 
of Germany, was a Miss Mary Stuebe previous to their marriage. They 
have a family of four children — three boys and one girl. Mr. Buy is a 
man who has been dependent upon his own resources, and by energy 
and industry has accumulated a nice property, and is now one of the 
honorable business men of the city.- 

Dr. A. II. Kimbrough, Danville, physician and surgeon, one of the 
successful men of Vermilion county, is a native of Hardin county, 
Kentucky. He was born in 1822, and at the age of three years came 
to Illinois with his people, locating in Edgar county, about nine miles 
southeast of the city of Paris. They were among the early pioneers 
of that county, it having been organized but a few years previous to 
their coming. Here the Doctor spent his early life, and in 1854 began 
the study of medicine with Dr. Ten Brook, of Paris. In 1857 he became 
a graduate of the Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia. He has 
since that period given his time and attention almost exclusively to his 
profession. In 1858 he located at Georgetown, Vermilion county, where 
he remained until 1873, when he removed to Danville. The Doctor is 
a man who has not only made a success of life professionally, but also 
financially. He is one of the old residents of the county, having long 
ago established a name and reputation of which any man might justly 
feel proud. 

E. P. E. Kimbrough, Danville, attorney-at-law, was born in Stratton 
township, Edgar county, on the 28th of March, 1851, and is the son of 
Dr. Andrew H. Kimbrough, whose biography appears in this work. 
In 1858 Mr. Kimbrough moved with his parents to Vermilion county, 
and located in Georgetown, where Mr. Kimbrough received a common- 
school education. He entered the Normal University, of Illinois, and 
graduated from this school in the class of 1873. From there he 
entered school in Chicago. In 1873 Mr. Kimbrough commenced the 
reading of law with Judge Elias S. Terry. Then he commenced the 
practice of lav/ with Win. D. Lindsey, Esq. Messrs. Lindsey and Kim- 
brough rank among the prominent attorneys of the Vermilion county 
bar. Mr. Kimbrough was married on the 14th of September, 1876, to 
Miss Julia Tincher, of Danville, Illinois, daughter of the Hon. John 



4_'4 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

L. Tincher, whose portrait and biography appear in this history. By 
this union they have one child, — a son. 

Win. E. Fithian, Danville, was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, 
on the 20th of July, 1858, and is the son of George and Edwilda An- 
derson (Cromwell) Fithian. The subject of this sketch received a 
common-school education at the Danville public schools. He in 1877 
entered the Mayhew Business College, of Detroit, Michigan, from which 
he graduated. In 1878 he returned to Danville, and entered the ^Etna 
House office as bookkeeper, and by his accommodating ways won 
a host of friends, and was considered by the traveling public to have 
been the right man in the right place. 

George Rust, Danville, was born in the city of Hanover, Germany, 
on the 22d of January, 1827; came to America on the 16th of Septem- 
ber, 1858; landed in New York; came west and located in Vermilion 
county, Illinois, near Rossville. He came here poor; was engaged in 
working on a farm for six years. In 1864 he entered the saw-mill 
business, and followed this some six years. This business was very 
profitable to Mr. Rust. In 1872 he married Louisa Blankenburg, of 
Germany. They have two children, — one boy and one girl. Mr. Rust 
has held several offices of public trust. He was commissioner of high- 
ways for three years, and trustee of Germantown from its organization 
until 1879. In these offices he acquitted himself in a very creditable 
and efficient manner. Mr. Rust ranks as one of the leading German 
citizens of Danville township. 

Joseph E. Tincher, Danville, dealer in hats and caps, was born in 
Danville, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 1st of April, 1858, and is 
the son of John L. and Caroline R. Tincher. Mr. Joe Tincher com- 
menced in the business of hats and caps in 1878. This house has the 
largest and most complete stock in the city. Since Mr. Tincher's com- 
mencement in business he has exhibited unusual energy and enterprise, 
and from time to time has increased his trade until now he has one of 
the finest trades in Danville. His store is located on Main street. 

H. Rainier, the oldest merchant tailor in Danville, was born in Miff- 
lin county, Penns3dvania, in 1833. When fourteen years of age he 
learned the trade of a merchant tailor in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, 
and served his apprenticeship until he w T as twenty-one. In 1856 he 
came west and located in Logansport, Indiana, where he remained but 
a short time, when he returned east, and then went to La Fayette, 
Indiana. He was at Attica for a short time, and from there he came to 
Danville in 1858 and commenced to work at his trade, which business 
he has been engaged in ever since, and to-day is recognized as one of the 
leading merchant tailors of this vicinity. He employs some eight hands. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 425 

1ST. A. Kimball, undertaker, No. 59 West Main street, Danville, is a 
native of Grafton county, New Hampshire. There the early part of 
his life was spent and his education received. In 1858, when he was 
nineteen years old, he came west, and until the spring of 1859 was a 
resident of Kendall county, Illinois. In the spring of 1859 he came 
to Danville, coming first to accept the position of weighmaster with 
Colonel Chandler, who at that time was operating quite extensively in 
the coal mines. This he followed for a short time, and then for three 
years was farming, and after this he engaged in different business en- 
terprises until 1872, when, in company with Charles W. Morrison, he 
engaged in the furniture trade. They did business together until 1874, 
when they dissolved partnership, or rather he sold out, in August, and 
in December took the stock of coffins, which had been one branch of 
their business, and since then has been engaged in the business of un- 
dertaking, and, as before stated, is now located at No. 59 West Main 
street. 

After many years of experience people now see clearly the impor- 
tance of insuring their property. A leading newspaper, while com- 
menting on the business of insurance, says : " Insurance distributes 
over the multitude a loss that would crush the individual. Many who 
read these lines will be able to recall the time when men argued that if 
it was a profitable business for companies it might be the same for indi- 
viduals, forgetting that the company's risks are widely scattered, that 
the average could be predicted with tolerable certainty, and that the 
individual had no means of calculating chances, while his loss would 
in all probability prove his utter ruin. 1 ' Persons engaged in the business 
of insurance calculate the losses by fire with the greatest accuracy, and 
govern their rates for premiums accordingly. An active competition 
keeps the premiums as low as safety allows. Great care should be taken 
never to take a policy from a company which insures too cheaply, for 
exceeding low rates indicate either that a first-class swindle is intended 
or that the company taking such policies is now doing business on a 
safe basis. Peter Wilber, who was born in Germany in 1832, came to 
America with his parents when very young. In 1862 he entered the 
insurance business, and has perhaps had as much experience both in life 
and fire insurance as any man in eastern Illinois. He has been gen- 
eral agent for the State of Illinois for two leading companies of the 
United States. Mr. Wilber has been a resident of Danville first in 
1859, when he remained about three .years; whence he went to Kanka- 
kee, Illinois, and in 1866 returned to Danville, which has been his 
home ever since. In 1877 he was elected justice of the peace, which 
office he now holds. Mr. Wilber has held the office of city clerk of 



426 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Danville for three terms. Mr. Wilber represents some of the leading 
insurance companies of America: Continental, of New York; Phoe- 
nix, of Brooklyn, New York ; North British and Mercantile, London 
and Edinburgh ; Queen, of England ; Howard, New York ; Travelers' 
Life and Accident, of Hartford, Connecticut, with a total of assets of 
over $25,000,000. These companies are all old and reliable. Mr. 
Wilber is also engaged in the real estate and collecting business. He 
is agent for several mail steamship lines running to and from all Euro- 
pean and continental ports. Persons dealing with Peter Wilber may 
be sure of honorable treatment. 

Miss Minerva Watson, Danville, teacher, was born in Vermilion 
county, near Danville. Her father is John R. Watson, of Danville. 
Miss W. is one of the } 7 oung lady teachers of the count}'. She taught 
in the summer of 1879 in the west end of Pilot. Her father provided 
not only for his sons, but gave his daughter a good dowry. Miss W. 
is amiable, intelligent, and a good exponent of the profession which she 
honors. 

Gustav Klingenspor, the leading florist of Danville, is a native of 
Brunswick, Germany, where he was born, on the 13th of May, 1831. 
He came to the United States in 1856, and stopped at Baltimore about 
two 3'ears and a half before he was able to send for his family. Wish- 
ing to come west, he was obliged to pawn some of his clothing to buy 
a ticket to Chicago. There he remained about two years, at work to 
raise money to bring his family west; and to add to his misfortunes, he 
was cheated out of some of his earnings. In 1861 he came to Danville, 
and worked one year to raise money to bring his family to this place. 
His friends finally made up a purse of $25 for him, with which he brought 
his family to the place which has since been his home. Before begin- 
ning his present business he had learned the trade of a painter, which 
he followed for some time, gradually growing into his present line of 
business. He now has a tine place of business located near the east 
end of Main street, and seems to have established a trade that is satis- 
factory to himself. As will be seen above, he has been dependent upon 
his own resources in the accumulation of property. He has probably 
seen as hard times as any one who came to the city in an early day ; 
but by hard work and economy he has provided for himself a good 
business and a good home. 

Alexander Pollock, Danville, physician and surgeon. Before en- 
gaging in any profession it would be well for any person to thoroughly 
study his adaptability for that profession of which he proposes to make 
a life-study. No physician or attorney, from the time he begins his 
studies with Blackstone or Gray's Anatomy, can lay aside his books 






DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 427 

and say his days of study are over. It is the study of a lifetime. This 
Dr. Alex. Pollock, the subject of our sketch, and a leading physician 
and surgeon of Danville, seemed to comprehend when he began the 
study of medicine. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 
the 27th of May, 1829, being of Scotch-Irish parentage. In the fall of 
1852 he came west, locating at Springfield, Illinois, where, for a time, 
he was engaged in teaching. Deciding to study medicine, he began 
with Dr. R. E. W. Adams, of Springfield. In 1860 he became a gradu- 
ate of the Homoeopathic Medical College of Missouri, at St. Louis. In 
the fall of the same year he came to Vermilion county, and began the 
practice of his profession, which he followed until 1862, when he en- 
tered the army in the war of the rebellion of 1861-65. He enlisted in 
Co. C, 125th 111. Vol. Inf., as first lieutenant. When he entered the 
service he carried with him a private store of medicines, prescribing 
and filling his prescriptions free of charge so long as his store lasted. 
For this act of kindness he made more than one life-long friend who is 
now residing in Vermilion county. In 1861 he resigned his commission 
and returned to Illinois, locating at Decatur for about nine months, 
and then returning to Danville, where he has since resided, engaging 
in the practice of his profession. He is a member of the Wabash Val- 
ley Homoeopathic Medical Society, and is the physician who first intro- 
duced the practice of Homoeopathy in Vermilion county in 1860. He 
not only had the ignorance of the people to light against, but the pre- 
judice of the allopathic school of physicians to overcome, both of which 
he has succeeded so well in doing that to-day his practice is so large 
that there is no room left for doubt. He is a citizen standing among 
the first in the community, and whose name and reputation are above 
reproach. 

Dr. J. C. Winslow, Danville, dentist, a lineal descendant of the old 
Mayflower stock, is a native of Barnard, Windsor county, Vermont. 
He was born in 1819, and remained a resident of the old home until 
fourteen years of age. His first occupation after leaving home was at 
the trade of manufacturing musical ii'struments. In a short time he 
began teaching music, and in 1846 began railroading, first with the 
Saratoga & Schenectady Railroad. Later he became master mechanic 
of the New York & New Haven Railroad, and in 1856 came west and 
accepted the position of assistant master mechanic of the then Great 
Western Railroad, but what is now known as the Wabash. This he 
followed until 1859, when he decided to give up railroading altogether, 
though he was offered full charge of the road as master mechanic if he 
would stay. But his decision to do no more of this kind of work could 
not be changed by these offers. In 1846-7 the Doctor had begun the 



428 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

study of dentistry, and in 1859, when he left the road, he went to 
Springfield, Illinois, and spent six months more in the study of his pro- 
fession. In 1860 he came to Danville and began practice, where he has 
since resided. By his own efforts the Doctor has also become a geologist 
of so much note as to be quoted as authority in some scientific discoveries 
that he has made, not only among scientists of this country but also in 
Europe. We may also mention a very complete article upon the geol- 
ogy of Vermilion county, compiled by himself and Prof. Wm. Gurley. 
To the Doctor must also be given the credit of agitating the movement 
which resulted in the organization of the Vermilion County Historical 
Society, of which he is the curator. He was the first mayor of the city 
of Danville, to which office he was elected in May of 1868. He is a 
man who has been identified with public improvements of almost every 
kind, and is so well known to the people that any compliments of the 
press are wholly unneeded on his part. 

John W. Dale, Danville, county clerk, the subject of this sketch, 
was born in South Charleston, Clarke county, Ohio, on the 15th of 
January, 1842, and is the son of John J. and Elizabeth (Davison) Dale. 
His mother was a native of Ohio, and his father, who was born in 1809, 
of Maryland. Mr. John J. Dale moved to Clarke county, Ohio, and 
there married, and raised a family of eight children. In 1856 the fam- 
ily moved to Warren county, Indiana, and remained until 1860, when 
they moved to Vermilion county and located about six miles south of 
Rossville. Mr. J. W. was brought up on the farm. At the breaking 
out of the late war he enlisted as private in Co. B, 25th 111. Vol. Inf., 
for three years. He participated in some of the most prominent bat- 
tles of the war, such as Pea Ridge, siege of Corinth, Perryville, Stone 
River and Chickamauga. At the battle of Chickamauga, on Sunday 
afternoon, September 20, 1863, he received a wound in the left elbow, 
and was then sent to the hospital at Nashville, Tennessee, where he had 
his arm amputated. He remained in the hospital until 1864, when he 
was finally mustered out. He returned to his home in Vermilion 
county, and from there he went to Greencastle, Indiana, and attended 
college. Mr. Dale has held several offices of public trust in Vermil- 
ion county. He was elected assessor and collector of Ross township, 
which office he held for two years. In 1869 he was nominated by the 
republican party and elected clerk of Vermilion county, and to this 
office he was reelected in 1873 and 1877, and is the present incumbent. 
The war history of Mr. Dale is that he did his duty. So might it be 
said in regard to his serving the. people of Vermilion county as a 
county officer. Mr. Dale was married on the 26th of June, 1873, to 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 429 

Harriet I. Hicks, of Perryville, Indiana, daughter of (ieorg Hicks. 
They have two children. 

John H. Long, Danville, saloon-keeper, was born in Center county, 
Pennsylvania, on the 31st of March, 1838. While in Pennsylvania 
Mr. Long was engaged in teaching school. He, in 1860, came west to 
Illinois, and joined a circus at Freeport. He remained with the circus 
but a short time, and in 1860 he came to Danville, where he has been 
a resident ever since. When he first came here he was engaged in 
teaching school in South Danville, thence as superintendent of the 
Carbon coal mines, which was a very extensive mine, employing as high 
as two hundred and fifty hands, with the capacity of mining five hun- 
dred tons of coal daily. He remained with the coal company for four 
or five years. He then entered the grocer}' business, which he con- 
tinued for about one year. Then he opened a billiard-room, where lie 
was very successful. Then in the saloon business, and this he has 
carried on in a very orderly manner. He is now improving his room 
to enter into the theater business, and will be known as Long's Gaiety 
Theater. Mr. Long represented the first ward as alderman for four 
years in a faithful manner. He was married in Columbia City, Indiana, 
to Phoebia Shavey, a native of Paris, France, by whom they had two 
children. She died on the 15th of February, 1879, of consumption, 
after suffering many weary months. 

We do not expect to give a history or biography of the life of the 
detective, T. E. Halls, of Danville, for a detailed sketch of some of his 
exploits alone would make a good-sized book, a number of which have 
already been written by sensational writers. He is a native of Enfield, 
Middlesex county, England, and is a man now about thirty-four years 
old. At the age of twelve years he came to the United States, and 
became a resident of Warren county, Indiana, where he remained until 
1861 ; then came to Danville. In 1865, while filling the office of dep- 
uty sheriff under Joseph M. Payton, his ability in arresting and hand- 
ling criminals was first taken particular notice of by the people. In 
1865 there was an old man by the name of Ball living on the banks of 
the Vermilion, near Dallas, Vermilion county, called out of his door 
after night and shot by some unseen person or persons. Six persons 
were charged with this murder, warrants issued for their arrest, and 
placed in the hands of T. E. Halls. A posse of men was offered him 
to help make the arrests, but this he refused and started after them 
alone. It is not necessary to detail the manner in which he made 
these arrests, but enough to say that the next day after starting after 
them he came into Danville on horseback, driving the six prisoners 
before him. This starting out alone to arrest a lot of men seems to be 



430 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

a peculiarity with him. Whether this method of making arrests is 
common among detectives we do not know. In the fifteen years' ex- 
perience he has had as a detective he has been shot several times, though 
no time dangerously hurt or crippled. Since 1873 he has been in the 
employ of the I. B. & W. railroad, and for C. & E. I. road has been 
detective since 1879. On the former road, in 1875, he made ninety 
arrests for car robbery, placing obstructions on the track, and for other 
offenses. His services have been appreciated by these roads. Besides 
being well paid, he has received many valuable presents, presented by 
the officers and employes. He has recently learned telegraphy, and 
now has an instrument in his own residence, the wires being connected 
with the main lines. We might add to this short sketch many pages 
of interesting matter relative to himself and his business. Though we 
may add that it is one thing to be a detective in name, and another 
thing by nature, his record will certainly entitle him to claim the lat- 
ter. His ability has already been recognized by some of the governors, 
who have given him important and dangerous work to do. Should no 
misfortune befall him, we hope yet to see the name of T. E. Halls 
among the list of noted detectives of the west. 

A grocery establishment recently opened in the city of Danville, 
and one which bids fair to do its share of the business in this line, is 
that of W. M. Carnahan. He is a native of Attica, Indiana, though he 
has been a resident of Vermilion county for about eighteen years. He 
began business in his present line in April of 1879. His first year's 
business will probably aggregate about fifteen thousand dollars, a spe- 
cialty with him being the miners' trade. To supply this he is located 
near the North Fork bridge, which is as convenient as possible to the 
Moss Bank mines. His store is twenty-four feet front by eighty deep, 
and well stocked with everything pertaining to the grocery trade. 

Among the stirring business firms of the city of Danville we may 
mention the Glindmeier Bros., manufacturing coopers. They are both 
natives of Prussia. Chris, the elder brother, came to the states one 
year ahead of his brother of whom we write. Henry, the younger of 
the two, came to the United States in 1860. He was born in Prussia 
in 1842, and before leaving his native country had received a good edu- 
cation. In 1861, when they came to Danville, he, with his brother, 
engaged in the manufacture of coopers' work, a more detailed account 
of the extent of which business is given elsewhere. They have two 
establishments, one located near the Wabash Depot in Danville, and 
the other a short way in the country. The one in Danville comes 
directly under the supervision of himself, and being a practical cooper 
by trade, he has little trouble in managing the work at this point, 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 431 

though there is a large force of men who look to him for orders in the 
execution of their work. Pie is still a young man, and by his sober, 
steady habits and close attention to business, has already accumulated 
a good property and established a good name and reputation among 
his fellow-citizens. 

For the past five years Mr. A. C. Freeman has held the office of 
city clerk of the city of Danville. He is a native of Washington 
county, Pennsylvania, where he was born in August, 1834. For the 
past eighteen years he has been a resident of Vermilion county, though 
not located at Danville all this time. In 1861 he was employed by the 
Great Western Railroad Company of Illinois, being stationed at Fair- 
mount. Later he went to State Line, where the division shops used to 
be. In 1866 he was stationed at Danville, where he remained in the 
employ of the company until 1872; thus spending more of his life in 
the railroad business than the average railroad man, viz: seven years. 
He is still located where he can hear the whistles blow, and probably 
the most notable feature of his change of occupation is the absence of 
the "pay-car." 

W. T. Myers, Danville, livery-keeper, is the son of Elias and Ann 
Myers, who were of German descent, and formerly of Fairfield county, 
Ohio, where W. T. Myers was born, on the 17th of February, 1846. 
In 1862 the family removed to Danville, where they now reside, and 
where of late W. T. has been engaged in the livery business. He, by 
his gentlemanly and courteous treatment of his many customers, now 
has a business pqnal to that of anyone else in the same business. 

S. B. Holloway, Danville, proprietor of the omnibus line, was born 
in Guernsey county, Ohio, on the 5th of April, 1831, and at eight years 
of age his parents removed to Morgan county, Ohio, where Mr. Hollo- 
way remained until grown to be a man, and had married. His choice 
was Miss A. Plummer, a native of Morgan county, Ohio. In the fall 
of 1854 he removed to Henry county, Indiana, and engaged in the 
saw-mill business. In 1856 he removed and purchased a steam 
saw-mill, which he run until 1858. He then removed to Knightstown, 
where he was engaged in the same business, which he continued to do 
for eighteen months, and in 1859 purchased a saw-mill in Rush county, 
Indiana, which he run for a short time. In 1860 he went to Hancock 
county, Indiana, and bought a mill, which he run for one year, and in 

1861 he went to Indianapolis and engaged in the grocery business. In 

1862 he came to Danville, where he has been doing a successful livery 
and omnibus business. 

W. H. Taylor, the present chief of the fire department of the city 
of Danville, was born in Perry county, Ohio, in 1831. He removed to 



4:!2 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Hancock county, Ohio, in 1844, and to Illinois in 1851, arriving at 
Decatur, Macon county, on the 4th of June of that year. He settled 
in Sullivan in August, 1851, and removed to Mount Pleasant (now 
Farmer City), Dewitt county, in 1856, and then to Danville in 1862. 
The same year he volunteered in the 107th 111. Inf., and served until 
the close of the war. He was in the siege at Knoxville and in all the 
battles from Rocky Face to Atlanta. He was wounded at Franklin, 
Tennessee. He commanded the company through most of the Georgia 
campaign, though a non-commissioned officer; the officers of his com- 
pany being (an exception to the rule) home on furlough, in hospital, or 
absent on long marches and during engagements. After the war he 
located at Danville, Illinois, and was elected alderman of the fourth 
ward in 1871 and served two years. He was reelected from the second 
ward in 1874 and served two years, during which time he was chair- 
man of the committee on fire and water, and always evinced a great 
interest in the welfare of the city. To him the city is probably more 
indebted for the efficiency of the fire department than to any other 
citizen of Danville. 

J. A. Lewis, Danville, contractor and builder, is a native of the Isle 
of Wight, England. In 1858 he went to Toronto, Canada, where he 
remained only one year, and then removed to St. Louis, Missouri, 
remaining a resident of that city and vicinity until 1861, when he 
entered the Federal army from St. Clair county, Missouri, enlisting in 
the 7th Mo. Inf., Co. D, as company bugler. He first enlisted for a 
three-months term of service, but afterward joined the 7th Mo., which 
was for three years. In 1862, while his command was marching from 
Kansas City to Independence, he, with a couple other members of his 
company, stopped at a farm-house for refreshments. The command 
had got some way in advance, when they stepped out at the door and 
were ordered to surrender by the notorious guerrilla Quantrell. As 
there was but little use of fighting and no use of running, he and one 
comrade quietly surrendered. The third broke and ran, having been 
the last and somewhat the latest one out of the house. The rebels im- 
mediately fired upon him, killing him instantly. Mr. Lewis was kept 
until the next day, when, for some reason, he and his fellow-prisoner 
were quietly required to swear never to again take up arms against the 
Confederate cause, instead, as was the usual custom, of putting pris- 
oners to death. This was the end of his army life. In 1862 he came 
to Danville and began work at his trade of a brick and stone mason, 
having learned this trade before leaving England. In 1876, when the 
Danville Contracting and Building Company was organized, he became 
interested in it, and was elected president, which office he held until 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 433 

1878, when he bought the property and interests of the company, and 
has since been contracting and building on his own account. He is 
now doing a large business in his line, employing from fifteen to twenty 
men most of the time. He has been a resident of Danville seventeen 
years, and is well known to the people as an honorable and upright 
citizen. 

L. B. Wolf, Danville, grocer, proprietor of the Cottage Bakery, 
located on the southwest corner of Pine and Madison streets, is a native 
of Wyandotte county, Ohio. He came to Vermilion count} 7 in 1862, 
and since 1867 has been a resident of Danville. In 1877 he engaged 
in his present business. The Cottage Bakery has already become well 
known. Mr. Wolf now gives employment to two men, and runs a 
delivery wagon in connection with his business. He has already estab- 
lished a trade that in 1879 will aggregate about $15,000. This he has 
done by energy, industry, and a close attention to business. 

The gardening business, if properly managed, seems to be both 
pleasant and profitable, — at least Mr. G. L. Holton, the subject of this 
sketch, seems to have brought the business to this state by his good 
management. He is a native of Bracken county, Kentucky, and is a 
man now thirty-eight years old. In 1851 he went to Crawford sville, 
Indiana, with his people. He has now been a resident of this place 
for about seventeen years. In 1869 he began as a gardener and florist, 
but for three years ran behind at the business, though as he became 
more familiar with the business he met with better success. His hot- 
house which he has now leased is in size 36 x 50, with an addition of 
12 x 35. The front is used as an office, packing-room, etc. He has 
brought the land up from a wild state to what it now is. Most of his 
seeds he buys in New York, though he uses some imported seeds. In 
connection with his business he runs a fine market-wagon, gotten up 
expressly for the purpose. During the winter he is engaged as a coal 
operator, his farm, like the balance of land in the vicinity, being under- 
laid with a fine six-foot vein of coal, besides a smaller one underneath. 
He both in the summer and winter gives employment to several men, 
his method of minino; beino- what is known as drift mining-. 

Dr. I. M. Gillam, physician and surgeon, is a native of Warren 
county, Ohio. In 1862, when he was twenty years old, his people 
moved to this county, locating at Oakwood. In 1866 the Doctor began 
the study of medicine with Dr. R. B. Ray, of Fairmount, a man who 
is well known throughout this county. He afterward came to Dan- 
ville, and finished his studies with Dr. Fithian. He in procuring 
, his education has been dependent upon his own resources. Not only 
this, but he had the care of his parents also upon his hands. He has 
28 



434 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

been practicing in Danville since 1867. His office is located at 69 
Main street, and his residence at 105 Hazel. He is a very quiet, un- 
demonstrative kind of a man, and still possessed of a good, firm will, 
that seldom fails to carry him through any difficulty. 

Christian Glindmeier, Danville, cooper, was born in Prussia, Ger- 
many, on the 19th of November, 1827. He came to America in 1857, 
with his sister, coming directly west and stopping in Vermilion county, 
Indiana, where the first winter he was engaged in working in a pork- 
house. He then went to Terre Haute, where he worked at the cooper's 
trade, which he had learned in Germany. He remained in Terre Haute 
about six months, and then returned to Vermilion county, Indiana, 
where he married Elizabeth Aspelmeire, a playmate of his boyhood 
days in Prussia,, Germany, and a passenger on the same ship in which 
he came to America. He moved to fountain county and remained 
there about eighteen months, and then went to farming. In 1862 he 
came to Vermilion county, Illinois, and located on the present farm, 
where he commenced his cooper business. He first worked two hands, 
and from that he gradually built up a very large trade. In 1874 he 
and his brother built a cooper shop in Danville, which was destroyed 
by fire. They then rebuilt, and to-day do an immense business, em- 
ploying some sixty hands on the farm and in the cooper department. 
Their pay-roll amounts to $250 to $300 per week. They manufacture 
about twelve thousand lard and pork barrels per year, finding sales for 
their barrels principally in St. Louis and Chicago. Mr. Glindmeier 
started from his native home with $800 ; when he arrived at his des- 
tination he was worth, perhaps, about $400, and from this start he has 
made what he is worth to-day. He owns seven hundred and forty -four 
acres of land, which has been made by industry and good management. 
He is the father of five children : Mary E., Louisa C, Kissie Alice, 
Minnie May and Henry Franklin. 

James Jones, Danville, civil engineer, of the Ellsworth Coal Com- 
pany, is a native of Liverpool, England. He was born in 1843, and at 
the age of thirteen years left home and went to sea for about six and a 
half years. In J862 he joined the American navy, in the war of 1861-5, 
remaining in the service until April of 1863. During this time he was 
in the battles of Fort Pillow, Memphis, and White Eiver. At the 
latter place he was one of a crew of one hundred and eighty men. The 
boat " blew up," and of this number only twenty came out alive, and 
some of these were crippled. Besides receiving several bad wounds, 
he was shot through the calf of the leg with the rib of some poor fellow 
who was blown to pieces. This mishap kept him in the hospital for 
eight months. During his six and a half years of life on the sea he had 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 435 

learned marine engineering. This varies quite materially from his 
present work. He has been dependent wholly upon his own resources 
in fitting himself for the work of civil engineering. Since he has been 
with the Ellsworth Coal Company he has executed some very neat and 
difficult work, having made the surveys for the three connections in 
the mine, varying from seven hundred to eleven hundred and fifty 
yards. He has now been with this company for eight years, though in 
all he has had about sixteen years' experience in mining, having begun 
the business in the Kirkland carbon mines. He has been so lono- with 
the company, and by his suggestions so many changes and improvements 
have been made, that now the whole, or nearly the whole, supervision 
of the mines is left to him. If he says everything is "all right," Mr. 
Daniel, the manager, pays no more attention to it. 

R. H. Mater, Danville, contractor and builder, whose office is found 
at 88 Vermilion street, is a native of Indiana, and was born in Febru- 
ary of 1839. He began learning the trade of carpenter and joiner in 
1859. In 1863 he went to Fairmount, this county, where he remained 
about four years, and then removed to Terre Haute, Indiana. He 
remained there but about one year, and then returned to this county, 
locating at Danville, where he has established a good business, some- 
times giving employment to as many as twenty-two men at one time. 
Among some of the prominent buildings which he has built may be 
mentioned the Vermilion-street Opera House, the residences of E. B. 
Martin and B. Brittenhouse. These buildings will, no doubt, for many 
years after his death, be known as monuments of his workmanship. 

Win. J. Moore, M.D., Danville, physician and surgeon, is a native 
of Champaign county, Illinois, where he was born in 1846. When 
seventeen years old he began the study of medicine with Dr. W. W. 
R. Woodbury, of Danville, and graduated at the Rush Medical College 
in 1 870. At the age of twenty-four years he began practice at Car- 
thage, Hancock county, Illinois, where he remained about two years, 
and then came to Danville, where he has since resided engaged in the 
practice of his profession. On the 23d of March, 1863, he enlisted in 
Co. L, 16th 111. Cavalry, in the three-years service, remaining in the 
service until the close of the war and participating in many of the 
heavy battles, among which may be mentioned those of the Atlanta 
campaign, the battle of Nashville and at Jonesville, Virginia, where he 
was wounded and taken prisoner, lying fo.r seven weeks at a farm-house, 
and finall} r making his escape. The Doctor is what is termed one of 
the regular physicians, and is a member of the Association of Physicians 
and Surgeons of Vermilion county, and also of the Illinois State Med- 
ical Association. By his close attention to business he has established 



436 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

a good name and reputation, these being two of the important things 
necessary to the success of any physician. 

David A. Smith, Danville, farmer, was born in Warren county, 
Ohio, on the 2d of September, 1812, and is the son of John and Eliz- 
abeth (Harmon) Smith. His father was a paper-maker by trade. He 
was married in Virginia, and with his wife moved to Ohio, where he 
followed his trade, and there remained until 1863, when he moved to 
Vermilion county. He died in Indiana, but was buried here ; his wife 
also died, and was buried in Vermilion county. Mr. Smith, the sub- 
ject of this sketch, learned the paper-maker's trade, then the trade of a 
millwright, and afterward that of a miller. He was married to Martha 
J. Parker, of North Carolina, who came to Indiana when she was 
quite young. Mr. Smith was a resident of Richmond, Indiana, but 
went to La Fayette, where he remained some five or six years in the 
mill business; thence to Warren county, and remained there in same 
business about five years. Mr. Smith was very successful in the mill 
business, having retired in good circumstances. In 1853 he came to 
Vermilion county, Illinois, and purchased land, and also the present 
homestead. He returned to Indiana, and in 1855 he moved on the 
present farm, where he has remained since. Here his first wife, who 
was a good and kind mother and loving wife, died. He then married 
Mrs. Hannah Brant Lee. Mr. Smith had three sons in the late war, 
who did good service. William H. enlisted in the 125th 111. Vol. Inf., 
and on account of sickness was honorably discharged after serving over 
two years. David J. enlisted at the first call. After his time was up 
he reenlisted in a battery, and did good service. Samuel P. enlisted in the 
one-hundred-days service. He, after his time was up, tried to reenlist 
in the three-years service, but, on account of being too young, was re- 
fused. There are six children living, all by the first wife: William 
H., David J., Samuel P., Andrew J., Casius Wilson and Sarah Jane. 

Anton Schatz, Danville, saloon-keeper, was born in Baden, Ger- 
many, on the 6th of April, 1840, and came to Danville, Illinois, in 
1864, where he engaged with Samuel Craig for seven years and accu- 
mulated money enough to start in his present business. On the 1st of 
March, 1870, he was married to Miss Theresia Loftier. They have 
seven children : Columbus, John, Anton, Caroline, Anna, Louisa and 
Stacy. Mr. Schatz is a member of the I.O.O.F., No. 499, and has 
filled all the chairs. He is also a member of the Turner Society. In 
politics he is a democrat. 

Jno. C. Mengle, Danville, butcher, is a native of Berks county, 
Pennsylvania. He came west in 1864 and located in Danville. He 
learned the butcher business with his father. He is now located on 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 437 

the corner of Vermilion and North streets, and is doing the leading- 
business in his line in the city. In all he gives employment to about 
three men on an average. He kills annually about 1,000 head of 
stock. For this he pays to the farmers about $10,000. Everything 
about his place is neat and clean. This, coupled with his pleasant and 
courteous treatment of customers, must] insure him success in the 
future, as it has already done in the past. 

Messrs. T. and J. Donnelly have been in the grocery business in 
Danville for fifteen years, and may truly be classed among the old 
grocery men of the city. They are both natives of County Cavan, Ire- 
land. They are located corner of Jackson and South streets. The 
store they occupy is 20x40, but they have warehouse room outside of 
this. Besides doing a general grocery business, during the winter they 
buy dressed pork and other produce. Probably one secret of their 
success is that they have both been farmers, and know better how to 
supply the wants of this class of custom, and know also what the loss 
of a crop is, and how hard it is sometimes for farmers to pay without 
a sacrifice of property. Mr. J. Donnelly was fourteen years old when 
he came to the United States in 1851. For one year he was in Troy, 
New York. He then came west and located at Attica, Fountain 
county, Indiana, and there, in 1855, in company with his brother, 
began farming. This they followed until 1864, when they began busi- 
ness in the grocery trade in Danville. In 1867 he was elected to the 
council from the first ward, and is now holding the office of assistant 
supervisor of Danville township. They have done more toward the 
improvement of Danville than many citizens who are much older resi- 
dents, as they have built twelve new buildings and repaired six others, 
making them good residences. 

L. C. Hovey, Danville, yardmaster, was born in Tolland county, 
Connecticut, in 1825. During his early life he had the advantages of 
good schools, and received a good business education. About 1853 he 
began railroading, having been at the business now about twenty-six 
years. He was first connected with what used to be the Cincinnati & 
Chicago Short Line, but was afterward with the New London tfc North- 
ern, and fifteen years ago began with what is now the Wabash road, 
with which he has since remained, excepting three years spent on the 
I. C. & L., being engaged most of the time while on the road as an en- 
gineer. He now has charge of the Wabash yard at this point. Dan- 
ville being the joint station between the eastern and western divisions 
of the road, requires a yard five miles in length. All trains from either 
division when run into this yard are in his charge. He also has the 
supervision of about twenty men ; but being an old railroad man he 



438 ' HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

has become so used to doing his duty as regularly as clock-work, that 
seldom any errors or blunders creep into his management, either of the 
men or other matters pertaining to his department. He is probably 
the oldest railroad man residing in Danville. His record as such is 
certainly as free from errors or accidents as any who follow railroading 
as a business. 

W. A. Brown, Danville, physician and surgeon, was born in Knox 
county, Tennessee, in 1830, and at the age of seven years went with 
his people to Macoupin county, Illinois. He became a graduate of the 
McDowell College of Medicine, of St. Louis, in 1857; after graduating 
he went to Iowa, where he remained but a short time, removing to 
Missouri in 1859, where he was engaged in practice for three years. 
In 1862 he entered the army as assistant surgeon of the 1st Missouri 
Militia, serving two years, and upon leaving the army he came to Dan- 
ville and began his practice in July of 1864. He has since given his 
time exclusively to his profession. He is a member of the Vermilion 
County Association of Physicians and Surgeons, and a man whose 
name and reputation are above reproach. 

D. D. Evans, Danville, attorn ey-at-law, is a native of the old Key- 
stone State, was born in Cambria county, Pennsylvania, on the 17th 
of April, 1829, and is the son of David and Anna (Lloyd) Evans, both 
natives of England, having emigrated to America when they were 
children. Mr. Evans' father was a stonemason and contractor, but in 
his latter days was engaged in farming here. Mr. Evans remained un- 
til he was about twenty-four years of age, engaged in farming in the 
summer, and in the winter months attending the district schools, where 
he received sufficient education to enable him to teach school .for sev- 
eral years in his native county. He then entered the Eclectic Institute 
of Ohio, which at that time was one of the leading institutions of learn- 
ing in that state. General James A. Garfield, who afterward became 
president of the institution, was a pupil of this school at this time. At 
about thirty years of age Mr. Evans commenced the study of law, and 
in 1861 he entered the Michigan University at Ann Arbor, graduating 
from the law school in the spring of 1863. He returned to Ohio, and 
in the summer of the same year enlisted in the one-hundred-days ser- 
vice as orderly in Co. E, 167th Ohio National Guards, and served for four 
months. The following year he came to Danville, and was for a short 
time engaged in school teaching. Mr. Evans, for some time, was editor 
of the Vermilion county "Plaindealer," which at that time was one of 
the leading republican newspapers of this vicinity, and the only paper 
published in the county. Since Mr. Evans began the practice of law 
in Danville he has had associated with him, as partners, John A. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 439 

Kumler, Mark D. Hawes and Charles M. Swallow, the two former of 
whom are now ministers of the gospel, and the latter a prominent at- 
torney of the Vermilion county bar. Mr. Evans' political opinions are 
republican. In 1876 he was a delegate to the republican presidential 
convention which was held in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was one of the 
five delegates who worked so hard for the nomination of Mr. Bristow. 
Mr. Evans married Mrs. Edwilda Anderson (Cromwell) Fithian. By 
this marriage they have had three children — two deceased. 

Oliver P. Kistler, Danville, farmer, was born in Fairfield county, 
Ohio, on the 20th of January, 1837, and is the son of Samuel and 
Elizabeth (King) Kistler. His father was a farmer and a native of 
Pennsylvania, he moving to Ohio at an early day. Here Mr. Kist- 
ler, the subject of this sketch, was brought up on the farm, and en- 
gaged in farming from the time he was able to hold the plow. In 
1864 he came to Vermilion county and located on the present home- 
stead, which has been his home ever since. He was married in 
Ohio to Miss Mary C. Lake. They have four children. He owns 
four hundred and eighty-eight acres of tine improved land. His father 
and mother died in Ohio ; his father being seventy-four years, nine 
months and thirteen days old, and his mother about sixty-nine years 
old, when they died. 

Robert D. McDonald, Danville, attorney-at-law, was born near Co- 
lumbia, Tennessee, on the 23d of June, 1834, and is the son of C. R. 
and Nancy (Baldrich) McDonald, of South Carolina. His father was 
a tanner by trade, and followed farming. Here, on the farm, Mr. 
McDonald remained until he was about thirteen years of age. He 
then came to Danville and clerked in a store, where he remained about 
six years. He then went to Pontiac, Livingston county, and entered 
the mercantile business, where he remained about five years. He then 
returned to Danville, where he was engaged in the mercantile business 
for about four years longer, and afterward in the real-estate business. 
In 1870 Mr. McDonald commenced the study of law, and in 1872 he 
was admitted to practice law at the Illinois bar, and began business in 
Danville. To-day he ranks among the prominent attorneys of the Ver- 
milion county bar. 

The dry-goods store in Schmitt's new marble block, 75 Main street, 
and managed by Mr. Albert Oberdorfer, of Danville, is an institution 
that takes rank with the very leading ones of Danville, and one that 
does an extensive business, and which has been in successful existence 
during the past fifteen years. Mr. Oberdorfer is a gentleman full of 
vim, enterprise and business capacity, and thoroughly alive to the 
wants of his patrons and the necessities of the trade. Mr. Oberdorfer 



440 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

was born in Austria on the 15th of September, 1838, and is the son of 
Moses and Thresa (Bernheimer) Oberdorfer. His mother was a native 
of Prussia, and his father of Bavaria. Mr. Oberdorfer came to Amer- 
ica in 1859, and first located in Louisville, Kentucky, where he was 
engaged in the dry-goods business. Since then he has been engaged 
in the same business in Tennessee, and Versailles, Kentucky. From 
there, in 1864, he came to Danville, where he entered the dry-goods 
business on Main street. He then removed to the present stand, which 
consists of two floors, each 22x100. Here may be found a full line of 
dry goods and carpets, and patrons will be well treated b}- his four 
accommodating clerks. 

Dayton C. Moorehouse, Danville, county sheriff, was born in "War- 
ren county, Ohio, on the 1st of September, 1818. His parents were 
Nathan B. and Mary (Potter) Moorehouse, natives of New Jersey, 
they moving to Ohio at an early day. His father was in the war of 
1812. Mr. Moorehouse was brought up on his father's farm, where he 
remained until he was about fourteen years old. He then went to 
Greenville, Ohio, and was engaged in his uncle's store as a clerk, where 
he remained about six years. In 1837 he went to Covington, Indiana, 
and here was engaged in the mercantile business. He remained until 
1856, when he moved to Galesburg, Illinois, and there staid about three 
and a half years, when he returned to Covington, Indiana. Here, in 1861, 
he enlisted in a company as first lieutenant w T hich went to Washington 
city and finally disbanded. Mr. Moorehouse then entered the govern- 
ment department in Washington city, and remained in service until 
1864. He then returned to Covington, Indiana, and in December of 
1864, with his family, came to Vermilion county, Illinois, and located 
in Danville, where he has remained. Since Mr. Moorehouse has been 
a resident of Vermilion county he has held several offices of public 
trust ; that of deputy county sheriff for four years under J. W. Myers, 
and the same office for four years under E. S. Gregory. He then, in 
1878, was elected sheriff of the county by the republican party, which 
office he still holds. Mr. Moorehouse has given entire satisfaction, 
having proven himself a gentleman of acknowledged ability. He is a 
republican in politics. He was married in 1841 to Miss J. W. Bils- 
land. They have three children living. 

Alexander Bowman, Danville, civil engineer, was born in New 
York city on the 26th of November, 1826, and is the son of Alexander 
and Catharine Bowman. His father was a native of Georgia, and was 
a captain on the sea; he died in Savannah. His mother, a native of 
New York, died in Florida. Mr. Bowman, when a young man, was 
engaged in teaching school in New York state, and while east was 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 441 

there engaged in his profession. In 1864 he came to Danville, Illinois, 
where he has been engaged principally at his vocation. He has drawn 
the plan of a number of prominent buildings: the court-house of 
Champaign county, Illinois, the plan of the Episcopal church, Short's 
block, and the city building of Danville, Illinois. He has drawn and 
published two maps of Danville and one map of Vermilion county, 
Illinois, which are pronounced the best maps yet published. Mr. 
Bowman has held several public offices. He was county surveyor 
four years and city engineer of Danville three terms. Mr. Bowman 
has surveyed and laid out perhaps more villages in Vermilion county 
than any other one man. He laid out Rankin, Pellsville, East Lynn, 
Marysville, Alvin, Bismark and a portion of Hoopeston, Ridge Farm, 
Danville, and other places in the county. 

George Walz, Danville, furniture dealer and undertaker, was born 
in Wurtemburg, Germany, on the 1st of October, 1830, and is the son 
of Martin Walz, who was a farmer. Here, on the farm, Mr. Walz re- 
mained until he was sixteen years of age. He then learned the cabi- 
net-maker's trade near his native home. At twenty-one years of age 
he enlisted in the German army and served for three years. In 1854 
he emigrated to America, and landed in New York city with but little 
money. He worked at his trade in New York, Philadelphia, Mauch 
Chunk, St. Louis and Pike county, Illinois. In Williamsport he first 
embarked for himself in the furniture business. He came to Danville 
and commenced business in 1864, and here he has gradually improved 
his stock so that to-day he ranks among the leading houses of this 
vicinity. He occupies two rooms and has in his employ four men. 
Mr. Walz is also doing a very extensive business in the undertaking 
line, owning a fine hearse, and he is now prepared to do this business 
at any time. Mr. Walz was married in Danville, in 1864, to Miss Fred- 
ericka Steebe, of Germany, who came to America when she was a child. 
By this marriage the}' have five children. 

C. F. Hankey, who has been for many years engaged in Danville 
in the business of contracting and building, and now in the lumber 
trade, is a native of Germany. At the age of ten years he was brought 
to the United States by his parents, they locating in Washtenaw coun- 
ty, Michigan. For the following sixteen years this and Jackson county 
were his home. It was in the latter that he learned the trade of a car- 
penter and joiner. In 1861 he was on a trip through Illinois, and when 
he reached Galesburg he enlisted in the federal army. He first entered 
company C, 10th 111. Inf., three-years service. He served most of his 
term of enlistment as sergeant. As the expiration of their term of en- 
listment drew nigh, he, with most of the regiment, reenlisted, they 



442 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

being granted a short deduction of time of service for so doing. This 
last enlistment was for three years, or during the war, he still being 
connected with the same company and regiment. During the last six 
months of his service he held the commission of second lieutenant. In 
all, he was in seventy-four different engagements, the first being at 
Island No. 10, which is said to have been one among the sharpest en- 
gagements of the war. Following this was the siege of Corinth, Mur- 
freesborough, Mission Ridge, the Atlanta campaign, and Sherman's 
march to the sea. He was finally mustered out of service in Chicago 
in 1865. This same year he came to Danville, and in company with 
his brother, began contracting and building. He later sold out to his 
brother, and has since entered into a partnership with Mr. G. W. Hoo- 
ton in the lumber trade. Mr. Hankey deserves much credit for the 
introduction of a superior style of architecture in and around Danville. 
The firm sometimes employs as many as fifty men. Among some of 
the buildings, designed by him and constructed by the firm may be 
mentioned the Arlington Hotel, Byers' block, Chas. Palmer's residence 
and that of O. F. Maxon. 

M. D. L. Adams, Danville, butcher, was born in Berks county, 
Pennsylvania, on the 3d of June, 1841, and came to Freeport, Illinois, 
in 1865. He thence came to Danville in the same year, where he has 
been in his present business ever since. In 1860 he married Miss Ame- 
lia Lubt. She was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, in 1842. They 
have eight children : Chas., Victory, Alice, William, John, U. S. A., 
Flora, Elizabeth. Mr. Adams served in the late rebellion, in the 69th 
Penn. Vol. Inf., in company A. He is a member of the I.O.O.F., 499, 
and of the K.P., of which he has passed all the chairs. 

Geo. W. English, agent of the C. & E. I. railroad, is a native of 
Vermilion county, Indiana. He is a man who is well known to the 
people of Vermilion county, Indiana, as from 1856 to 1860 he filled 
the office of county treasurer, and was auditor of the county from 1860 
to 1864. Previous to filling the office of county treasurer he had been 
in the mercantile trade in Perrysville for about six years. His father 
was one of the early settlers of that county, having come there from 
Rising Sun, Indiana, in 1830. It was he who built the first rolling 
mill west of the mountains. Mr. English came to Danville in 1865, 
and began in the furniture trade, but lost in this business, by fire, about 
six thousand dollars. Later he was elected police magistrate, and in 
1870 began railroading with what was then the C. D. & V. railway, 
but in 1877 the name was changed to C. & E. I. railroad. He has also 
been ticket agent for the E. T. H. & C. railroad since 1872. He is a 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 443 

man who has met with a good many adversities financially, both by 
fire and the failures of other firms. 

Dr. J. A. Hall, Danville, physician and druggist, of 68 Vermilion 
street, is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, though his people left there when 
he was quite small. Later in life he returned to Cincinnati and 
began the study of medicine with Dr. Kelly. He began his studies 
in 1844, and in 1847 became a graduate of the Nashville University of 
Medicine, of Nashville, Tennessee. He has also given much study to 
the eclectic theory and practice of medicine, and is at present a member 
of the Illinois State Eclectic Medical Society and of the National Eclec- 
tic Medical Association. In 1861 he entered the army, remaining in 
the service four and one-half years. He is now located at 68 Vermilion 
street, where he has fitted up one of the finest drug establishments in 
the city, the firm name being J. A. Hall & Son. Their store is twenty- 
two feet front by eighty-seven and one-half deep, three stories and base- 
ment. Here they have everything pertaining to a full and complete 
line of drugs and druggists' sundries. The Doctor has been a resident 
of Danville since 1865, and is well known to the people. 

There are many men in every city who are known and honored by 
the title of M.D. from the fact of a diploma having been granted them ; 
there are others who have earned the title by years of hard study and 
a close attention to business. Among this latter class we find Dr. Geo. 
Wheeler Jones, of Danville, the subject of this brief notice. He was 
born in Steuben county, New York, in 1839. At the age of nine years 
his people moved west, locating at Covington, Indiana, where his father 
began the practice of his profession, that of an M.D. Here Geo. W. 
received his literary education and began the study of medicine with 
his father. In 1861 he became a graduate of the Northwestern Med- 
ical College, of Chicago. The same year he began practice in Terre 
Haute, Indiana, where he remained but about three months, when he 
entered the army of the war of 1861-65 as a volunteer surgeon, being 
among the first to enlist. He was consigned to the 26th 111. At Pitts- 
burg Landing he was attacked by yellow fever. His term of enlistment 
being but for three months, upon recovering from the fever he returned 
to the north, and again in 1862 entered the army ; this time with the 
63d Ind. Vol. Inf., as senior assistant surgeon, remaining with this 
regiment until the close of the war. He did a great deal of extra and 
detached duty in the field hospital and on the operating board, doing 
the duty of the latter for two years in connection with the third division 
of the 23d army corps. In 1865, after the close of the war, the Doctor 
came to Danville and began his practice. Here, by a close attention 
to business, he has become the most popular of the allopath physicians, 



444 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 



his practice being large and increasing gradually. He is a member of 
the American Medical Association and State Medical Society ; has 
been surgeon of the Chicago, Danville & Vincennes railroad ; is con- 
nected with the Vermilion County Medical Society, and is vice-president 
of the State Medical Society ; also chairman of the Committee on Prac- 
tice of Medicine. 

One of the leading business men of Danville is Mr. E. A. Leonard, 
president of the Danville Lumber and Manufacturing Company. He 
was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, in 1828. During his 
early life he had the advantage of none but common schools, yet by his 
own efforts he has acquired a good business education. About 1853 
he went to California, where he spent five years and a half mining, 
prospecting, etc. Returning in 1858, he located in Defiance county, 




DANVILLE PLANING MILL. 



Ohio, where he remained until 1865, when he came to Danville and 
began in the lumber trade with Mr. Holden, the firm name being 
Leonard & Holden. In one year he bought Mr. Holden's interest, and 
conducted the business alone until 1871, when the firm became Leonard 
& Yeomans. In 1873 there was a change made again, which resulted 
in the establishing of the present company, with Mr. Leonard as presi- 
dent, which position he still holds. They employ from fifteen to 
twenty men, and do a business aggregating from $75,000 to $80,000 
per annum. In 1872 there were consigned to them at this point 258 
cars of lumber and building materials; in 1873, 194; in 1874, 202; in 
1875, 195 ; in 1876, 133. They are the leading business firm of Dan- 
ville in this line of manufacturing, their facilities for furnishing good 
stock at low prices being unequaled. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 445 

Edward S. Gregory, Danville, deputy county sheriff, was born in 
Broome county, New York, on the 29th of July, 1843, and is the son of 
Henry W. and Phrelove (Seamon) Gregory, who were the parents of 
eleven children — seven sons and four daughters. Mr. Gregory's grand- 
fathers were Continental soldiers in the Revolutionary war. His 
ancestors were in this country very early during the colonial period of 
the nation's history. In May, 1865, Mr. Gregory came to Danville 
and entered the drug business with J. Partlow, and remained in this 
business about five years. In 1869 he was elected marshal of the city 
of Danville, which position he filled some six years. He was then 
elected sheriff of Vermilion county, which position he held until 1878. 
He is now filling the office of deputy county sheriff. Mr. Gregory was 
married on the 16th of June, 1868, to Miss Anna M. Maxon, of Dan- 
ville. They have one child. 

William A. Young, Danville, attorn ey-at-1 aw, was born in Dan- 
ville, Hendricks county, Indiana, on the 9th of December, 1839, and 
is the son of John A. and Mary B. (Blair) Young. His father was a 
native of Kentucky and followed farming. Mr. Young made his home 
on the farm with his parents until about 1859 ; he went to Martinsville, 
Clark county, Illinois, where he was engaged in teaching school. From 
here he went to Charleston, and in this vicinity he was engaged in 
teaching school and practicing law before a justice of the peace. In 
1861, at the first call, he enlisted as private in the 8th 111. Vol. Inf., 
Co. C, for three months. He served until the expiration of this time 
and was honorably mustered out in 1862. He then reenlisted for three 
years, but on account of disability was rejected. He then went to 
Indianapolis, Indiana, and was engaged in recruiting soldiers. Here 
he remained until 1865, when he came to Vermilion county. He lo- 
cated at State Line, where he was engaged for the first three months 
in teaching school. From this he entered the drug business. In 1868 
Mr. Young was admitted to practice law at the Illinois state bar, and 
commenced his practice at State Line. In 1870 he moved to Danville, 
where he has been engaged at his profession ever since. In October, 
1877, he entered as law partner with Frank W. Penwell, Esq. (whose 
biography appears in this work), and formed the present law firm of 
Young & Penwell, who stand high among the leading attorneys of 
the Vermilion county bar. Mr. Young was elected alderman from the 
third ward in the spring of 1878. In 1879 the temperance people of 
Danville nominated and placed him on their ticket for mayor of Dan- 
ville, but he was defeated on account of the city being strongly anti- 
temperance. He married Miss Elizabeth Maddox, who was born in 
Danville, Illinois, daughter of the Rev. Nelson Maddox, who was 



446 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

among the first settlers of Danville. By this union they have one 
child. 

James Bracewell, Danville, justice of the peace, was born in what 
was then Mason county, Virginia, on the 29th of January, 1838 ; his 
parents are John and Minerva (Lewis) Bracewell ; his father was from 
England, and was engaged in working in the coal mines. When Mr. 
Bracewell was very young his parents moved to Ohio, and here, when 
•he was but seven years old, he entered the mines with his father. He 
remained in Ohio until 1865, when he came to Illinois and located in 
Danville. He first commenced to work in the mines of Chandler & 
Donlan. In 1873 he was elected justice of the peace, and in 1877 re- 
elected to the same office, which he still holds ; he is also commissioner 
of highways, to which office he was elected the same year. Mr. Brace- 
well also holds the very important office of inspector of mines of Ver- 
milion county, having been appointed in 1878. He married in Stark 
county, Ohio, on the 18th of May, 1857, Miss Mary Jones, of England. 
They have five children. Mr. Bracewell is agent for the Inman line 
of steamships. 

Adolph Rudolph, Danville, saloon-keeper, was born in Hesse-Cassel, 
Germany, on the 17th of August, 1840 ; coming to America in 1865, 
direct to Illinois, and locating in Danville, where he has been a resi- 
dent ever since. He married Martha E. Lingner, of Hesse-Cassel, Ger- 
many, who came over at the same time that Mr. Rudolph did. They 
have three children. When he first came here he commenced to work 
in a brickyard, and followed this business about three years; then he 
was engaged by Mr. John Long in attending bar, and from there he 
entered into business for himself, which he has continued since. Mr. 
Rudolph was alderman of Germantown, and filled that office with 
credit. In 1872 he made a trip to Germany, to see his old friends. 
Mr. Rudolph keeps a model saloon and restaurant, and a first-class 
stock of wines and liquors. 

John E. Davis, Danville, proprietor of J. E. Davis' coal mines, was 
born in South Wales on the 15th of April, 1826 ; his father was William 
Davis, a coal miner in South Wales. Mr. Davis commenced work in 
the coal mines when he was about eight years old, working with his 
father. In 1838 he sailed on the ship "Tobarious" for America, and 
landed in Baltimore, Maryland. He was first engaged in working in 
the coal mines in that state, and remained there some four or five 
years, his father then moving on a farm where he was part of the time 
engaged in farming, and part of the time working in the coal mines. 
He went to Ohio, and was working in the coal mines near Youngs- 
town, and after this he worked in the coal mines in different parts of the 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 447 

country, on the Alleghany and Ohio rivers, where he remained until 
1865. When he came to Danville he worked for A. C. Daniel some 
seven years, and then purchased ground and commenced mining for 
himself. He owns eight acres of land where his coal shaft is, which 
was sunk in 1878 ; employs from six to seven men, and is able to mine 
from ten to twelve tons per day, for which he finds sale in Danville and 
vicinity. Mr. Davis was in the late war and did good service, enlist- 
ing in the 97th Ohio Vol. Inf., as private in Co. F, for three }^ears ; 
participating in the battle of Murfreesborough and several skirmishes. 
He was detailed to carry the wounded from the battlefield, and in 
carrying one of his wounded comrades he slipped and strained the 
main artery of his stomach, which was very painful to him, and he 
states that to-day he suffers from the effects of it. He was then trans- 
ferred to the 1st Battalion 7th Veterans, Co. B, and stationed at Wash- 
ington, D. C, and was honorably mustered out in 1865. He married 
Martha McNabb, of Coshocton county, Ohio. Mr. Davis has been 
treasurer and a member of the board of trustees of South Danville. 

Alexander Moore, Danville, was born in the county of Kildare, Ire- 
land, on the 19th of December, 1843, and is the son of Richard and 
Mary Ann (Hannagen) Moore, of Ireland. His father was a farmer, 
and here Mr. Moore spent his bojmood days. In about 1852 his 
parents sailed for America, and located in Brazil, Indiana. Here his 
father died in 1875. His mother is still living at Brazil. Mr. Moore 
remained in Ireland until 1865, when he emigrated to America, came 
west and located at Danville, in which place he has been a resident 
ever since. When he first came here he was engaged in weighing coal 
for Chandler & Donlon for about two years. He was then bookkeeper 
for Patrick Carey for some five or six years. He then started a sample 
and billiard room, which business he has carried on ever since. Mr. 
Moore was married in Danville, in 1872, to Miss Mary Doyle, of 
County Clare, Ireland. They have two children. Mr. Moore was 
elected a member of the city board of education in 1877, and still 
retains the office. 

J. G. Holden, Danville, lumber dealer, was born in Charlestown, 
Sullivan county, New Hampshire, on the 3d of June, 1835, and is the 
son of Richard Holden, a native of New Hampshire, who was engaged 
in the dry-goods business in Charlestown. His mother was Sophia 
(Allen) Holden, also a native of New Hampshire. In 1851 Mr. 
Holden, with his parents, came west to Illinois, and located in Winne- 
bago county. His parents moved then to Kane count}', and from there 
to Chicago. Mr. Holden entered a dry-goods store in Winnebago 
county and filled the position of clerk about four years. He was 



448 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

also a clerk in a grocery store in New York state. In 1861 he went 
to Dayton, Ohio, and was married to Edena Vanburen, of Genesee 
county, New York. By this marriage they have had four children, one 
deceased. After his marriage he returned to New York state, and then 
went to Defiance, Ohio, where he entered the grocery business. He 
remained there about four years, and in 1865 came to Danville, and 
has been a resident here ever since. In 1865 he entered the lumber 
business, and to-day is one of the leading lumber merchants of this 
vicinity. We may say here, he has represented the people in Danville 
in a great many public offices, and has always proven himself a man 
of acknowledged ability. He was a member of the city council two 
years. In 1872 the people of Danville township elected him super- 
visor of Danville township, which office he has held ever since. He was 
a member of the city board of education for two years. He has held 
all the prominent offices of the Agricultural Society. In 1878 he was 
elected by the republican party a member of the state legislature. He 
was appointed one of the committee on finance, insurance and drain- 
age. Mr. Holden, when supervisor, was chairman of the building 
committee that built the new court-house and jail of Vermilion county. 
Mr. Holden's political opinions are republican. 

George Dudenhofer, Danville, cigar manufacturer, was born in 
Hesse Providence, Germany, in 1834. He learned the trade of a 
cigar-maker in Germany. In 1856, with his parents, he emigrated to 
America and landed in New York city. He came west to Indiana, 
and located in Fort Wayne, where he remained about two years, when 
he went to La Fayette, and there he remained about one year. Here 
he was married to Elizabeth Burkley, of Germany, who came to America 
when she about eleven years old. By this union they have five chil- 
dren. In 1859 they went to Alton, and there remained one year and 
then returned to La Fayette, and in 1865 came to Danville. Here Mr. 
Dudenhofer has remained ever since. He employs four hands in the 
manufacture of cigars, and has made as high as twenty thousand in one 
year, and paid to the government $14,000 taxes on cigars for the same 
length of time. He finds sale for his goods in this vicinity. Mr. Du- 
denhofer enlisted in the 76th Indiana, and was in the campaign after 
the guerrilla John Morgan. His parents were George and Eliza Duden- 
hofer. His father died in Germany and his mother died in Fort 
Wayne, Indiana. 

J. L. Hill, Danville, contractor and builder, for about twenty-three 
years a resident of Edgar and this county, is a native of Washington 
county, Pennsylvania. During his early life he had but little opportu- 
nity of getting an education, there being nothing but the old subscrip- 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 449 

tion school system then in vogue, and he not having the advantage of 
even this but about nine months altogether. He, for some time before 
coming west, was engaged in the mercantile trade. This he gave up 
on account of ill health. In 1856 he located in Edgar county, Illinois, 
in what is now Ross township, where for about ten years he was 
engaged in farming. While a resident of Edgar he was drafted for the 
army of the war of 1861-65, but on account of disability was rejected, 
very much against his wishes, as the entreaty of his family and friends 
had only kept him from enlisting long before. While a resident ot 
Pennsylvania he had learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner. This 
for several years has been of advantage to him, though it is but for the 
past year or two that he has built much for other parties, most of his 
time being occupied by building residences upon his own city property, 
of which he owns considerable. This, as well as all his property, has 
been the result of his own energy and good financiering. 

S. H. Riggs, Danville, of the firm of Riggs & Menig, woolen man- 
ufacturers, is now about thirty-five years old, and a wide-awake, shrewd 
business man. His native place is Gallipolis, Ohio. He has been 
a resident of this place for about thirteen years, and has thus far been 
dependent upon his own resources in the accumulating of property, of 
which, if we may judge by appearances and reports, he has succeeded 
very well. He is a thoroughly practical man in the manufacture of 
woolen goods, having had about ten years' experience in the business. 
Previous to becoming interested in the Danville mills he was in a mill 
at Perrysville, Indiana. He first became interested in this mill in con- 
nection with a brother, in 1875, they renting the mill and running it 
together for about one year. He then managed it alone for one year, 
and then formed the partnership now existing. Mr. Riggs spends the 
most of his time at the factory which he superintends. In connection 
with the factory they have two well-stocked stores, one located near 
the mill and the other on West Main street. These come more par- 
ticularly under the care of Mr. Menig. Their soap business is probabl} 7 
of more importance than many of the citizens of Danville are aware of. 
They are manufacturing four different brands, and shipping quite large 
quantities to Indiana, Ohio and through Illinois. They have* also 
shipped some as far as Colorado. They are already classed among the 
leading business houses of Danville. By their energy, industry and 
good financiering they have established a business of which they may 
well be proud. 

J. W. Elliott, Danville, bookkeeper, Vermilion County Bank, is a 
native of Chester county, Pennsylvania, though when he was one year 
old his people moved to Warren county, Ohio. This was in 1831. In 
29 



450 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

1842 he went to Shelby county, Indiana, and from there to Indianapo- 
lis, where he learned the trade of a printer with Messrs. Gr. A. and J. 
P. Chapman, state printers, and publishers of the " Sentinel." In 1861 
he entered the army as chief clerk of Captain H. H. Boggess, A. Q. M. 
In 1864 he was appointed paymaster, which position he held until he 
was mustered out of the service, in August of 1865. In 1866 he 
engaged in the dry-goods trade in Danville, which he followed until 
1871, when he went to the village of Hoopeston, Vermilion county, 
which was then just being founded. Mr. Elliott erected the third house 
ever built in that city. He remained there but about one year, when 
he returned to Danville and engaged in the grocery trade, which he 
followed until December of 1878. He then sold out and accepted the 
position of book-keeper in the Vermilion County Bank, where we at 
present find him, a man whose reputation is above reproach, and whose 
word is as good as his bond. 

John W. Lowell, of Danville, Illinois, although a young man at this 
time, has an extensive and valuable experience. He was born at 
Noblesville, Indiana, on the 16th of January, 1846. His parents 
(Andrew J. and Nancy Lowell) soon afterward removed from thence 
to their old home in Brown county, Ohio, four miles north of the city 
of Maysville, Kentucky, where the family resided but a short time, again 
removing to Bentonville, Adams county, Ohio, for a permanent home. 
John was about three years old at this time. The most of his boyhood 
years were spent in school, where he learned rapidly, always being 
among the first in his class. When the cloud of war burst upon the 
country he was eager to join the Union forces ; but, being young and 
delicate, did not rind an opportunity to get into the ranks until in 1863, 
when he joined the 4th Ohio Battalion of Cavalry, under Col. Wheeler. 
He served in Kentucky and east 'Tennessee in scouting expeditions 
until mustered out in 1864, at Cincinnati, Ohio. He was home only a 
few weeks when he again enlisted in the 173d O. Vol. Inf., and Sep- 
tember, 1864, the regiment encamped at Nashville, Tennessee. Here 
he was soon detailed by Gen. Miller, commanding the post, as a clerk 
in his headquarters. His regiment was afterward ordered to Johnson- 
ville, on the Tennessee river; he therefore resigned his position at 
headquarters and went with the regiment, where he received a respon- 
sible position at the hands of Col. Hurd, which he held until discharged, 
after the close of the war, at Camp Dennison, Ohio, in July, 1865. 
After his discharge he spent a few weeks among his friends in Adams 
county, and then bid adieu to the scenes of childhood, for a home in 
the west, landing in September of that year in Lafayette, Indiana, 
where he taught a winter school. He arrived in Danville on the 1st 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 451 

of March, 1866, and on the same day John C. Short, county clerk, en- 
gaged his services. The first work he did for Mr. Short was to prepare 
a set of abstract records of the lands in Vermilion county, and which 
are now owned by A. Martin, after which Mr. Short appointed him 
deput} r county clerk. He remained in the county clerk's office for 
nearly three years, afterward serving with Mr. Dillon as his deputy 
circuit clerk from the 1st of February, 1869, to the 1st of December, 
1876. He was a very efficient and accommodating officer, a splendid 
penman, quick and accurate in his work. Thus has Mr. Lowell served 
not only his country well, but also the people of his county, devoting 
to them the most valuable period of a young man's life (that from 
seventeen to thirty). After leaving the clerk's office he read law in the 
office of Mr. Townsend, of this city, and was admitted to practice law 
at Springfield, in January of 1878. In politics Mr. Lowell is a repub- 
lican, and he cast his first vote for Lincoln, while in the army. Lie has 
been a member of the M. E. Church since he was nine years of age. 
Certain it is that so far Mr. Lowell's life has been full of labor and use- 
fulness, and the prospects in the future are bright, and we wish him all 
the success which a young man of talents, character and energy deserves 
to have. At present he has a law and abstract office opposite the First 
National Bank, Danville, Illinois. 

There are employed in the coal mines of Vermilion county about 
six hundred men, and John Timm used to be one of this kind of work- 
men, but by economy and good management he saved money enough 
to engage in business. He now has a neat little grocery store located 
on College street, between South and Main, where he is doing a fair 
business, in connection with which he runs a delivery wagon. He is a 
native of Prussia. He came to the United States in 1866, and stopped 
at New York for a short time, and then came west and located at Dan- 
ville, where he began working in the coal mines, which business he 
followed for eleven years, being "laid up " one year with the rheu- 
matism. Nine years of the time he was engaged in laying track in the 
mines, and the last two years he enjoyed the responsibilities of boss. 
He was married in 1870. His wife, whose name previous to their mar- 
riage was Dora Wanderlich, is a native of Germany also. 

E. C. Abdill, of the firm of Abdill Bros., hardware dealers, Dan- 
ville, is a native of Vermilion county, Indiana, his old home being 
Perrysville, where he was born on the 14th of May, 1840. In 1861, 
when he was twenty-one years old, he entered the Federal army of the 
war of 1861-65. He enlisted in Co. B, 11th Ind. Inf., Col. L. Wal- 
lace. For eighteen months he was with Gen. Grant, he and three 
other parties having charge of the dispatches and mail. After serving 



452 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

this length of time he was appointed assistant adjutant-general of the 
23d army corps. During his service he passed through many of the 
heavy battles, among which may be mentioned the battle of Fort Don- 
elson and those of Vicksburg, Dalton, Buzzard's Roost, Peachtree 
Creek, Lost Mountain and Kenesaw Mountain, and many others of the 
Atlanta campaign. He remained in the service a little over three 
years, when he resigned on account of ill-health. Upon returning 
from the army he became a resident of Danville for a short time, being 
engaged in the provost marshal's office. In 1866 he went to Fair- 
mount, and engaged in the hardware trade. This he continued until 
1868, when he came to Danville, and engaged in business with his 
brother. His wife, who was a Miss Peters, was the daughter of Judge 
Peters, one of the first judges and early settlers of Vermilion county. 

James C. Thompson, Danville, machinist, is a native of Wayne 
county, Indiana, and was born in 1836. He has had twenty-five years' 
experience as a machinist, having learned the trade in Logansport, In- 
diana, serving a three years' apprenticeship. He first came to Vermil- 
ion county in 1866, coming to accept the position of foreman, which 
he filled for five years. He then was engaged in the business of gas- 
fitting for about the same length of time, and in 1877 bought an inter- 
est in the Great Western Machine Works. Some time afterward Mr. 
Pollard became a partner. They are now one of the leading manu- 
facturing firms of the city. They are still doing an extensive business 
in the gas-fitting line, though their specialty is steam engines and mill 
machinery. Their engine is about forty-horse power, and in all they 
employ about fourteen men. Mr. Thompson is one of the honorable 
business men of the city, who, by a just and fair treatment of all men, 
has won for himself a name and reputation that perhaps may outlive 
him in the memory of the better class of citizens of Danville and Ver- 
milion county. 

There is probably no man engaged in the milling trade in Vermil- 
ion county who is better or more favorably known in connection with 
the milling trade than Mr. Samuel Bowers, the subject of this sketch. 
Since his residence in Danville he has erected two large fiouring-mills, 
known as the Amber and City Mills, an illustration of each appearing 
in this work. He is a native of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, 
though he left there at the age of seven years and went with his people 
to Richland county, Ohio. This was in 1846. He remained a resi- 
dent of Ohio until after he had arrived at man's estate. While there 
he learned the miller's trade. He has made two trips to California, 
going first by water about the year 1865, and returning via the Platte 
River route. He went back to Ohio, where he again engaged in the 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 453 

mill business for a time, and in 1866 came to Danville, where he has 
since resided, except a short time in 1874, when he, with his family, 
made a second trip to California, returning the same year. He fin- 
ished building the City Mills, which he is now running, in 1875. 
During the four years since it has been completed it has never stood 
idle a single day for want of work. The mill has four run of stone, 
with a capacity of five barrels per hour. He gives employment to 
about six men. He has also built two very fine residence buildings in 
the city : one corner of Depot and North, and the other where he now* 
resides, corner Franklin and Harrison streets. During the war of 
1861-65 he entered the Federal army, enlisting the first time in the 
32d Ohio Inf. ; the second time in the 82d. 

J. B. Mann, Danville, attorney-at-law, is perhaps known throughout 
this vicinity as well as any attorney of the Vermilion county bar. He 
was born in Somerville, New Jersey, on the 9th of November, 1843, 
and is the son of John M. Mann, who was a native of Pennsylvania, 
and a prominent attorney of Somerville, New Jersey, where he was 
elected to the legislature for two terms and refused the nomination for 
congress. His mother, Eliza (Bonnell) Mann, was a native of New 
Jersey. Mr. Mann, the subject of our sketch, received his principal 
education in New Jersey, where he graduated from one of the leading 
colleges of that state. In 1865 he entered the Michigan University of 
Ann Arbor, and graduated from the law-school in 1866. He then came 
to Danville, and here entered the office of Judge O. L. Davis. In 
1867 he was admitted to practice law at the Illinois state bar. He asso- 
ciated himself with Judge E. S. Terry. When this firm dissolved Mr. 
Mann formed a partnership with Judge O. L. Davis, and since then 
he has formed a partnership with W. J. Calhoun and D. C. Frazier, 
forming the law-firm of Mann, Calhoun & Frazier, which is one of the 
strongest of Vermilion county. Mr. Mann, in 1867, was elected city 
attorney of Danville, and was the first that Danville had. His political 
opinions are democratic. Mr. Mann was married in 1874, to Miss 
Lucy A. Davis, daughter of Judge O. L. Davis, and by this union they 
have two children. 

David Mayer, Danville, farmer, was born in Wedenburg, Germany, 
on the 7th of March, 1826. He came to America in 1851 and went to 
Sandusky, Ohio, where he met a sister. He was married in Sandusky, 
to Annie Shroder, of Hanover, Germany. With his wife and sister he 
went to St. Louis, Missouri, where his wife died. He then went to 
Illinois, and worked at the carpenter's trade. From there he went to 
Missouri, locating on two hundred acres of land. He returned to Illi- 
nois, and then went to Kansas and located in Anderson county, near 



454 HISTOEY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

Greeley. Mr. Mayer was in the late war, and did good service. He 
enlisted in the 2d Kansas Battery as bugler, and served for three years. 
This battery did noble service. He remained in Kansas some fifteen 
and a half years, and had some experience with the grasshoppers, which 
caused such havoc in Kansas. Mr. Mayer states, however, that the 
grasshoppers bothered him but little. Mr. Mayer was engaged in farming 
three hundred and twenty acres of land. He was married the second 
time, to Rosie Fritz, of Wedenburg, Germany. They have five chil- 
dren : Rosie, Caroline, Fredericks, David and Annie. Mr. Mayer is 
bugler of Battery A, 1st Brigade Illinois National Guards. 

Charles Hesse, Danville, proprietor of the Hesse House, was born 
in Germany on the 18th of March, 1833, and came to America and 
landed in New York city in 1855. Mr. Hesse was engaged in farming 
in German} 7 . His father, Trangott Hesse, was a very prominent man 
in Germany. He was assessor and collector. Mr. Hesse came to Amer- 
ica with about $500, and came west to Illinois, locating in Scott county, 
where he had a brother in the confectionery business. Here Mr. Hesse 
remained about six years, engaged at work in a brickyard, and also 
learning the trade of a brick-mason. In 1861 he enlisted in the army, 
and participated in the late war. He enlisted for three years in the 
4th Mo. Cav., Co. C, as orderly-sergeant. He participated in twenty- 
six severe battles, such as Pea Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, 
siege of Corinth, Iuka, Dallas, Resaca, Farmingtown, etc. He never 
received a wound, but had two horses shot from under him. His 
brother, Fred Hesse, was a brave soldier. He enlisted in the 129th 111. 
Vol. Inf., and was in the battle of Resaca when the 129th was making 
a charge on the rebels' intrenchments. He was planting the Union 
flag on the fortifications, and was shot dead. Mr. Hesse, our subject, 
was honorably mustered out of service. He then went to St. Louis, and 
at that place and Lincoln, Logan county, Illinois, was engaged at his 
trade of brickmaker and contractor. He then came to Danville, where 
he was engaged at his trade and contracting. He has contracted and 
built some of the finest buildings in Danville. Mr. Hesse was made a 
member of the I.O.O.F. in 1864 at Lincoln, Illinois, and to-day is one 
of the leading Odd-Fellows of Illinois. He is a member of the Grand 
Lodge of the state. He was married in St. Louis, to Lena Dhuernan, 
of Germany. By this union they have six children. 

Mr. A. C. Garland, Danville, proprieter of the Stone Steam Saw- 
Mill and Tile Factory, was born in New Hampshire, where he learned 
the trade of a stone-mason. He was engaged east at his trade and was 
a large bridge contractor on the Erie railroad. He also superintended 
the stonework in the erection of the water-works reservoir at Brook- 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 455 

lyn, New York. Mr. Garland came to Danville in 1866, and since his 
residence here has built and contracted for stonework on some of the 
prominent bridges in Vermilion county. He in 1875 erected the pres- 
ent steam stone saw-mill, and since then most of the best business 
houses and private residences in this vicinity have been furnished with 
stone from his establishment. Recently Mr. Garland has established a 
tile factory, size 210 x 20, where he is able to turn out the finest quality 
of tile at from two to eight inches in size. His capacity in the manu- 
facture of tile is six thousand per day. He has all the latest improve- 
ments, and when in full blast employs ten men. He is also engaged 
in the manufacture of brick of a superior quality. Mr. Garland's son, 
Ira, is engineer of the steam saw-mill. 

August Blankenburg, Danville, jeweler, was born in Prussia, Ger- 
many, on the 12th of October, 1845, and is the son of Frederick W. 
and Catharine (Torge) Blankenburg, of Germany. When Mr. Blank- 
enburg was fourteen years old he commenced to learn the jewelry trade 
in Stettin, Germany, and served an apprenticeship of four years. He 
followed his profession up to 1866, when he embarked for America. 
He came direct to Danville, Illinois, and commenced work in the em- 
ploy of S. N. Monroe. He then went to Kansas and worked about six 
years at his trade in Baxter Springs. He returned to Danville in 1874 
and commenced the jewelry business in the present establishment, 
which is located at 60 Vermilion street, where may be found a full line 
of watches, clocks and jewelry. 

In the line of sporting goods Mr. John Schario, the gunsmith of 
Danville, is the principal dealer. His establishment is located at No. 
124 East Main street. Here he has on hand a full line of guns of all 
descriptions (except cannon), ammunition, fishing tackle, and in fact 
everything pertaining to his line of trade. He is a native of Dansville, 
New York. The early part of his life, or until he had become a man, 
was spent in different parts of the United States and Canada. It was 
at Waterloo, Canada, that he learned the trade of a locksmith. This 
being so closely related to the gunsmith trade he very readily mastered 
the latter. In 1867 he became a resident of Danville, and engaged in 
the manufacture and sale of sporting goods. His sales will probably ag- 
gregate |3,000 or $3,500 per year. In 1876 he was elected a member (if 
the city council, and again in 1878 he was called upon to fill the same 
office. This is the second term and third year that he has been a coun- 
cilman. He is one of that class of men who do not make so much fuss 
and noise over their affairs, but go quietly about their own businesSj 
but nevertheless a citizen whose word may be depended upon and 
whose influence is felt. 



456 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

A. J. Cox, the leading blacksmith of Danville, is a native of La 
Fayette, Indiana, where he was born on the 12th of February, 1839. 
At the age of sixteen years he began learning the trade of a blacksmith 
and wagon manufacturer. This he followed as a business until 1863, 
when he entered the army, enlisting in Co. A, 76th Ind. Vol. Inf., 
three-years service. In 1865 he veteranized, which connected him with 
Co. B, 37th regiment. He remained in the service until the close of 
the war. He was in many heavy battles, among which we mention 
the siege of Yicksburg, battle of Jackson, Mississippi, and that of Mo- 
bile, Alabama. After the close of the war he came to Danville, where 
he has since remained. 

The Amber mills were built in 1866 by Bowers & Shellebarger, burned 
in 1875, and were rebuilt by S. Bowers & Co. In 1878, when it came 
into the hands of the present proprietor, Mr. D. Gregg, it was what is 
known as a four-run mill. Mr. Gregg has remodeled and changed the 
mill to six run of stone, and to what is known as the patent process of 
manufacturing flour. This patent process is to make as large a quantity of 
middlings as possible, and these, after regrinding and passing through 
several processes of purifying, furnish a much finer grade of flour than 
that obtained by the first grinding. Mr. Gregg is also engaged quite ex- 
tensively in the grain trade, buying about 250,000 bushels per year. 
In all he gives employment to about twenty men regularly, sometimes 
there being more than this number. He pays out to these about $15,000 
per annum. Since his residence in Danville he has invested about 
$20,000 in buildings, the ^Etna House block being one which he built. 
He was born in the north of Ireland in 1831. There he received a good 
education, and in 1850, when nineteen years old, came to the United 
States. From this date until 1867 he was engaged in different kinds 
of business enterprises, and in different states. From 1853 to 1866 he 
was engaged in the dry-goods trade in Bluffton, Ohio. In 1867 he 
came to Danville and began buying grain, and has now been running 
the Amber mills about one year. He is one of the self-made men of 
Danville, having been dependent upon his own resources in the accu- 
mulation of property, and is now well known as one of the substantial 
men of Danville. 

D. M. Gurley, Danville, retired, was born in Bennington county, 
Vermont, in 1808. "When he was twelve years old his people moved 
to what they then termed the western frontier — Oswego county, New 
York. Here the early part of his life was spent. His chances for 
schooling were very poor, though by close attention he acquired a good 
education. In 1853 he moved to Quincy, Michigan. He remained a 
resident of that place until coming to Dauville in 1867. During his 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 457 

residence in Oswego county he became the first abolitionist of the 
comity, but becoming somewhat disgusted with the political move- 
ments of the day, he for eleven years refused to cast a vote. His busi- 
ness for many years was that of a hide and leather dealer. He continued 
in this until the change in the financial prospects of the country, in 
1873, when he closed out, and has not since been actively engaged in 
business. 

Judge J. W. Stansbury, Danville, justice, was born in the city of 
New York in 1808, where he remained a resident until twelve years 
old. Then he became a resident of New Haven, and afterward became 
a graduate of the schools at Schenectady. At the age of twenty-five 
years he began reading law at Geneva; went to New York city to be 
examined, and was admitted to the bar, after which he went back to 
Geneva and practiced his profession for three years. From there he 
went to Detroit, Michigan, where he remained but a short time, and 
then went to Livingston county, Michigan, where he remained a resi- 
dent for about sixteen years. While a resident of this county he was 
elected to the office of probate judge, which office he filled for four 
years. From Livingston county he went to New York again, locating 
at Ithaca, where he resided about fifteen years, and in 1867 came to 
Danville. Two years after he came he was elected justice of the peace, 
which office he has now held for ten years. In 1838 he was married to 
Miss L. Dudgeon, of New Hartford, New York. By this union they 
have had a family of five children. 

In 1867 Mr. A. L. Webster, of Danville, in company with G. B. 
Yeomans, engaged in the hardware trade in Danville. They remained 
in business together about four years, when G. B. sold his interest in the 
business to his brother, Charles T. Yeomans. This firm continued to do 
business together about three years, when they dissolved partnership, Mr. 
Yeomans taking the light and shelf hardware, and Mr. Webster retain- 
ing the heavy. From this time until February of 1879 he was engaged 
in the heavy hardware trade, which is almost entirely a jobbing trade. 
At the date above mentioned he sold out to the firm of Giddings & 
Patterson, they becoming his successors and occupying a new building 
which he has just completed, located at the corner of Main and Frank- 
lin streets. Mr. Webster is a native of Ashtabula county, Ohio. For 
sixteen years he has been engaged in the hardware trade, a part of this 
time in Ohio and at Aurora, Illinois. At present he is engaged in set- 
tling up old accounts relating to his business in Danville. 

L. T. Dickason, the present mayor of the city of Danville, is a native 
of Marion county, Ohio, where most of his early life was spent. In 1861 
he entered the Federal army, in the war of 1861-5, enlisting in Co. H, 



458 HISTOEY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

4th Ohio, three-months service. After serving this term he reenlisted 
in Co. D, 64th Ohio, three-years service. He participated in many of 
the heavy battles, being engaged at the battles of Shiloh, Perry ville, 
Stone River, the siege of Corinth and the battle of Chickamanga, being 
severely wounded at the battle of Chickamanga, on account of which he 
w;is discharged from further service, though he had served nearly his 
full term of enlistment. In 1867 he came to Vermilion county, where 
he has since resided, being one among the most active business men of 
the county. For a time he was engaged in buying and shipping grain, 
being located at Fainnount. Moving from there to Danville, he soon 
became very popular politically, and is now enjoying his "third term" 
of mayorship. He is also very extensively engaged in the coal and 
timber trade, in company with Charles L. English. They give in all 
employment to about four hundred men, their timber contracts with 
the different railroad companies amounting to hundreds of thousands 
per year, and extending over several different states. 

Charles W. Gregory, postmaster of Danville, is a native of Bloom- 
ville, Delaware county, New York. He was born on the 11th of No- 
vember, 1833. His father, Henry W. Gregory, was born in New 
Bedford, Westchester county, New York, where he served for many 
years at the trade of a blacksmith and carriage-maker. He made the 
first blister-steel axes in New York state. These celebrated Max- 
well & Gregory axes, are known all over the country. He followed 
farming in his latter days. He was in the war of 1812 as fife-major. 
He died in Danville, Vermilion county, on the 18th of September, 
1873, at the age of seventy-nine. When Mr. Gregory, our subject, was 
but ten years old his father moved on a farm, where he remained until 
he was about seventeen years old, when he was connected with a sur- 
veying party as roadsman, in surveying the New York & Erie railroad. 
He followed surveying about four years; he lost one eye from this. 
Mr. Gregory gave up surveying, and then commenced to learn tele- 
graphing. He went to Canada and served the Great Western railroad 
as telegraph operator about three years and a half, and then, in 1856, 
he came to Illinois and went to Springfield, where he was engaged in 
helping to erect a telegraph line from Tolono to Danville. He then 
received an appointment as telegraph operator at Danville, also acting 
as express and ticket agent. Here he remained about one year, and 
then accepted a similar position at State Line, where he remained until 
1862, when he received from Abraham Lincoln an appointment as mail 
agent on the Toledo & Wabash railroad, running from State Line to 
Springfield. " He held this position about five years and a half, when 
he came to Danville and entered the mercantile business, which he 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 459 

continued up to 1873. In 1875 he was appointed by Gen. U. S. Grant 
postmaster of Danville. This position he has held ever since. Mr. 
Gregory was married in 1805, to Miss Charlotte A. Neher, of New 
York, daughter of Anther Neher. By this marriage they have had 
three children, one of whom is deceased. 

"William C. McReynolds, Danville, book-keeper in the Danville 
Mills, was born in Edgar county, Illinois, on the 16th of September, 
1825, and is the son of the Rev. John W. and Lean (Morgan) McRey- 
nolds. His father was a Methodist preacher, and was born in Culpepper 
county, Virginia. From there he moved to Allen county, Kentucky, 
and then to Indiana. He then removed to Edgar county, Illinois, 
where he was among the first settlers of that county. When Mr. Mc- 
Reynolds was but a few months old his parents moved to Indiana and 
remained there until he was ten years old, when they returned to Edgar 
county. Here he remained until he was about twenty-four years old, 
when he embarked in the mercantile business in Paris, Illinois, and 
Terre Haute, Indiana. He then went to Rushville, where he was 
made cashier of the Rushville Bank, a branch of the Indiana State 
Bank. Here he remained about seven years. He then went to Chicago, 
where he embarked in the commission business, which he followed 
about one year, when he came to Danville, in 1867, and here entered 
the coal business. He then went into the mill business, in which he is 
now engaged as book-keeper in the Danville Mills. This is one of the 
largest flour mills in this vicinity, and was erected by Daniel Kyger. 
N. Henderson & Sons commenced building it in 1854, and it was com- 
pleted in 1856; this was the first steam flour mill in Danville, and the 
second one in Vermilion county. Mr. McReynolds is a democrat in 
politics. He was elected alderman in 1875, and reelected in 1877-79. 
He married in Danville to Miss Elizabeth M. Pearson, of New York, 
daughter of the Hon. John Pearson. By this marriage they have 
nine children — five boys and four girls. 

Mary Gattermann, Danville, proprietor of the garden on the Cov-. 
ington road, was born in Germany, on the 25th of August, 1845, and is 
the wife of the late William Gattermann, who was born in German}^ in 
1835, came to America in 1857 and landed in New York. He was en- 
gaged in the manufacture of soda-water. In 1867 he came west with 
his wife and located in Danville. Here they remained until 1871, 
when they went to New York, and afterward returned to Danville and 
purchased the present place, where he commenced to make improve- 
ments. He first paid some three hundred dollars for the property; 
since then he made all ^.the improvements, amounting to some five or 
six thousand dollars. He was^a soldier in the late war, and did good 



460 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

service; he was also a soldier of the New York state militia, being a 
member of the 3d New York Militia ; he was also a member of the 
German Aid Society and a member of the Turn Yerein Society. He 
died in 1878, and was buried on the 1st of January. 

Ernest and L. Blankenburg, Danville, proprietors of the iEtna 
House saloon and billiard room, were born in Germany. Ernest 
Blankenburg was born on the 6th ot October, 1843. He emigrated to 
America and landed in New York in 1867, and came direct to Dan- 
ville, first commencing w r ork as a clerk in a dry-goods store. Here he 
remained about four years, when he entered the saloon business. L. 
Blankenburg was born on the 11th of July, 1853, and emigrated to 
America in 1867. He came direct to Danville and commenced clerk- 
ing in a retail grocery store, and afterward in a wholesale grocery house. 
From there he entered the saloon business in company with his brother. 
These gentlemen keep one of the leading saloons and billiard rooms in 
the city, located in the basement of the ^Etna House. 

H. A. Coffeen, the enterprising bookseller of Danville, was born in 
Gallia county, Ohio, on the 14th of February, 1841, being now thirty- 
eight years old. His parents, Alvah P. and Olive Coffeen, have lived 
in Champaign county, Illinois, on a farm near Homer, since 1852. 
They gave their children a good collegiate education, and this, with 
good habits and character, was the stock with which they started in life. 
Henry A. Coffeen, the second son, whose portrait appears in this 
work, started for himself at the age of eighteen as a school teacher, 
using such means as he could thus earn in furnishing his scien- 
tific course, receiving his diploma at the age of twenty-two. He con- 
tinued teaching, at constantly advancing salaries, until he was twenty- 
seven years old, lastly at Hiram College, in Ohio, as teacher of natural 
sciences, and at Bement, Illinois, as superintendent of a fine graded 
school that he developed at that place. We extract the following 
reference to Mr. Coffeen's singular abilities as an educator from Judge 
Speare's "History of Bement 1 ' : "Mr. Coffeen was a superior instructor 
for young men and young ladies. The course of study was most thor- 
ough and diversified. All his plans of inculcation were of a character 
to lead the student of abstruse science interestingly on, affording a wide 
range of thought, giving strength and vigor to mind, and with his 
pleasant, forcible and peculiar faculty drove the roots of moral and sci- 
entific subjects so deeply into the minds of the most stupid, that the 
same could not be eradicated ; but to-day his reflex influence is most 
strikingly apparent, and will reach far down into the future. Such 
teachers are rectifiers of society, like a fountain of pure water sending 
limpid streams through fertile fields, from which many parched tongues 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 461 

of the thirsty world may be slaked." This brief extract from Judge 
Speare's eulogy upon the character and abilities of Mr. Coffeen serves 
also to show the thoroughness and spirit with which he engages in what- 
ever work there is before him. In an earnest, unflinching manner he 
stands by the convictions of a clear head and pure purpose in every 
department of life, and considering this his success as a merchant has 
been somewhat singular, for he turns neither to the right nor the left 
either for men or parties, in his pursuance of what he believes to be right. 
It is generally found that less decided minds succeed best as merchants. 
Besides building up one of the finest bookstores in the country, he has 
accumulated some additional property, and is developing a fine fruit 
farm, or garden, on the north side of the city. He takes a lively inter- 
est in the political movements of the times, but from an independent 
standpoint rather than as a partisan. He has been a member of the 
Grand Lodge of Illinois Knights of Honor ever since it was organized, 
and has for two years represented his # state in the Supreme Lodge 
meetings at Nashville and Boston, commanding the respect and confi- 
dence of the supreme assemblage as well as that of his own state. The 
first history of Vermilion county, a little book of considerable merit, 
published in 1871, owes its publication to the pen and enterprise of 
Mr. Coffeen. Charles A. Pollock is now associated with him in the 
book business, and their store is one of the finest in the city, as will be 
seen by reference to an interior view of their store, given on another 
page of this work. 

A. H. Doane, Danville, freight and ticket agent for the Wabash 
road, is a native of the State of Wisconsin. He has now been engaged 
at the railroad business since 1862. His parents, F. W. and Angeline 
(Holmes) Doane, were natives of the State of New York. His father 
was a railroad man, having first begun the business when roads were 
built with the old strap rail. He was killed while running a passenger 
train over the same road with which A. H. is now connected, though 
at that time it was known as the Great Western road. A. H. first 
began the business at Tolono, Illinois, in the employ of the Illinois 
Central road. For a time he was on a switch-engine, and then did 
office work for awhile. From Tolono he went to State Line, and there 
was check clerk in the employ of what was then the Toledo, Wabash & 
Western road. After a time he again entered the employ of the Illi- 
nois Central road, though he remained with them but about one year. 
Quitting the business of railroading, he tried hotel keeping, but in May, 
1868, he accepted a position with the then Toledo, Wabash & Western. 
For eleven years he has filled the position of ticket agent. In addition 



462 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

to this he also does the freight business, his ticket receipts amounting to 
about $30,000 per year; the total receipts are about $180,000. 

H. K. Gregory, Danville, dealer in railroad timber, though a young 
man, has probably been as extensively engaged in contracting as any 
man of his age in Vermilion county. Heis a native of Broome county, 
New York. In 1868 he, with his people, came west, locating at 
Danville. His father died in 1871, aged seventy-nine years. His 
mother now resides with him, and is now eighty-four years old. H. K. 
and his brother, C. W. Gregory, were for several years associated to- 
gether in furnishing large supplies of ties, posts, bridge timbers, etc., to 
the different lines of railroad in progress of construction. Among 
them was a contract for supplying the Indianapolis, Bloomington & 
Western road, between Crawford sville and Urbana. They dissolved 
partnership in 1872. Afterward Mr. H. K. Gregory became associated 
with J. Knight for three years in the same line of business. During 
this time they put out about six hundred thousand ties. This was on 
a contract in the construction of the L. B. & M. R.R. He then did 
business alone until the winter of 1879, when Mr. W. H. Alexander 
became his partner. Mr. Gregory is now a man but little past thirty 
years of age. His standing in the community as a business man and an 
honorable citizen cannot be questioned by any. 

George W. Abdill, Danville, hardware, was born in Warsaw, Ken- 
tucky, in February, of 1838. When two years old he was taken by his 
people to Perrysville, Indiana, and there he remained a resident until he 
came to Vermilion county, Illinois, in 1868. His father, I. Abdill, who is 
now a resident of Danville, was one of the early settlers of Perrysville. 
For many years he was engaged in the hardware trade and in the man- 
ufacture of tinware, at which he used to do a large business, supplying 
about thirty-two points between Terre Haute and La Fayette, and em- 
ploying about ten men in the manufacture of this line of goods. 
George W. has been familiar with the hardware trade, as he says, 
" since he has been large enough to black a stove." In later years he 
became a partner with his father in the business, the firm being known 
as I. Abdill & Son ; this partnership lasting about ten years, or until 
the firm of Abdill Bros, began business in Danville in 1868. The 
firm is composed of George W. and E. C. Abdill, and they located at 
No. 57 Vermilion street where they have erected a fine building twenty- 
three feet front by one hundred deep, two floors and basement, all 
well stocked with goods in the line of hardware, stoves, tinware, oils, 
glass, paints, etc. etc. George W. is a very active member of society, 
giving liberally to any enterprise pertaining to the public good and 
especially to the churches, he being a very active member of the M. E. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. -Hi- - ! 

Church, and a man who has hosts of friends among all classes of 
people. 

Anselm Sieferman, Danville, cigar manufacturer, was bora in 
Baden, Germany, on the 10th of November, 1836, and is the son of 
Joseph and Mary Ann (Adam) Sieferman, of German} 7 . In 1853 he 
started for America, and landed in New York on the 15th of August 
of the same year. He came direct west and located in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, where he first commenced to work in a machine-shop, remaining 
some three years, when the shops closed. In 1861 he commenced in 
the tobacco business in Cincinnati, and followed this there until 1868, 
when he came to Danville, which has been his home ever since. He 
here commenced the tobacco business, and has in his employ three 
hands. In 1879 he was elected alderman of the first ward, which office 
he still holds. He was married on the 1st of September, 1859, to 
Agatha Kreuzburg, of Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. They have one 
child. Mr. Sieferman Jhas taken a very active part in the welfare of 
the city of Danville, and ranks as one of its leading German citizens. 

W. E. Shedd, Danville, hardware merchant, of the firm of Yeomans 
& Shedd, is a native of Ohio, and has now been in the hardware trade 
about ten years, most of which time has been spent in Danville. He 
was three years with the firm of Webster & Yeomans ; two years with 
the hardware-jobbing house of Pratt & Co., of Buffalo, New York, 
and the present firm was organized in January, 1875. During the war 
of 1861-5 he, at the age of sixteen years, entered the Union army, en- 
listing in Co. C, 15th Ohio Vol. Inf., three-years service. Like man} 7 
another Union soldier he has a tale to tell of southern prisons, he hav- 
ing with others spent five months in the famous Andersonville prison. 
Yeomans & Shedd's business house is located on West Main street, 
and is twenty feet front by one hundred deep, and stocked with a gen- 
eral line of hardware. They do not seem to complain of hard times or 
poor trade, and the indications are that they are doing their share of 
the business that is done in Danville. 

C. R. Dwight, Danville, dentist, though not the oldest of the 
city, is certainly one of the leading and most popular. His popu- 
larit} 7 has been earned by a straightforward, honorable course in his 
professional life and by his pleasant and courteous treatment of his now 
large circle of friends. He is a native of Cattaraugus county, New 7 
York, though he left there when quite small, and came west with 
his people, they locating in Peoria count} 7 , Illinois. This was as early 
as 1839. In 1858 he began the study of dentistry, but gave it up 
to enter the Federal army in the war of 1861-5, enlisting in Co. B, 
92d 111. Inf., three-years service, from Byron, Illinois. He served 



464 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

his full term of enlistment, and returned to Illinois somewhat broken 
down on account of long and hard marching. Regaining; his health, 

O CD CD O " 

he again took up and finished the study of his profession at Rockford, 
Illinois. He first began his practice in Rochelle, Illinois, in 1867, re- 
maining there two years, when he removed again, locating permanently 
in Danville. He is a member of the Illinois State Dental Society, and 
has made frequent contributions to the different journals of the day, 
treating upon his profession. Though he has been a resident of the 
city of Danville but about ten years, he has probably as few enemies 
and as many friends as any man in the city. 

John Lane, Danville, was born in Eugene, Vermilion county, Indi- 
ana, on the 3d of November, 1839, and is the son of Enoch W. and 
Christina (Washburn) Lane. His mother died at Eugene on the 15th 
of January, 1841, being but twenty-eight years of age. His father, 
John Lane, was born on the 21st of May, 1798. He was raised in 
Pickaway county, Ohio, and in 1829 moved to Eugene, Vermilion 
county, Indiana, where he was engaged at his trade as cabinet-maker. 
He died in Eugene on the 12th of December, 1875. Mr. Lane, the 
subject of our sketch, was raised and received his schooling at Eugene. 
On the 17th of May, 1869, he left the scenes of his boyhood. At that 
time there were no railroads from Eugene to Danville, so he started on 
foot and walked from Eugene to Danville, where he has remained 'ever 
since. He was married to Miss Julia Davis on the 1st of November, 
1870, by whom they have had three children. 

The firm of C. B. & V J. R. Holloway, Danville, is one of the leading 
dry-goods and carpet houses in this vicinity. It is located on the north- 
west corner of Main and Walnut streets. These gentlemen commenced 
business in Danville in 1869, and ever since have constantly improved 
in trade. Cornelius B. Holloway was born in Belmont county, Ohio, 
in 1826. His experience in the dry-goods business has been very ex- 
tensive, having entered a dry -goods store with his father in Smyrna, 
Harrison county, Ohio, when he was a boy. He came to Danville in 
1862, where he has resided ever since. Jesse R. Holloway was born 
in Winchester, Virginia, and moved to Vermilion county with his 
parents at an early day. He settled near Georgetown, where he was 
engaged in the dry-goods business for some twenty years, being among 
the first dr\ 7 -goods merchants of that place. He came to Danville and 
was connected with the Vermilion County Bank for several years, and 
then returned to the dry -goods business, which business he has con- 
tinued in ever since. They erected their present store at a cost of some 

3,000, and are doing a business amounting to some $50,000 per year. 

The leading house in the manufacture of boots and shoes is that of 




V£^ 



7 



llM^ 




/I/) 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 465 

E. P. Doll, No. 121 East Main street, Danville. He has now been 
engaged in this business about two years. When he began business in 
1877 he was in company with Mr. Smith, but later he purchased Mr. 
Smith's interest in the business and has since been conducting it alone. 
He gives employment to about five men, on an average, and manufactures 
per annum about $5,000 worth of goods. His style and manufacture 
of goods has gained so much of a reputation that he is not troubled 
with any old or dry stock on hand. He is a man who has had nearly 
twenty years' experience in the boot and shoe trade. His trade has- 
increased so much now as to warrant him in the use of machinery so 
far as can be done without the durability of the goods being lessened. 
He is a native of Ashland county, Ohio, and has the energy and enter- 
prise about him that we usually find about a man who has been de- 
pendent upon his own resources. Should no misfortune befall him he 
will yet be known as one of the largest manufacturers and dealers in 
his line. 

Edward Jones, Danville, engineer, who is holding quite a responsi- 
ble position with the Ellsworth Mining Company, is a native of Bri- 
erley Hill, South Staffordshire, England. He was born in 1842. The 
early part of his life was spent and his education received in that country. 
He also learned the trade of an engineer with the British Iron Com- 
pany. In 1868 he came to the United States and stopped at Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania, for six months, where he was engaged with Marshall, Graft 
tv. Co. Then he went to Sharon, Pennsylvania, for about a year and a 
half, and in 1870 came to Danville, and in January, 1876, began work for 
A. C. Daniel, who is manager of the Ellsworth company. Mr. Daniel tells 
us that for over three years Mr. Jones has never but once failed to blow 
the whistle regularly at 6.40 and 7.00 o'clock a.m., and that once was- 
forgetfulness, as he was at his post as regular as at any time. He does 
his own firing, and keeps the machinery in order himself, and is a 
healthy, robust " Johnn}^ Bull," free from intemperate and other bad 
habits ; a man always ready for duty and competent to attend to it. 
This fact is apparent to Mr. Daniel, who has concluded in this instance 
that he has the right man in the right place. 

George W. Daines, Danville, real estate agent, though not so old a 
resident as many of the citizens of Danville, is yet a man well known 
in the city and in the county. He is a native of Miami county, Indiana. 
His home has been in Danville since 1870. From 1870 to 1876 he 
was general western agent for the American Lubricating Oil Company. 
Leaving the road in 1876, he opened a real estate office in Danville, 
his office being in Gernand's block, on Vermilion street. Here he is 
preparing to do a more extensive business in the real estate trade, 
30 



466 



HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 



which he has already pretty well worked up. This, in connection with 
his insurance business and his own real estate which is on the market, 
warrants us in classing him among the leading business men of the city. 
In the fall of 1878 he added to the city plat what is known as Daines' 
addition. He has already built a number of new residence buildings. 
He is constantly improving property in different parts of the city, and 
were all the real estate holders of Danville equal to him in enterprise 
and improvement, the city would soon outstrip herself. 

William Whitehill, the subject of this sketch, a cut of whose establish- 
ment appears in this work, is the leading manufacturer of buggies and 
carriages in the city. He began business in Danville in 1871, under 
circumstances that would have made many men hesitate before invest- 
ing money, the competition being more than commonly strong ; but 
understanding that " opposition is the life of trade," he opened his fac- 
tory with a full understanding of 
the difficulties to be surmounted. 
The result has been success ; this 
has been accomplished by giving 
to his patrons the very best line of 
goods possible for the money in- 
vested. He has acquired for his 
work now such a reputation as 
any dealer or manufacturer may 
well feel proud of. He is a native 
of Summit county, Ohio. In 1856 
he came to Attica, Indiana, and 
there began learning his trade, 
serving a regular apprenticeship, and remaining until 1859, when 
he went back to Ohio and located at Akron, where for a time he did 
"jour" work. In 1862 he began business there on his own account, 
continuing (excepting time spent in the army) until 1870 ; he then 
came to Danville. During the war of 1861-5, he in 1863 entered the 
Union army, serving in the 124th O. Vol. Inf., Co. I. During this 
service he was wounded so badly as to be discharged. At present we 
find him one of the honorable citizens of Danville. 

C. B. Fenton, Danville, hardware dealer, who for twenty-three years 
has been familiar with the hardware business, and is now one among 
the leading hardware dealers of Danville, is a native of Pennsylvania, 
though at the age of four years he went with his people to the state of 
Ohio. The early part of his life was spent, and his education received, 
in that state. He is also a practical tinner by trade, having learned 
this branch of his present business at Conneaut, Ohio. In 1861, at the 




WHITEHILL 8 CARRIAGE SHOPS. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 4(17 

breaking out of the war of the rebellion, he became a volunteer in the 
Union army, joining the 2d Independent Battery of Ohio troops, 
three-years service. He remained in the service about fourteen 
months, when, on account of disability caused by hard marching and 
sickness, he was discharged at Helena, Arkansas. During his service 
he saw some hard fighting, the battle of Pea Ridge being one of the 
engagements in which he participated. Returning from the army, he 
again became a resident of Ohio, subsequently removing to Danville, 
where from 18T0 until 1876 he was engaged in business alone; he now 
has a partner, the firm being C. B. Fenton & Co. They are now 
located on East Main street, in what is known as Kelley's new block, 
and are occupying a space 20 feet- front by 100 feet deep, second story 
and double basement. This is stocked with everything pertaining to a 
general hardware business, including stoves and tinware. In addition 
to this he has some novelties, among which may be mentioned the new 
gasoline stove, the advantages of which are very apparent, especially 
to the ladies. 

James A. Outland, Danville, attorney-at-law, is, perhaps, respected 
and known as well as any man of the Yermilion county bar. He was 
born in Northampton county, North Carolina, on the 25th of February, 
1848, and is the son of Thomas J. and Asenath (Prichard) Outland, 
both natives of North Carolina and members of the Quaker Church. 
In 1858 the subject of our sketch, with his parents, came to Illinois, 
and located in Ridge Farm, Vermilion county. His father was a farmer, 
and here on the farm Mr. Outland remained until 1862. "When only 
fourteen years of age he entered the army and participated in the late 
war. He enlisted for three years in the 79th 111. Vol. Inf., a private in 
Company A (the history of this regiment, written by Mr. Outland, 
appears in this work). Mr. Outland participated in some of the most 
severe battles — Stone River, Liberty Gap, Chickasaw Mountain, Mis- 
sion Ridge, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain and the 
siege of Atlanta. At Franklin, Tennessee, on the 30th of November, 
1864, he received a verv severe musket-ball wound in the thigh, from 
the effects of which he is a cripple. He was taken prisoner by the 
enemy, where he was very poorly cared for. He was recaptured by 
the Union army and sent to the hospital at Nashville, Tennessee, where 
he remained until the close of the war. He then entered the Illinois 
Soldiers' College, at Fulton, Illinois, where he remained for five years, 
and from which he graduated in 1872. He then was engaged in teach- 
ing school one winter. He then read law with D. D. Evans, Esq. In 
1873 he entered the Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, Michigan, 
where he graduated from the law school in 1875. He then returned te 



468 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Danville and commenced the practice of law. In 1876 he was elected 
city attorney of Danville, which office he filled with marked ability for 
two terms. Mrs. Outland's maiden name was Mary S. Peters. She 
was born in Licking comity, Ohio, on the 13th of December, 1855, and 
is the daughter of Oliver E. (a physician, now residing near Bismarck, 
Vermilion county,) and Margaret (Walcutt) Peters. 

E. Winter, Danville, deputy clerk, was born in Kenton county, Ken- 
tucky, on the 10th of July, 1847, and is the son of Charles H. and E. 
A. (Herod) Winter. His father was a native of London, England, and 
his mother of Kentucky. When Mr. Winter was very young, he, with 
his parents, moved to Indiana, where they were engaged in farming 
about four years, when they moved. to Columbus, Indiana, and entered 
the mercantile business. In March, 1864, Mr. Winter enlisted in Bat- 
tery F, 1st Indiana Heavy Artillery, and participated in several severe 
engagements, such as the siege of Fort Morgan, siege of Mobile, etc. 
He did duty at Fort Darrancus and Fort Pickens. He was mustered 
out on the 15th of Januaiw, 1866, when he returned to Indiana. He 
entered college at Moore's Hill, where lie received a sufficient education 
to enable him to teach school at Versailles, Indiana. He then studied 
law and was admitted to practice in 1868. He went to Vermilion 
county, Indiana, and remained there until 1870, when he came to Dan- 
ville, and in 1873 was admitted to the Illinois bar. In 1873 he was 
appointed deputy county clerk, which office he has filled ever since, 
and in which he has won a host of friends. Mr. Winter was married 
in Versailles, Indiana, to Miss Belle Wilson, of Indiana. They have 
two children. Mr. Winter is captain of Battery A, 1st Illinois National 
Guards. 

The firm of Messrs. Good and Cowan, Danville, saddle and harness 
makers, which has been established since the year 1874, is one of the 
largest, most reputable and successful in the city, and holds a position 
for integrity in business above an average character, and has gained a 
popularity of which it ma}^ well feel proud. The members of the firm 
stand among that liberal class of business men who believe in the vari- 
ous enterprises of the city being pushed forward. Their store is located 
at No. 38 Vermilion street. They emplo} 7 four men. The proprietors 
have attained a prominent business position, and socially are blessed 
with a large number of friends. Elias Good was born in Pennsylvania 
in 1841. He learned his trade — that of a harness-maker — in Pennsyl- 
vania, where he followed it for a number of years. He came to Illinois 
in 1865. Mr. Good was a soldier in the late war. Lie enlisted in 
April, 1861, in Co. C, 1st Pa. Vol. Inf., and did good service. He was 
honorably mustered out, but again enlisted, this time in the 34th Pa. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 4b'J 

Vol. Inf., Co. D, for three years. After serving about sixteen months, 
and participating in some very prominent battles, he was honorably 
discharged on account of sickness. Amos S. Cowan was also a soldier 
of the late war. He enlisted, August, 1861, in Co. G, 11th 111. Vol. 
Inf., for three years. He enlisted as a private, doing good service, and 
participating in a number of the most prominent battles of the war. 
He was at the battles of Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Pittsburg 
Landing, Champion Hills, siege of Vicksburg, Jackson, etc. He received 
two slight wounds in arm and leg at Champion Hills. He was first 
lieutenant of the 46th IT. S. Col. Troops, which did skirmishing near 
Memphis, Tennessee. He was then assistant inspector-general of the 
2d Brig. 1st Div. 25th Army Corps ; was mustered out at Brownville, 
Texas, 1865, and was finally discharged at Little Rock, Arkansas. He 
returned to Illinois, and entered the Normal University, where he re- 
mained one year. In 1870 he came to Danville, which has been his 
home ever since. Mr. Cowan is major of the 9th Bat. 111. N. G. 

J. M. Clark, Danville, merchant, was born in Waldo county, Maine, 
on the 21st of April, 1824, and is the son of Stephen and Prudence 
(Martin) Clark. His father, a native of Maine, was engaged as a sea- 
faring man until he reached the age of forty-five ; after this he followed 
farming. His mother was a native of Massachusetts. Mr. Clark was 
raised on the farm, where he remained until he was twenty-one years 
old. He then went to West Virginia, where he remained about two 
years ; from there located in the southern part of Ohio, near Gallipolis. 
Here he was engaged in the dry-goods and general store business some 
twenty-two years. While in Gallia county, Ohio, Mr. Clark held the 
office of count} 7 commissioner, which office he resigned when he came 
to Danville, Illinois. In 1861 Mr. Clark enlisted in the 36th Ohio 
Vol. Inf., Co. I, as first lieutenant. He was with the Army of the 
Potomac, and participated in some of its most severe battles. Mr. 
Clark was in the battles of Bull Run, Antietam, Lewisburg and several 
skirmishes. In 1863 he was detailed to organize militia, and was made 
colonel of the 1st Ohio Vol. Inf., which regiment helped to capture the 
notorious guerrilla, John Morgan, during his raid through Indiana and 
Ohio. At the close of the war Mr. Clark returned to Gallia county, 
Ohio. He married Miss Lucy Chambers, of Marietta, Ohio, by whom 
they have ten children. In the spring of 1870 Mr. Clark came to Dan- 
ville and commenced the dry-goods business, and to-day he owns one 
of the leading dry -goods and carpet stores in Danville. He is located 
at No. 6(y Vermilion street. He employs five salesmen, doing a busi- 
ness amounting to as high as $50,000 a year. Mr. Clark is a member 
of the school board. 



470 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

James Knight, Danville, boots and shoes, was born in Clinton 
county, New York, on the 12th of May, 1833, and is the son of James 
and Alice (Henderson) Knight, both natives of Scotland. His father 
was a farmer here, and Mr. Knight was brought up on the farm and 
there remained until he was about fifteen years old. He was then en- 
gaged in helping to survey the Ogdenburg railroad, and was then 
clerk in a hardware store. About 1843 he came west to Illinois and 
located in Chicago. He then returned east and clerked in the hardware 
business, but returned to Illinois and was connected with the Great 
Western railroad, running a train to Champaign. He followed rail- 
roading about thirteen years ; but was in Texas a short time engaged 
in trading in Texas cattle. In 1869 he went to California where he 
remained until the following vear, seeking for his brother Robert. He 
returned to Danville and has been engaged in the mercantile business 
principally ever since. Mr. Knight was married on the 15th of Feb- 
ruary, 1860, to Miss Mary E. Probst, of Danville. They have three 
children. Mr. Knight is now filling the position of assistant supervisor 
'of Danville township, which office he has held for the last six years. 
He is a republican in politics. 

Irad Abdill, Danville, retired, was born in Cadiz, Ohio, on the 29th 
of October, 1812, and is the son of Connell Abdill, who was a hotel- 
keeper in Cadiz. Mr. Abdill, the subject of this sketch, remained in 
his native place until he was about seventeen years of age, when he 
went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and learned the tinner's trade. In 
1830 lie went to Paris, Kentucky, where he engaged in work at his 
trade, and on the 5th of September, 1833, he married, near Lexington, 
Kentucky, Rebecca Ann Watson. In the same year he moved to Har- 
rodsburg, Kentucky, and there set up a tinshop and carried on busi- 
ness until 1836, when he moved to Indiana and located in Vincennes, 
where he was also engaged in the tin business. In April, 1839, he 
moved to Perrysvillc, Vermilion county, Indiana, and commenced the 
tin and hardware business on a very large scale, doing an extensive 
business until about 1869, when he retired from business. In 1862 
Mr. Abdill was elected a member of the legislature by the republican 
party, from Vermilion county, Indiana. On the 4th of October, 1871, 
Mr. Abdill moved to Danville, where he has been a resident ever since. 
His first vote cast for president of the United States was for General 
Andrew Jackson, and he was a Jackson democrat. In 1860 he voted 
for President Abraham Lincoln, and since then he has been a republi- 
can in politics. 

Matthias Brandenberger, Danville, sign-painter, was born in Ger- 
many on the 27th of January, 1840, and came to America when about 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 471 

fourteen years of age, first locating in St. Louis in 1857. He went to 
Leavenworth, Kansas, and while there learned his present trade. The 
following year he went to New Orleans where he remained one year, 
and then went to Baton .Rouge, but afterward returned to St. Louis 
and enlisted, in 1861, in Co. A, 13th Mo. Yol. Inf., and served until the 
close of the war, engaging in some of the. prominent battles, such as Fort 
Donelson and Pittsburg Landing, where he was wounded, a ball passing- 
through his right arm, which caused his absence from the regiment for 
seventy days. He afterward participated in the battles of Ink a and 
Corinth, and was engaged in the three-months siege of Vicksburg and 
Little Rock, also in other minor engagements. He was honorablv 
discharged at the close of the war, returned to St. Louis, and from 
there came to Springfield, Illinois, where he remained until 1867. He 
then went to Kansas City, and in 1871 came to Danville. He was 
married in 1870 to Miss Julia Getiser. She was a native of Switzer- 
land, and was born in 1847. 

A. J. T. Joslin, Danville, photographer, was born in Montgomery 
county, New York, on the 16th of June, 1839. At the age of sixteen years 
he went to Osage, and from there to Waukegan, Illinois. From there 
he moved to Oilman, and then to Danville, where he has made his home 
since. At Osage he built the third log house of the place, and painted the 
first sign ever put up in that town. He remained a resident of that 
place about thirteen years. He first learned the trade of a carriage 
and sign-painter, but subsequently took up photography, and now has 
had in all sixteen years' experience in this business, six years of the time 
in Danville. He first began alone, but the firm afterward became Jos- 
lin & Phillips. They continued to do business together about four 
years. He is now located at 112 East Main street, where, by close atten- 
tion to business, and keeping pace with the improvements made in the 
art of photography, he has established a good business. 

E. C. Winslow, Danville, of No. 107 Main street, dealer in drugs. 
is a native of Hampshire county, Massachusetts. He came west in 
1871 and began business in Danville, after having spent twelve years 
in the drug trade in Boston. He is a graduate of pharmacy and is thor- 
oughly educated in all the details of the drug trade. His store is 
twenty-five feet front by eighty feet deep, two stories and basement. 
He has it thoroughly stocked in everything pertaining to a full and 
complete line of drugs, cigars, tobacco, perfumeries, etc. These are all 
conducive to his success, which he has gained and earned by an hon- 
orable and upright method of business. 

L. James, Danville, contractor and builder, is a native of Montgom- 
ery county, Pennsylvania. He was born in 1840. The early part of 



472 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

his life was spent in his native state, where he learned the trade of a 
carpenter and joiner. In 1861, at the breaking out of the war of the 
rebellion, he entered the army and enlisted in Co. E, 45th Pa. Inf., three- 
Years service. He was in many of the hard fought battles, among 
which may be mentioned those of Stoner Landing, Antietam and 
Fredericksburg. At both of the latter battles he was wounded, though not 
crippled, and in 1864 was mustered out at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
He has now been a resident of Danville for eight years, most of which 
time he has been engaged at his trade. At present he has on hand the 
contract of doing the woodwork on the Gernand building. By honest 
work he has won for himself a good reputation, both as a workman and a 
citizen. 

Chas. T. Yeomans, Danville, hardware dealer, of the firm of Yeo- 
mans & Shedd, is a native of Wyoming county, New York. He has 
now been engaged in the hardware trade about eight years. Previous 
to his entering business in this line he had been a resident of Chicago, 
where from 1866 until 1871 he was employed at keeping books. In 
1871 he came to Danville, and in partnership with Mr. A. L. Webster 
engaged in the hardware trade ; they continuing to do business together 
until 1875, when the present partnership was formed. When leaving 
Mr. Webster, he took the shelf and general hardware, while Mr. W. 
kept what is known to the trade as the heavy hardware. Under the 
management of the present firm they have established quite an exten- 
sive business, a more detailed account of which is given elsewhere. 
They are both good financiers, and are known as one of the solid, sub- 
stantial business firms of the city. 

Every business man dependent upon the^patronage of the public 
for success must endeavor to please that public. This Mr. J. A. 
Phillips, the photographer, of Danville, and the subject of this sketch, 
has seemed to do, if we may judge of his success by this rule. Pie 
first began the business of photography in 1864. He followed it for 
two years, then quit and began painting, which he continued for about 
six yeai's. In the spring of 1871 he began business in Danville. He 
lias kept pace with the progress made in the art of photography. This 
assertion may be very easily proven by a visit to his parlors, which are 
located at the southwest corner of the public square. He is a native 
of Fountain county, Indiana. Though not a resident of the city so 
long as many, he has established a good name and reputation. 

Chas. M. Swallow, attorney-at-law, Danville, was born in Luzerne 
county, Pennsylvania, on the 8th of September, 1844, and is the son of 
George and Sa Hie (Thompson) Swallow. Mr. Swallow's father was a 
native of Pennsylvania, and followed farming. Here on the farm Mr. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 47o 

Swallow remained until he was about seventeen years old, at which 
time he went to Pittston, and from there to Scranton, where he entered 
a printing-office and commenced to learn his trade. This he followed 
for several years, and was the main support in getting money to school 
himself. Mr. Swallow received his "principal education at Williamsport, 
Pennsylvania, and Cazenovia, New York. In 1869 he entered the law 
school of the Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, where he graduated 
in 1871. In April, 1871, he came to Danville and entered the office of 
Messrs. Davis & Mann, and remained with that law firm until 1872. 
He was then admitted to practice law at the Illinois state bar. In 1874 
he entered partnership with D. D. Evans, which firm continued until 
January of 1879. Since then Mr. Swallow has been practicing alone. 
He held the office of city attorney for one term, and performed his duty 
in a faithful manner. Mr. Swallow was married on the 15th of Decem- 
ber, 1874, to Miss Clara A. Northup, who was born in Luzerne county, 
Pennsylvania, on the 30th of May, 1850. She died on the 7th of Feb- 
ruary, 1879. He is the father of one child, Howard A., born on the 
18th of August, 1878. 

We believe that many people fail of success in the livery business 
through a lack of attention to the general wants of the public, coupled 
with a disregard for proper neatness and cleanliness. Kuykendall 
Bros. & Craig, livery-men, of Danville, own two livery stables, one 
located east side of Hazel, between North and Main streets, and the 
other on North street, in the rear of the ^Etna House. At both livery 
stables is kept a fine lot of stock and a number of vehicles which, 
for style and quality, cannot be excelled in Danville. The firm is com- 
posed of "William and Jacob Kuykendall, who were born in Hampshire 
county, Virginia. With their parents they moved to Indiana, and from 
thence to Vermilion county, Illinois, and located on a farm in Middle 
Fork township. Here they were engaged in farming until 1871, when 
they came to Danville and entered the livery business. In 1875 they 
entered partnership with William Craig, and thus formed the above 
named firm. Mr. Craig was born in Montgomery county, Indiana, in 
1848. These gentlemen are courteous and gentlemanly in their busi- 
ness, and prompt in transactions, all of which has made them popular 
and successful livery-men. 

The Chicago Store, 53 Vermilion street, Danville, Illinois, was first 
opened at No. 41, Vermilion street, on the 22d of July, 1872, and on 
the 7th of August, 1872, H. B. Villars, the youngest son of the Kev. 
John Villars, commenced clerking for S. T. Kern at $1.50 per week, 
and remained as general clerk until the spring of 1873, when Mr. Rob- 
ison left, going farther west. H. B. Villars, being the oldest clerk with 
/ 



474 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

the firm, was made head clerk, and manager of the business in Mr. 
Kern's absence, holding that position until about 1874, when he left, 
taking a rest for about six weeks. He, however, returned to his former 
position as manager of the business in the absence of Mr. Kern, this 
being at Mr. Kern's request. About two years after opening at No. 
41 Vermilion street, Mr. Kern moved to No. 53 Vermilion street, the 
present location. H. B. Villars still held that position until the death 
of Mr. Kern, on the 18th of April, 1876, after which the store was left 
to V W. T. Kern, the business, however, being still in the charge of H. 
B. Villars. In July, 1876, Mr. Kern was taken sick in Logansport, 
and lingered until the 13th of November, 1876, when he died, leaving 
the store to his sister, the firm name becoming C. J. Kern & Sister. 
Mr. C. J. Kern, having a store in Logansport to look after, still left the 
Danville store in charge of H. B. Villars until the 28th of March, 1877, 
when, desiring to discontinue the business in Danville, he sold the 
stock to the firm of Villars Bros. & Co., who are now doing a large busi- 
ness in the same room. 

B. M. Chaffee, Danville, freight and ticket agent, is a native of 
Rochester, Windsor county, Vermont. He came west in 1869, and 
for one year was engaged in business in Chicago. He then went to 
Kentland, Indiana, where, for tw T o years, he was located in the employ 
of the Pan-Handle railroad. He resigned his position and returned 
to Chicago with the intention of again engaging in business there, but 
instead he came to Danville, and accepted the position of station-agent 
on the I. B. & W. R. R. He is now also doing the business for the 
P. & D. road, and is both ticket and freight agent for both roads. The 
receipts and shipments of the I. B. & W. are much greater than the 
P. & D., though the transferring of all east and southward bound 
freight on the latter road is necessary at this point; this also conies 
under his charge. He has, in all, six men under his supervision. Mr. 
Chaffee has been a resident of Danville only since 1872, but is already 
as well known as many of the old settlers. 

J. A. Patterson, Danville, hardware dealer, of the firm of Giddings 
& Patterson, is probably the most thoroughly educated man in the 
hardware line of any dealer in this line of goods in the city, he having 
had the advantage of five years' experience as traveling-man for a job- 
bing-house in the line they are now handling. He is a native of Vir- 
ginia, his early life being spent in that state, Ohio and Indiana. He 
has now been a resident of Danville seven years, three years of which 
time he was with the firm of Webster & Yeomans, and four years with 
A. L. Webster. In February of 1879 he engaged, in company with 
Mr. Jno. W. Giddings, in the heavy hardware trade, they being sue- 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 475 

cessors to A. L. Webster. Their trade extends to a radius of about one 
hundred and twenty-five miles. Mr. Patterson, being used to the road, 
does this part of the work when necessary. Though they have been in 
business as a firm but a short time, they have every reason to hope for 
success, if the future may be judged by the past. They are both men 
of that caliber who seldom fail to carry any enterprise undertaken 
through successfully, and in this undertaking they propose to stop noth- 
ing short of success. 

Robert Pollard, Danville, gas-fitting and foundry, of the firm of 
Thompson & Pollard, was born in London, England, in 1848. At the 
age of twenty-two he came to the United States, and located at La Fay- 
ette, Indiana, where, for about two years, he was engaged in the busi- 
ness of gas-fitting, a trade which he learned in England. In November 
of 1872 he came to Danville and began, with Mr. Thompson, in the 
same business. He first began as a "jour" with Mr. Thompson, but 
in a short time became a partner. They are now conducting one of 
the largest manufacturing establishments in this part of Illinois, a more 
complete description of which has already been given. 

Watson Bros., Danville, butchers, located at No. 45 Yermilion 
street, have a very neat, well arranged meat market, which they con- 
duct and own ; besides which they have a fine farm in Yermilion 
county, where they raise the stock for their market. They are 
practical butchers of long experience, and have the reputation of 
exposing for sale the finest quality of fresh meat, through which and 
their fairness of prices and strict probity in business transactions they 
have secured them a paying business. They have, in connection with 
their meat market, a steam power sausage mill, with which they furnish 
the surrounding towns with sausage. Alva Watson was born in La 
Salle county, Illinois, in 1845, and is the son of Stephen Watson, of 
Rhode Island, who came to Illinois about 1840, and was engaged in 
stock raising and farming. Mr. Alva Watson remained on the farm 
until he was about fourteen years old and then entered a grist mill and 
learned the engineer's trade, which he followed for a number of years. 
He then went into the butcher business in Danville. He has also been 
in the hotel business, managing for a time the St. James Hotel of Dan- 
ville. Daniel Watson, a brother of Alva, is with these two gentle- 
men. They compose the oldest butcher firm in the city. 

H. P. Blackburn, Danville, attorney-at-law, was born in Fountain 
county, Indiana, on the 23d of August, 1850, and is the son of John 
T. and Mary A. (Powell) Blackburn, both natives of Kentucky, and 
early settlers of Fountain county, Indiana. Mr. Blackburn received 
his principal education from the Wesley Academy, near Crawfordsville, 



47li HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Indiana, Blooniingdale Academy, near Annapolis, Indiana, and the Illi- 
nois State University at Champaign. He then entered the Michigan 
University of Ann Arbor, Michigan, from which he graduated in 1872. 
He then came to Danville and commenced the practice of law. Since 
he began here he has associated himself as partner with Wm. H. Mal- 
lory, B. F. Cook, George W. Gere and General J. C. Black. 

E. R. Danforth, dealer in groceries and provisions, No. 36 Ver- 
milion street, is a native of Wabash, Indiana. He began business in 
his present location in January, 1879, by buying the grocery establish- 
ment of J. W. Elliott. He began his mercantile life in his old home, 
Wabash, Indiana, where he spent several years as a clerk in a general 
store. In 18G9 he left Wabash and located in Homer, Illinois, where 
he spent three years clerking in a grocery establishment. In 1873 he 
accepted a situation as clerk with Mr. Wm. Hessey, dry-goods mer- 
chant of Danville. He remained with Mr. Hessey until he decided to 
engage in business on his own account. His store is eighteen feet front 
by one hundred feet deep, located where there is but little doubt of 
success and stocked with a fine class of groceries and provisions, queens- 
ware, crockery, tinware, and many other useful and staple lines of goods 
that experience and good judgment have taught him were necessary for 
success. For a man who has never been engaged in business for him- 
self, Mr. Danforth is certainty exhibiting some very good financiering 
qualities. Should his business in the future be conducted as carefulty as 
it has been in the past, there is but little doubt of his ambition for suc- 
cess being realized. 

C. M. Axtell, Danville, is a native of Washington county, Pennsyl- 
vania, though at the age of four years he was brought to Iroquois 
county by his parents, they coming to that county in company with 
eleven other families from Pennsylvania. There the early part of his 
life was spent, and an education received from such facilities as the 
country afforded at that time. He remained a resident of that county 
until 1873, when he came to Danville. For some time before leaving 
Iroquois county he had been engaged in business on his own account: 
in the harness trade for three years, and in the livery business four 
years. He built the building on the corner of Madison and Pine 
streets, which he still owns. This he occupied for about four years, 
engaged in the grocery business, Mr. Sirpless becoming his successor 
in business. In 1878 he was elected a member of the police force of 
Danville, but failed to be renominated again in 1879 on account of not 
supporting the administration, which declared in favor of licensing the 
sale of liquor. 

Gottlieb Maier, Danville, leather and findings, was born in Wur- 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 477 

temburg, Germany, on the 28th of April, 1840. He remained a resi- 
dent of his native country until he had received a good education, and 
had learned the trade of a tanner. In 1867 he came to the United 
States, first locating at Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he remained about 
one and a half years. He then went to Loudon ville, Ohio, for about 
the same length of time, and then to Augusta, Kentucky, where he 
was engaged in business on his own account as a tanner. He re- 
mained in Augusta about three years, and in 1873 came to Danville. 
Where he is now, on East Main street, he has a store 22 x 70, with 
basement. He pays out annually about twenty thousand dollars for 
hides, furs, tallow, "sheeps," etc., shipping most of these goods to Bos- 
ton, Mass. He also carries a fine stock of leather and findings. He is 
a man who pays little attention to anybody's business except his own, 
but is one of that class of men who are ranked among the best citizens 
of any community. 

G-. L. Klugel, Danville, of No. 47 West Main street, dealer in and 
manufacturer of galvanized-iron work, is probably a better workman, 
and is engaged more extensively in this business, than many of the 
citizens of Vermilion county are aware of. He has had sixteen years' 
experience in this line, first serving an apprenticeship of seven years with 
his brother. He is a native of Berlin, Prussia, coming to the United 
States in 1859, when he was six years old, becoming a resident of Day- 
ton, Ohio. It was there he learned his trade. He has traveled over 
quite a number of the states, executing large contracts in his line of 
business. Among these we mention a few. In 1870 he first came to 
Danville, and did the iron-work of the high-school building: in 1872 
he did the cornice-work on Abe Sandusky's residence ; in 1877 he did 
that of the court-house of Washington, Indiana, and in 1878 finished 
the Ann Arbor court-house; in 1879 he finished the Wabash court- 
house of Indiana. These are some of the important jobs he has done, 
and are certainly evidence enough of his ability as a workman and con- 
tractor. In 1873 he became a resident of Danville, and now gives 
employment to about four men regularly, and is doing a business, in 
point of execution, equal to any in the west. 

D. C. Vaughn, Danville, saw-mill, is a native of the state of Iowa, 
and has been a resident of Danville since 1873.- He was for five years 
connected with the 'bus line of S. B. Holloway & Co., the last two 
years as a partner in the business. In the summer of 1879 they (he 
and S. B. Holloway) purchased the saw-mill located at the I. B. & W. 
depot, and formerly run by Noah Wilkins. This business now conies 
directly under Mr. Vaughn's supervision. Their specialty is hardwood 
lumber, of which they have a manufacturing capacity of about 6,000 



478 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

feet per day. In all they give employment to about twenty men, 
seven of whom are at work in the mill. Their annual pay-roll amounts 
to about $4,000. They have an engine of forty-horse power. The mill 
is new. Mr. Vaughn is a live, energetic business man, and though the 
enterprise is a new one there is every probability of their success. Mr. 
Holloway is an old mill man. 

Among the few large grocery and bakery establishments of Danville 
is that of Bredehoft Bros., located at No. 135 East Main street. The 
elder of the two, George W., has had about six years' experience in the 
business in Danville, and in that time has become a thoroughly prac- 
tical business man. In 1873 he engaged in the trade in company with 
Mr. Charles Stellner, they doing business together until the present 
firm was organized. Their store-room is twenty-four feet front by 
eighty feet deep, with basement. In addition to this they have the 
Lossom bakery, built in the rear of the store. This is 20 x 24. In this 
line they have acquired a reputation that keeps them very busy deliv- 
ering goods, their business aggregating now about $50,000 per annum 
in both lines of trade. They give employment to about four men regu- 
larly, and should their trade increase in the future as it has in the past 
they will shortly be the leading house in the city in their line. Their 
business is a fair illustration of what may be accomplished by pluck 
and perseverance. They have worked for the trade they now com- 
mand, both by means of a pleasant and courteous treatment of their 
customers, supplying them with nice fresh goods, and by keeping their 
place of business neat and clean. 

The largest and most important clothing and gents' furnishing es- 
tablishment in the city of Danville is that of H. Ivahn & Co., the 
members of the firm being H. Kahn and the subject of our sketch, 
Mr. Isaac Stern, who was born in 1846 in Wurtemberg, Germany. 
There he received a good education, and had six years' experience in 
the clothing trade, and at the age of twenty years came to the United 
States, locating at Champaign, Illinois, where for four years he was 
enffao-ed as a clerk in the clothing trade. He then went south and 
located near Salem, Alabama, where for three years he was engaged in 
the mercantile trade. Returning north in 1873 he located at Danville 
and engaged in business, where we now find him one of the most suc- 
cessful merchants of the city. Their establishment is located at No. 
51 Vermilion street, and is known as the Arcade Clothing House. The 
building is 100 x 24 feet, and they occupy the first floor and basement 
with a stock of goods not equaled in the city. Mr. Stern, though a 
resident of the city but a few years, is already well and favorably 
known both in society and business circles. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 47 ( .> 

William P. Cannon, Danville, president of the Vermilion County 
Bank, was born in Morgan comity, Indiana, September 18, 1841, and is 
the son of Horace F. Cannon, who was born in North Carolina, and "was 
a doctor by profession. He moved to Indiana in 1840. Mr. W. P. Can- 
non, after receiving his principal education at the Earlem College of In- 
diana, commenced the study of law with his brother, Joseph G. Cannon. 
In 1862 he was admitted to practice law at the bar. He entered partner- 
ship with his brother and commenced practice at Tuscola, Illinois. In 
1865 he entered the private banking business with Wyeth, Cannon & 
Co., and remained there, acting as manager until 1870, when he organ- 
ized the First National Bank of Tuscola, and was made president, 
maintaining this position until 1873, when he moved to Danville and 
organized the Vermilion County Bank, of which he holds the position 
of president. The other officers are: Thos. S. Parks, cashier; J. W. 
Elliott, book-keeper, and Chas. Knight, teller. This bank is doing a 
general banking business, and is in a very nourishing condition. In 
1864 Mr. Cannon married Miss Anna M. Wamsley, of Indiana, daugh- 
ter of William Wamsley, and by this union they have three children. 

Frank W. Penwell, Danville, attorne}'-at-law T , was born in St. Jo- 
seph county, Indiana, on the 14th of September, 1843, and is the son 
of Enos and Martha (Holloway) Penwell. In 1853 he, with his par- 
ents, moved to Illinois, and located in Shelbyville, Shelby county. 
Here his father was engaged in the practice of medicine. Mr. Pen- 
well received a common school education at Shelbyville. He then 
completed his studies at South Bend, Indiana. He was a soldier in 
the late civil war. In 1862 he enlisted for three years as sergeant in 
the 21st Ind. Battery, Light Artillery. This battery did service with the 
army of the Cumberland, participating in some of the most severe bat- 
tles: Chickamauga, Nashville, etc. At the close of the war Mr. Pen- 
well returned home and commenced the study of law. In 1867 he 
graduated in the law-school of the Michigan University of Ann Arbor. 
In 1867 he commenced the practice of law. In 1873 he came to Dan- 
ville, and associated himself with W. J. Henry, and formed the law- 
firm of Henry & Penwell, which continued until 1876, when the pres- 
ent firm was formed of Young & Penwell. His political opinions are 
republican. He married Miss May Bowman, of New York. 

J. E. Field, Danville, merchant tailor, w r as born in Litchfield county, 
Connecticut, on the 28th of July, 1843. He learned the tailor's trade 
in Lorain county, Ohio, in 1866 and 1867. He then went to Michigan 
and located at Three Rivers, where he worked at his trade until 1868, 
when he came to Illinois, and worked at his trade at Rockford. Here 
he remained until 1873, when he came to Danville, and has here been 



480 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

engaged at his trade ever since. He opened his present merchant- 
tailor establishment in 1878. He is one of the leading merchant tailors 
of Danville, having in his employ six hands. Mr. Field, in 1861, en- 
listed in the late war. He entered, from Lorain county, Ohio, the 2d 
Ohio Cavalry, Co. H. ; he enlisted for three years, and did good ser- 
vice, being in a number of battles and skirmishes. He served full 
time and was honorably mustered out. He reenlisted in the same 
regiment, and served until the close of the war. Pie was with Gen. 
Grant, on his eastern campaign, in the battles of Cold Harbor, the bat- 
tle of the Wilderness, St. Mary's Church, Fairfax Court House, and 
other battles and skirmishes. In his first enlistment, on the 9th of 
September 1861, until his final discharge, on the 20th of September, 
1865, he was sick but two weeks, and during these two weeks he 
remained with his regiment. Neither he nor his horse received the 
slightest wound. The 2d Ohio started from Lebanon, Kentucky, on 
the 4th of July, 1863, after the notorious guerrilla John Morgan, at 
the time he made his raid through Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. The 
2d Ohio was in the engagement when Morgan was captured at Colum- 
bus county, Ohio. The 2d ( )hio, during its service in the war, traveled 
over thirty thousand miles through the various states. This was the 
greatest distance traveled by any regiment during the war. Mr. Field 
has a medal that was given to him at the first reunion of the 2d Ohio 
Cavalry at Cleveland, O. Mr. Field is first lieutenant of Battery A, 1st 
Brig. 111. Nat. G., of which he has been a member for over three years. 
Among the leading merchants of Danville may be mentioned Win. 
Woods, the hatter, who was born in London, England. A number of 
years ago he came to America, where he has been engaged in differ- 
ent pursuits. He has had a wide experience in the shirt, hosiery and 
glove business, having been connected with one of the leading houses 
of that kind in the country. In 1873 Mr. Woods came to Danville and 
entered the hat and cap business with his brother, A. Woods, on Main 
street. Since the retirement of his brother, Mr. Woods has continued 
in the business alone, and to-day is the oldest hat and cap merchant in 
Danville. His present new store on Vermilion street is one of the 
most attractive and finest stores in the city. Here may be found a full 
line of hats, caps, furs and gents' furnishing goods. 

J. C. Helm, Danville, W. U. telegraph agent, is a native of Marion 
county, Indiana. The early portion of his life was spent in the country, 
on a farm. He has now for ten years been engaged at telegraphing. 
Those who are familiar with the business pronounce him a fine oper- 
ator. He began learning telegraphy at Anderson, Indiana, in 1869. In 
October, 1874, he took charge of the Western Union business at Dan- 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 481 

ville, which was then in connection with the railroad, being located at 
the Wabash depot. In October of 1878 they moved to their present 
quarters, which is No. 108 East Main. Here Mr. Helm has a very 
neatly arranged office, having in all seven wires, viz: three of the 
Wabash, the I. B. & W., P. & D., E. T. H. & C. and C. & E. I. The 
business is so extensive as to require an assistant, this gentleman being 
Mr. E. C. Dodge, of Erie county, New York. The aggregate business, 
strictly commercial, now done by the office is about $250 per month. 
Though Mr. Helm has been a resident of Danville but a few years, he 
already is known as a man whose word and promise may be relied 
upon . 

The Arkansas & Texas Railway Land Company, located in the 
"Times'' building, is probably a much more extensive institution than 
many of the people of this county are aware of. It is a business, too, that 
would well repay many people who contemplate buying real estate to 
examine. Mr. E. D. Steen, the gentleman in charge at this point, is a 
native of the old Keystone State, his birth-place being near the city 
of Pittsburgh. He has been a resident of the State of Illinois for about 
twenty-seven years, though of Danville but for five years. When he 
came to the city he began business in the furniture trade, in company 
with Mr. J. W. Dove, the firm name being Dove & Steen. This they 
followed until 1878. when Walker & Staymen became their successors. 
The land office of the company named was located in Danville in the 
summer of 1879. They have in Texas 3,000,000 acres ; Arkansas, 30,- 
000; Kansas, 10,000 ; and Nebraska 10,000, besides a large number of 
improved farms in the state of Missouri. There is probably no real- 
estate firm in the west that offers such inducements as this one. Mr. 
Steen is treasurer of the Vermilion County Historical Society, and a 
man having the respect and esteem of a large number of citizens. 

Wm. Stewart, Danville, machine and boiler manufacturer, successor 
to the firm of Reynolds & Stewart, manufacturers of boilers and ma- 
chinery, is a native of Scotland, where he was born on the 26th of 
January, 1840. He came to the United States in the fall of 1861. 
Before leaving his native country he had acquired a good education, 
and had learned the trade of a machinist. He first located at Fort 
Wayne, Indiana, where for eleven years he was employed in the shops of 
the Wabash Railway Company. On the first of January, 1874, he came 
to Danville and took charge of the shops of the C. D. & V. R. R., 
where he remained for two years, then in 1877 he became a partner of 
Mr. Reynolds in the foundry and machine shops, later succeeding Mr. 
Reynolds in the business. He is a thorough machinist, having served 
a five-years apprenticeship in learning the trade in Scotland. He is 
31 



482 HISTOEY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

now giving employment to about iifteeu men, and is already designing 
a new boiler factory in addition to bis present works, a more complete 
conception of which may be bad by referring to his card in the direc- 
tory of tins work. Mr. Stewart, though a resident of Danville but a 
few years, has already established a name and reputation of which any 
man who is a native of a foreign land may well be proud. 

H. L. Dunham, Danville, was born on the 12th of March, 1848, at 
Northfield, Vermont. When he was about fifteen years old he entered 
the office of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago railroad as clerk. 
Here he remained for a number of years. He then accepted a position 
with the Union Pacific railroad as superintendent's clerk, which place 
he filled about three years. Then, for a time, he was in the employ 
of the Southern Minnesota railroad. On the 17th of April, 1871, Mr. 
Dunham entered the service of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois railroad. 
He was first stationed at Momence as shop-clerk, and from that he was 
appointed superintendent's clerk, making his headquarters at Chicago. 
In 1872 he was made paymaster of the same road, which place he filled 
until 1874, when the company adopted the plan of paying off by 
checks, and by this system they dispensed with the paymaster. In 
1874 Mr. Dunham came to Danville, and was made shop-clerk, which 
position he has tilled since. 

To the men who can look back upon the trade in the early days of 
Danville, the magnitude of some of the present business establishments 
must look amazing. A few of them, in immensity and in the variety, 
quality and quantity of goods offered for sale, fully equal the stores in 
cities of fifty thousand inhabitants. Among them the establishment 
of Messrs. Hull & Hulce is a notable example of the progress made in 
the past few years in the agricultural department. Their valuable ex- 
perience in all matters pertaining to this business; their keen apprecia- 
tion of the wants of the farmer ; their promptitude and the completeness 
with which they meet these wants; their resources and extended facili- 
ties for supplying every demand of the farm, together with the careful 
and systematic methods followed in the management of their affairs, 
afford some little explanation for the prosperity which has attended 
their business career. This, the largest agricultural establishment in 
this vicinity, is owned by James G. Hull and Martin H. Hulce. The 
former, James G. Hull, was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, 
in 1841. He, with his parents, came west in 1851, and located on a 
farm in Marshall county, Illinois. Here Mr. Hull was engaged in 
farming until the breaking out of the late war. He enlisted in the 
11th 111. Cav., Co. H, and participated in some of the most severe bat- 
tles of the western campaign : Shiloh, Corinth, siege of Vicksburg, etc. ; 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 483 

was with the noted Garson raid through to the Gulf. For six months 
the soldiers of the 11th were never known to have their clothes off. 
Mr. Hull has had two horses shot from under him. He enlisted in 
1861 as private; from that he rose first to corporal, then sergeant, and 
then to first lieutenant, and finally to captain of Co. H. He served 
until 1865, the close of the war, when he returned to his home, and 
embarked in the agricultural business in Henry, Marshall county, Ill- 
inois. In 1868 Mr. Martin H. Hulce entered partnership. This gen- 
tleman was born in New Jersey, having come west when a young man. 
He is a carriage-maker by trade. In 1874 these gentlemen came to 
Danville, and commenced business in the present building: size, 
48x132, two stories. This establishment is the largest in this section 
of Illinois, and perhaps sells as much as any other three establishments 
of the kind in Danville. Here may be found all kinds of implements 
that are used on a farm, from a linch-pin up to a steam threshing ma- 
chine. They keep constantly on hand a fine stock of seeds. 

F. W. Button, Danville, manufacturer of boilers, proprietor of the 
Button Steam Boiler Factory, is a native of the state of New York. 
Previous to his engaging in the manufacture of this line of goods in 
Danville, he had for some time had charge of the boiler works of the 
Wabash railroad, at Springfield. He is a thoroughly practical man in 
his line of trade and manufacture, having had about twenty years' ex- 
perience in the manufacture of boilers. In 1866 he came west as far 
as Chicago, where he remained but a short time. He then made a trip 
through the southern states during the same year and 1867. Returning 
north, he spent some time in Galesburg and Springfield, as before men- 
tioned, and located in Danville in 1875. Here he has established 
something of a name and reputation, and has a trade established reaching 
about forty miles around the city. On an average he employs about 
four men, and is doing his work in such a manner that his trade has 
been gradually increasing. He is giving his customers such goods as 
will bear inspection. 

C. V. Feldkamp, Danville, dealer in confectionery and fruits. North 
Vermilion street, is a native of Germany, where he remained a resi- 
dent until nineteen years of age. There he received a good education 
and served an apprenticeship of three years learning the wholesale and 
retail grocery business. In addition to working three years he was 
obliged to pay the firm $125. He has now been engaged in business 
in Danville about four years, though previous to this he had spent 
three years in Springfield, Illinois, in the same line of trade. When 
he began here he had a partner in the business, but now is conducting 
it alone. His place of business is neatly fitted up and well stocked 



484 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

with fresh fruits and confectionery. He has an elegant soda fountain 
which cost him $1,000. By a pleasant and courteous treatment of his 
customers he has established the leading business in the city in his line. 

Among the business men of Danville who have been dependent 
upon their own resources we mention Mr. W. A. Clements. He is a 
native of the District of Columbia, was born in 1827, and while yet a 
child became a resident of Maryland, where his people remained but a 
few years, he coming to Sliell^ville, Illinois, with his mother in 1836. 
At the age of nine years he began to support himself. He first worked 
about four years on a farm, and then began carrying the United States 
mail between Shelb} r ville and Vandalia, a distance of forty miles. This 
he followed for seven years, and then entered the army in the Mexican 
war, enlisting in Co. G, 1st 111., Col. E. W. B. Newby. He remained 
in the army about two years, most of the time on detached duty. Re- 
turning from the war, he again became a resident of Shelbyville, where 
he resided until 1875, engaging indifferent lines of mercantile business. 
In January, 1875, he came to Danville and embarked in the grocery 
trade, in which business he is still engaged, located at old No. 54 Ver- 
milion street, where he has a good establishment, well stocked with 
everything pertaining to a general line of groceries. This has been 
the result of his own energy and industry. He can certainly be classed 
among the self-made men of Danville. 

Wm. Bahls, Danville, dealer in and manufacturer of boots and shoes, 
is a native of Prussia, and came to the United States in 1854. When 
he was seventeen years old be began railroading, which he followed for 
a time. He then served a three years' apprenticeship in La Fayette, 
Indiana, in learning the trade of a boot and shoe maker. He has now 
been in the business about ten years, the last four of which have been 
in an establishment of his own. His specialty is fine sewed work. 
He has now established a trade that requires the employment of three 
men; and in connection with his manufacturing, he carries a stock of 
ready-made goods, and has a trade now established amounting to about 
$6,000 per year. Though he does not claim to do the largest business 
in the city, he has succeeded in doing one that gives satisfaction to his 
customers. 

C. E. Doyle, railroad agent at the Danville Junction, is a native of 
the state of Florida, and is a man now about twenty-eight years old. 
He has had about thirteen years' experience in the railroad business. 
He began first with the Iron Mountain road, in 1866 ; he was after- 
ward located for two and a half years at La Fayette, Indiana, in the 
employ of the Wabash road ; in 1875 he came to Danville and accepted 
the position of ticket agent at the Junction. Here he has the ticket 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 485 

business of live different roads to which to attend. In 1878 the ticket 
sales of this office were $50,000. Daily, he has about eighteen regular 
passenger trains. He also understands telegraphy, but he has a man 
to attend to this part of the business. Though he has been a resident 
of Danville but a few years, he has already won the respect and conn- 
den ce of the better class of the citizens. 

George Gordon Mabin, Danville, attorney, was born in Memphis, 
Tennessee, on the 30th of March, 1853. Through the misfortune of 
his parents, he w T as thrown upon his own resources at the early age of 
ten years. By the assistance of Prof. H. S. Perrigo, he was sent to 
school at Mount Carroll Seminary, of Carroll county, Illinois. There 
he made rapid progress in the common branches, and in 1871 entered 
the Illinois Industrial University, and began a literary course which he 
pursued for three years. He then left college without completing his 
collegiate course, and began the study of law with T. J. Smith, of 
Champaign, Illinois. In 1875 he came to Danville and finished his 
course of law under W. R. Lawrence and Young & Penwell. In 
1877, at the age of twenty- four, he was admitted to the bar at Ottawa, 
Illinois, and began the practice of law in Danville the same year, 
where he has since resided, engaged in the practice of law. 

F. G. Irwin, Danville, druggist, corner Main and Hazel streets, is a 
native of Bartholomew county, Indiana. He was born in 1846, and 
remained a resident of that county until 1863, when he removed to 
Rnshville, Indiana, and from there to Eugene, Vermilion county, of 
the same state, where he was engaged in the drug trade from 1865 to 
1875; he then removed to Danville and began business in the same 
line. Many men with less enterprise would have feared to engage in 
a business which was already so well represented ; but understanding 
from past experience that "opposition is the life of trade," he began 
with a full understanding of the difficulties to be overcome. His store 
is twenty-four feet front by seventy deep, and stocked with a full line 
of pure drugs and medicines, perfumeries, cigars, tobaccos, etc. etc. 
These, with a neat and tastily arranged store, are all conducive to his 
success; but no more so than a fine family recipe department, over 
which he presides personally. He is a thoroughly educated druggist 
of sixteen years' experience. By his close attention to business, and 
polite and courteous treatment of customers, he has already established 
a fine business in Danville. 

W. F. Baum, one of the popular druggists of Danville, is a native 
of Fountain county, Indiana. He has had ten years' experience in the 
drug trade, — beginning in the business first in -Covington, Indiana. 
From there he went to Marshneld in August of 1872, where he spent 



486 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

three years in the business, — one year of this time he managed an estab- 
lishment of his own. Closing out in business there he came to Dan- 
ville, where he now has one of the neatest and most centrally located 
establishments in the city. He was first located on Vermilion street, 
but in December of 1878 removed to his present quarters, northwest 
corner Vermilion and Main streets. Here he has his establishment 
stocked with a nice fresh line of goods, consisting of pure drugs, medi- 
cines, perfumeries, paints, oils, cigars, tobaccos, etc. etc. He has a neat 
and tastily arranged store, and is enjoying the success merited by his 
enterprise and close attention to business. 

It is seldom we find a man at the age of Mr. John Stein, the brewer 
of Danville, — he being twenty-eight years old, — who by his own 
efforts has accumulated the property that he has. He is a native of 
Germany ; there he learned the trade of a brewer with his father, who 
followed the brewery business in Germany. In 1868 he came to the 
United States. For a time he was located near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 
but later moved to Covington, Indiana, where he lived for a time en- 
gaged in his line, and in 1875 came to Danville and began business for 
himself. Here, by a close attention to business, he has accumulated a 
fine property and established a good business. He built the brewery 
he is now running, and though he at one time lost heavily on account 
of not having ice in proper time, he still has a property valued at near 
$12,000. Some idea of the extent of his business may be gained when 
it is known that he manufactures from eighteen to nineteen thousand 
barrels of beer annually, — his business aggregating about $18,000 per 
annum. He supplies a large part of the home demand and does some 
shipping. Should he be as successful in the future as he has been in 
the past, he may yet rank among the large brewers of the west. 

Frield Miller & Son, Danville, manufacturers of what is known as 
the Beethoven organs, is one of the most enterprising firms of the city. 
Frield Miller, the senior member of the firm, is a native of Baden, 
Germany, and in 1830 came to the United States with his parents, he 
being six years old. His parents first located in Lebanon county, Penn- 
sylvania, where they remained about seven years, and then removed to 
Richland county, Ohio. It was there, while Mr. Miller was yet a boy, 
that he received his education at the country schools, and was em- 
ployed for a long time when the feeder of the canal through Mercer 
county was built, using his earnings in the support of his parents. 
He has had thirty-two years' experience in the manufacture of organs. 
He first learned the trade of a wagon-maker, and afterward learned the 
trade of manufacturer of organs in Williams county, Ohio. From 
there he went to Canada, locating at Woodstock, after having spent 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 487 

about three years at Tillsonburg in the making of wagons and 
carriages. At Woodstock he began the manufacturing of organs, re- 
maining there about eight years, when he went to Toronto, where he 
became a member of a joint stock company for about eighteen months, 
during which time he had charge of about one hundred men. In 1875 
he came to Danville and began the making of the Beethoven organ. At 
this time his son, J. M., became a member of the firm, the firm name 
being F. Miller & Son. They first began their work in what was 
known as the old Schroder building, and in 1876 built their present 
factory on East Main street. Here they have a capacity for manufac- 
turing ten instruments per week. They have in all three different 
styles of organs. Though they have been here but a few years, their 
work has already a name and reputation ranking with old established 
houses. 

William J. Calhoun, Danville, attorn ey-at-l aw, was born in Pitts- 
burgh, Pennsylvania, on the 5th of October, 1847, and is the son of 
Robert and Sarah (Knox) Calhoun. His mother was a native of Penn- 
sylvania, and his father a native of Ireland, having emigrated to America 
when he was about ten years of age, and engaged in the mercantile busi- 
ness in Pittsburgh. When Mr. Calhoun was about two years old he, 
with his parents, moved to New Castle, Pennsylvania, and from, there 
they moved to Mt. Jackson, the same state. Here his mother died in 
1857, at about thirty-two years of age. His father remarried to Mrs. Sarah 
Taip, of New Brighton, Pennsylvania. The family then moved to Ohio, 
and on a farm Mr. Calhoun worked until 1864, when he entered the 
late war in the 19th Ohio Yol. Inf., as private in Co. B, for three years. 
He participated in a number of very severe battles when he was with 
General Sherman on his march to Atlanta. He returned with General 
Thomas to Nashville. After serving until the close of the war he was 
'mustered out at San Antonio, Texas, and received his final discharge 
at Columbus, Ohio, December, 1865. He then entered the Polland 
Union Seminary of Ohio, where he graduated. He then came to Illi- 
nois and located in Areola, Douglas county. Here he commenced 
the study of law and entered the law school of Chicago. He came to 
Danville and entered the office of J. B. Mann, Esq., and in 1875 was 
admitted to the Illinois Bar. The same year he entered as a law 
partner with J. B. Mann, Esq., and to-day it is the firm of Mann, Cal- 
houn & Frazier, one of the strongest law firms of this vicinity. Mr. 
Calhoun was married in December, 1876, to Miss Alice Harmon, of 
Monroe county, New York, and by this marriage they have two 
children. 

Joseph G. Cannon, Danville, banker, was born in Guilford county, 



488 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

North Carolina, on the 7th of May, 1830, and is the son of Dr. Horace 
F. Cannon, a native of North Carolina. When Mr. Cannon was four 
years of age he, with his parents, emigrated west to Indiana and lo- 
cated in Annapolis, Parke county, where his father followed the prac- 
tice of medicine up to his death, which occurred in 1850. The subject 
of onr sketch received his principal education at the Bloomingdale 
Academy of Annapolis, a leading Quaker school. At fifteen years of 
age he entered as clerk in a general store, at Annapolis, where he re- 
mained until twenty years of age. He then began the reading of law, 
entering the Cincinnati Law School, of which he is a graduate. He 
then came to Illinois, locating at Tuscola, and commenced the practice 
of law, where he remained until 1876. While a resident of Tuscola 
he held the office of state's attorney for eight years, practicing in Ford, 
Champaign, Douglas, Coles, Yermilion, and Edgar counties. In 1872 
he was elected congressman by the republican party, and reelected in 
1874-76-78. In 1876 Mr. Cannon moved to Danville, which has since 
been his home. He was married in 1862 to Miss Mary P. Reed, 
daughter of John C. and Frances M. Reed. By this marriage they 
have had three children. 

George Kamper, Danville, news-dealer and stationer, was born in 
the kingdom of Hanover, Germany, on the 2Sth of February, 1854. 
He came to America in 1868, and commenced his first experience in 
the news line as newsboy on the Indianapolis & St. Louis railroad. 
From that one he has run on most of the principal railroads west. In 
November, 1876, he came to Danville and commenced his present busi- 
ness, and to-day he is doing the leading business in his line. He is the 
general agent for the leading daily newspapers of Chicago, Indianapolis, 
St. Louis and Cincinnati. His sales in this line have been as high as 
eight hundred and fifty daily papers in one day in the city of Danville. 
Mr. Kamper has the general run of the daily papers from Chicago to 
Danville, furnishing most of the towns between these two points. 

Thomas J. Elliott, Danville, dry-goods dealer, is one of Danville's 
enterprising merchants. He was born in Cumberland county, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1829, and is the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Zeigler) Elliott, 
of Pennsylvania. His father was a farmer; Mr. Elliott was brought 
up on the farm. He received a common-school education, and then 
began to teach school. At twenty years of age he entered a dry goods 
store as clerk. He then came west and located in Attica, Indiana, 
whore he was engaged in the dry-goods business. From there he went 
to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he remained about six months. He 
then went to Wabash, Indiana, when in 1876 he came to Danville and 
entered the dry-goods and notion business. He employs three clerks. 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 489 

His store is located at No. 70 Main street. Mr. Elliott was married in 
1859, at Attica, Indiana, to Miss Josephine Hobert, of New York. By 
this union they have three children. 

There always seems to be room in any city for a good, wide-awake 
business man, in whatever line of trade he may choose to engage. A 
practical demonstration of this fact has been made by Mr. J. H. White, 
proprietor of the Danville Fruit House. Some men in engaging in a 
business seem to gather their ideas almost wholly from other dealers in 
the same or similar lines of business. This does not seem to be his 
method of success, as he is constantly on the watch to add some new 
public want to his already extensive business. When he began business 
in Danville, on the 12th of June, 1877, it was in a little cramped-up 
corner of his present place of business, Nos. 56 and 5S North Vermilion 
street. By good financiering, or a wonderful run of luck (a risky thing 
to depend on), he has gradually increased his business, until now he is 
doing both a retail and wholesale business in oysters, fruits, nuts,' con- 
fectionery, etc. He is also manufacturing extracts, baking-powders, 
washing-blue and New York beer. During the season he also does a 
commission business in domestic fruits; this, in addition to a fine stock 
of fancy groceries, which he also carries, makes up a business of which 
he, or any other "White" man, ought to be proud. We may also men- 
tion a new $250 steam peanut-roaster that he has recently purchased. 
This has proved to be a curiosity which thus far has been liberally pat- 
ronized by all classes. Mr. White is a native of Scott county, Illinois. 
In 1855 he went to St. Louis, and in 1858 began boating, which he fol- 
lowed until 1869. He then began traveling, remaining on the road 
until 1877, when he came to Danville and engaged in business as above 
stated. 

In speaking of the railroad men of Danville we mention Mr. D. G. 
Moore as holding the most responsible position of any of those who are 
residents of the city. January 1, 1866, he first began his railroad life 
by entering the employment of the C. B. & Q. R. R. Company, at 
Chicago. In October of the same year he engaged with the T. W. & 
W. road, and has since been connected with this road, though the name 
of the line has recently been changed to the Wabash Railwa}'. From 
October, 1866, to August 1, 1877, he was located at Springfield, Illi- 
nois, being connected there with the treasury department. AYhen he 
came to Danville, August 1, 1877, it was to take charge of all business 
pertaining to the road at this point. This being what is known as the 
joint station between the eastern and western divisions of the road, the 
importance of the work and responsibility connected therewith is 
greatly increased. Mr. Moore has about thirty men under his super- 



490 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

vision, some of whom are also filling very important positions, though 
the responsibility of all rests with himself. To give a detailed history 
of the "Wabash road at this point would require too much space. We 
may add that under Mr. Moore's management the business has been 
done in the best order possible, there being few men equal to him in 
similar executive ability. 

Dr. H. H. Clark, physician and surgeon, who has been a resident of 
Danville only since 1877, has had a very exciting and eventful life, and 
to give a complete history of it would require a book half as large as 
this volume. He is a native of Onondaga county, New York. His 
ancestry is French, though his parents are natives of Massachusetts. 
He was eight years old when his people went to Walworth county, 
Wisconsin ; he remained there till fourteen years old, when he went to 
the city of Chicago. After leaving there he spent several years in 
travel, finally locating in Edwardsville, Illinois, in 1854. In 1861 he 
entered the regular army, remaining in the service for five years. 
These five years were spent on post duty and at the operating board 
and in the field hospital. These five years of the practice of surgery 
in the army has probably made Mr. Clark more perfect in the science 
of surgery than any physician in Vermilion county. He resigned his 
position of surgeon at Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1866, and returned 
to Edwards county. He was elected six times coroner of that county, 
and upon the death of the sheriff filled that office for a time. He was 
also examining surgeon from 1866 to February of 1877, when he re- 
moved to Danville where he has since resided, giving his time exclu- 
sively to his practice. His specialty is surgery and diseases of the eye. 
He is also, at present, surgeon of the C. & E. I. R. E. at this point. 

The old woolen mill, now run successfully by Riggs and Menig, is 
one of the old landmarks of Vermilion county. It was built in 1844 
by Hopson & Ailsworth, and has been through many hands since, and 
has undergone many changes of remodeling. It has been operated by 
hand, water, and the present method of driving the machinery — steam 
power. There is probably not another manufacturing establishment 
in the county so well known as this one. It is located on the bank of 
the north fork of the Vermilion, just above the bridge, and is supplied 
with an abundance of water for all purposes by a series of fine springs 
located farther up the bluff. Since it has been in the hands of the 
present firm they have added the manufacture of soaps; this they have 
also made quite an extensive business. They have been running the 
mill since 1877. In all they give employment to about ten men. Mr. 
F. Menig, the subject of this sketch, is a native of Bavaria, Germany, 
where he was born in October of 1840. In 1857 he came to the United 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 491 

States and began learning the baker's trade. In 1858 he enlisted in the 
IT. S. regular army. Company C, 4th artillery ; here he remained for 
live years and then was three years in the ordinance department. Dur- 
ing his service as a soldier he spent two and a half years in Utah fight- 
ing Indians. He still has a couple of scars to remember them by, on 
the knee and head, where he was wounded by arrows. During his 
service he was, among other battles, at Antietam, the seven days' fight 
and retreat at Richmond, and at the battle of Gettysburg. He certainly 
is entitled to a full share of the honors due the soldiers of our great 
war. He has had eleven years' experience in his present business. He 
lost his right arm in 1873 in this same business in which he was 
engaged in Ohio. His life certainly has been a varied and eventful 
one, though now we find him in a quiet, steady business, one of the 
honored and respected business men of Danville. 

Allen Cooke, Danville, was born in Worcester, Worcester county, 
Massachusetts, on the 19th of September, 1829, and is the son of Wel- 
come B. Cooke, of Massachusetts, who was a farmer there. On the 
farm Mr. Cooke remained until he was about seventeen years old. 
From the farm he entered the employ of the Boston & Worcester R. 
R., in the freight house, at Milford, Massachusetts, engaged in loading 
freight. From that he entered the engine-house of the same rail- 
road, and from there he entered, in 1852, the employ of the Cleveland 
& Toledo R. R. In 1S53 he was made engineer, and ran on the C. & 
T. R. R. from 1853 to 1859. He then was appointed foreman of the 
ronnd-house at Norwalk, Ohio, which place he filled until 1869. He 
then was made master mechanic, which position he filled but a short 
time, as the company did not pay sufficient salary. He resigned and 
accepted a position as master mechanic of the Atlantic & Great West- 
ern R. R., making headquarters at Galion, Ohio. There he remained 
in the employ of this company until 1873. Mr. Cooke was in the em- 
ploy of the railroads from about 1846 till 1873, a period of twenty- 
seven years. His intentions were to retire from railroad life, and he 
went to Rhode Island, locating at Allenville, and commenced the gro- 
cery business. Here he remained until 1877, when he came west and 
accepted a position with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois R. R., taking 
charge of the engines and cars at this place. This position he has occu- 
pied ever since. 

George Leslie and Silas Black, natives of Belfast, Ireland, came to this 
country in October, of 1869. They first located in Indianapolis, and 
were there engaged principally trading in real estate up to 1871, 
when they removed to Brazil, Clay county, Indiana. There they were 
engaged in dry -goods business, with a branch house at Alexandria, in 



492 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

the same county, where they handled dry goods, groceries and general 
merchandise, and had, also, charge of the post-office at Alexandria. 
In these places they did the largest trade in the county up to Septem- 
ber, of 1877, when they felt compelled to look up a location where 
they would have better facilities for the extension of their business. 
They located here at Danville at 109 and 111 Main street, in the Gid- 
dings block, where they were engaged in the dry-goods business exclu- 
sively up to March of 1879, when they took in an additional room, 
No. 113 Main street, in which they put a stock of groceries. These 
three rooms all communicate by means of arches. Taken as a whole, 
this business is one of the most extensive in the state outside of Chi- 
cago, doing a business of over $65,000 per year. Their parents, John 
and M. E. Black, are natives of Belfast. Mr. John Black engaged 
principally in loaning money, being a member of a loan fund society 
of which he has been a director for over thirty years. All the members 
of the firm of Black Brothers have had an extensive experience in 
the dry-goods business in Belfast. Silas Black, the junior member of 
the firm, was a student of the Queen's College, Belfast, for four years; 
also of the Indiana Medical College and College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, of Indiana, of which latter he is a graduate, with honor, in 
token of which he obtained a fifty-dollar gold medal. He is not a 
practicing physician. 

Isaac Porter, Danville, dealer in dry-goods and notions, was born in 
Vermilion county, Indiana, on the 13th of January, 1833, and is the 
son of Judge John R. and Mary (Worth) Porter, who were among the 
earl} r settlers of Vermilion county, Indiana, having made their home 
there in 1826. Judge John R. Porter was born in Berkshire county, 
Massachusetts, on the 22d of February, 1796. He entered Union Col- 
lege, New York, in 1813, from which he graduated in 1815, taking the 
first honors of his class. He then entered upon the study of law, and 
in 1818 became a partner of his preceptor. The year 1S19 found him 
on his way to the far west. Armed with letters of introduction to 
Henry Clay and others, he landed in Louisville, Kentucky, in December, 
1819. Finding nothing to induce him to remain there, he went to 
Indiana and located in Paoli, Orange county, where he commenced the 
practice of law. Soon after this he made the acquaintance of Charles 
Dewey and others of the bar, who became his life-long friends. Mr. 
Porter was commissioned postmaster of Paoli in 1822. In 1S25 he was 
appointed circuit judge, and the same year was one of the commis- 
sioners to locate the seat of justice of Fountain county, Indiana, which 
was formed from the counties of Montgomery and Wabash. He was 
married on the 13th of November, 1825. to Miss Mary Worth. The 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 493 

legislative changes of his judicial circuit were so frequent and so great 
that he held courts during his term of service from the counties on the 
Ohio river to those of the lakes. In 1832 he assisted in making a 
treaty with the Indians. Many of the early courts of Judge Porter 
were held in private residences selected by the legislature. Judge 
Porter assisted in laying the foundation of Indiana jurisprudence. In 
1833, by the act of the legislature organizing the eighth judicial dis- 
trict, he was greatly relieved by having his circuit cut down to a civil- 
ized boundary, which gave him more time to be at home with his 
family, which he loved so well. His term as circuit judge expired in 
1837, and he was afterward elected judge of the court of common 
pleas for the counties of Vermilion and Park, which office he held at 
the time of his death, which occurred on the 23d of April, 1853. Isaac 
Porter, the subject of this sketch, during his residence in Vermilion 
county, Indiana, was one among the most prominent citizens of the 
county. In 1860 he was elected sheriff of Vermilion county, Indiana, 
which office he filled with honor and credit for four years. He was 
married in 1860 to Miss Alice Millekin, of Hamilton, Butler county, 
Ohio. They have one child, Harry. Mr. Porter moved to Danville, 
Illinois, in 1877, where he commenced in the dry-goods business, and 
to-clay ranks as one of Danville's leading business men. 

The establishment recently conducted under the firm name of Brand 
& Harper, dealers in millinery and notions, was founded in 1878, and 
is now one of the largest, most reputable and successful business houses 
in the city, and holds a position for integrity above an average char- 
acter. William F. Brand has purchased Mr. Harper's interest, and now 
manages the business alone, having removed from their old stand, 50 
Vermilion street, to No. 46 on the same street. Mr. Brand was born 
in Germany, and having come to America in 1865, he came west, and 
located in Quincy, Illinois, where he was connected with a prominent 
dry-goods house. From there he went to Springfield and accepted 
a similar position with Kimber, Ragsdale & Co., filling the very im- 
portant position of purchasing agent. In Springfield he met Mr. 
Harper, who afterward became his partner. Mr. Brand's stock is the 
largest and among the finest in this vicinity. He einplo} r s some eight 
hands, and the work turned out of this establishment is of a superior 
quality. 

In speaking of Mr. J. S. Frantz and his business as a druggist, we 
cannot give a better idea of the good taste and judgment he has used 
in fitting up his new store, 135 East Main street, than to repeat the 
remark made by nearly every passer-by, especially after gas-light, viz: 
'' What an elegant new drug store!" He has had twelve }'ears' experi- 



494 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

ence in the drug trade. Though he has been engaged in the business 
in Danville but one year, yet in this short time he has become well 
known, having already established a good trade, which bids fair to in- 
crease, now that he has fitted up a store that in point of neatness is 
equal to anything in the west. Mr. Frantz is a native of Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania. He came west in 1858 and located at Sidney, 
where he remained a short time. In 1861, at the breaking out of the 
rebellion, he entered the Union army, enlisting in the 2d 111. Cav., Co. 
I, three-years service. He participated in many of the heavy battles, 
among which may be mentioned the battles of Bolivar, Holty Springs, 
Baker's Creek, Jackson, Mississippi, the Black Hills fight and the Red 
River campaign of forty days. He was in the service three years and 
three months, being mustered out at Springfield, Illinois. After the 
war he located at Homer, Illinois, and came to Danville, as above stated. 
Prof. A. B. Chilcoat was born in Huntingdon comity, Pennsylvania. 
He came to Ohio -when he was but a year old, and here received a 
common-school education. In 1861 he came to Illinois, and located in 
Paris, Edgar county. In 1872 he graduated at Duff's Mercantile 
Business College, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has taught school 
some eleven years. Prof. E. Chilcoat was born in Ohio, and is a 
graduate of one of the leading colleges of that state. He has taught 
school for a number of } 7 ears. In 1878 these gentlemen came to Dan- 
ville and commenced their present school, which is in a very flourishing 
condition, and has fair prospects of becoming one of the leading insti- 
tutions of learning in this vicinity. 

William Hoi bum, foreman of Stewart's foundry and machine shops, 
Danville, is a native of Ayrshire, Scotland. He has had about eighteen 
years' experience in his business, serving first a five years' apprentice- 
ship in Scotland. Coming to the United States in 1868, he spent three 
years in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then went to Fort Wayne, 
Indiana, where he spent about the same length of time; thence to 
Lafayette, where he was also about three years. He then returned to 
Fort Wayne for about a year and a half, and in March of 1879 accepted 
his present position in Danville. He now has about eighteen men 
under his charge, and has thus far conducted the business to the satis- 
faction of his employer. 

Charley Kaufmann, Danville, clothing, or better known as Cheap 
Charley, has probably established himself in business and made his 
name familiar to the people of Vermilion county in a shorter time than 
any business man who ever attempted to do business in the city. 
The establishment, of which he is manager, is a branch of an extensive 
manufacturing house of Chicago, known as Kaufmann & Bachroch, 



DANVILLE TOWNSHIP. 495 

they having in all about fifteen different stores, located in Illinois, 
Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Kansas and Missouri. They employ 
about seventy clerks and managers. The advantage of these branch 
houses may readily be seen when it is known that goods are bought by 
the firm direct from the manufacturers and made into clothing and sup- 
plied to the different stores, as needed, at much less cost than other firms 
are able to buy the same quality of goods. Their establishment in Dan- 
ville was opened by Cheap Charley on the 15th of March, 1879. He 
is a native of Germany. There he received a liberal education, on 
account of which he was exempt from all but one year of military 
service, instead of three years, as was the law. His brother, who is 
now in Chicago, has resided there for fifteen years, and was superin- 
tendent of the German Aid Society during the fire of 1871. Though 
Cheap Charley has been a resident of the United States only since 1878, 
he has already become so well acquainted with the customs of the 
people as to be a successful business man, as has already been proven by 
his success in the city of Danville, there being already no name more 
familiar to the people than that of Cheap Charley. 

The first institution of importance to point out to the traveling pub- 
lic is a good hotel, at which to stop and refresh, satisfactorily, the wants 
of the inner man, and this can conscientiously be said in naming the 
vEtna House. Before reopening the ^Etna there was expended a large 
amount of money in furnishing, all of which has been recently newly 
furnished and the whole interior renovated, giving to the hotel a very 
home-like and cheerful appearance. Mr. W. G. Sherman, the present 
" mine host," was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1840. He com- 
menced life by clerking in a grocery house. From there he became 
partner in one of the leading wholesale grocery houses of Evansville, 
Indiana, where he remained until 1866, when he went to Chicago and 
entered the hotel business by taking charge of the Metropolitan Hotel. 
From there he removed to the St. James Hotel, of the same city, 
where he formed a great many acquaintances and made a host of 
friends. In 1871 he went to Grand Haven, Michigan, where he was 
engaged in conducting two first-class hotels, the Cutler and Kirby 
houses. These hotels have a wide reputation of being among the first 
hotels of Michigan. Mr. Sherman remained at Grand Haven until 
1877, when he went to Indianapolis and took charge of the Grand 
Hotel, the leading firstclass house of that city, where he remained 
about nine months, when he came to Danville, and in July, 1879, he 
took charge of the ^Etna House. This is the most centrally located 
hotel in Danville, and is surrounded by beautiful shade trees, and con- 
tains the greatest number of outside cool and pleasant rooms of any 



496 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

hotel in the city. It is just the place to spend your Sundays. Mr. W. 
G. Elliott, recently of the Grand Hotel, Indianapolis, and the Arlington, 
of Danville, and Mr. Charley Parker, are the accommodating clerks. 
Mr. Sherman was for a short time connected with the St. James, of 
this city. These gentlemen have made many friends by their uniform 
kindness and pleasant manners. 

William P. Black, lawyer, Chicago, was born in Smithland, Ken- 
tucky, on the 11th of November, 1842, and is the son of Rev. John 
and Josephine L. (Cnlbertson) Black. His father was a Presbyterian 
minister; he died at thirty-seven years of age in 1847, in Alleghany 
City, Pennsylvania, at which time he was pastor of the Second Presby- 
terian Church at that place. In 1847 the mother of Mr. Black, with a 
family of four children, came to Danville, Illinois. In 1860 the sub- 
ject of this sketch entered the Wabash College at Craw ford svi He, Indi- 
ana, but the breaking out of the war interrupted the collegiate course, 
never to be resumed. On April 15, 1861, Mr. Black enlisted with 
about i'orty others of the students of the college, including his only 
brother, as a private soldier in Co. I, 11th Ind. Zouaves, commanded 
by Colonel (afterward Major-General) Lew Wallace. He was mus- 
tered out a corporal, and at once engaged in assisting in the work 
of recruiting a company in Vermilion county, Illinois, for the three- 
years service, of which company he was elected captain, and with 
which, as its captain, he was mustered into the service as Co. K, 37th 
111. Yol. .Inf., a history of which appears in this work ; his commis- 
sion as captain, dated September 1, 1861, being received before he 
had reached his nineteenth birthday. This position he filled faithfully 
for over three years, — sharing with his regiment in its marches, skir- 
mishes and battles, chief among which may be mentioned Pea Ridge, 
Prairie Grove and siege of Yicksburg, in the latter part of which Cap- 
tain Black held the responsible and most dangerous position of brigade 
picket officer, — having charge of the rifle-pits of his brigade, the occu- 
pation of Texas, and the observation of the empire of Maximilian. 
Captain Black returned to Danville, Illinois. In the fall of 1865 he 
commenced the study of law in the office of Arlington & White, in 
Chicago; he was, in about sixteen months thereafter, admitted to prac- 
tice. He returned to Danville, where he remained for only a }^ear en- 
gaged at his chosen profession. In March, 1868, he returned to Chicago 
and formed a partnership with Mr. Thomas Dent, which has since con- 
tinned. These gentlemen have secured one of the largest and most 
respectable clientages in their city. Captain Black, in his political 
views, is an Independent ; he is a member of the First Presbyterian 
Church of Chicago. Mr. Black was married May 28, 1869, to Miss 




"*■"• 







DAN V I L L. £ 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 4i»i 



Hortensia M. MacGreal, of Galveston, Texas. She is the eldest daugh- 
ter of the late Peter MacGreal, who was one of the leading lawyers of 
the Empire State of the southwest. 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 

Georgetown township lies in that portion of the county which is 
south and east of the center. It is in the second tier of townships from 
the south boundary line of the county, and has the Indiana state line 
on its eastern border. It embraces all of congressional township 18 
north, range 11 west, and the fraction of 18-10 which lies between the 
former and the state line, and six sections in the southeast corner of 
18-12. The Vermilion River runs across its northeastern corner for 
about five miles, and so deep down is its bed that the surrounding 
country is easily and perfectly drained into it. The Little Vermilion 
makes a short turn into its southern border, running through sections 
33 and 34. The "State Road," from Vincennes to Chicago, runs 
across the township, and the " Salt-works Road," on which the products 
of the salt springs were carried into eastern Indiana (long before com- 
mercial intercourse had become so perfected that salt, boiled at Syra- 
cuse, could be transported to Danville and sold cheaper than it could 
be made here), ran diagonally across it. The Danville & Southwestern 
railroad runs through the town almost parallel with the "State Road," 
and has on it the two stations of Georgetown and Westville. 

The township was originally nearly all timber, there being only 
about one-third of it along its western border and in its center, which 
was prairie. Some of the earliest settlements in the county were made 
within its borders, and considerable farms were cleared before people 
learned that they could live on the prairie. Coal is known to be un- 
der pretty much all of the territory comprising this town ; and along 
the streams which flow into the Vermilion, its outcroppings have been 
freely worked. It was one of the first to be generally settled ; the 
abundance of its timber, the water supply, the general make of the land, 
and its proximity to the salt-works, — which was the center of settle- 
ment at that day, — drew to it those who first came to the county to 
make their pioneer homes. 

The first one to make a home here was Henry Johnson, who settled 
on section 36 (18-12), just two miles west of the village of George- 
town, in 1820. It was the same year in which Butler made his home at 
Butler's Point, and Seymour Treat at the salt-works. These three 
32 



498 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

worthies were the pioneers of this county, and were here at nearly the 
same date. Mr. Johnson has been long gone from here, but he is 
remembered as a man of generous impulses, and as a neighbor was 
little, if any, less than a " Good Samaritan." It is told of him (and 
in the light of the present day it seems hard to believe) that he would 
not take interest of his neighbors to whom he loaned money for a time, 
simply because he did not believe it was right to do it. Very soon 
after him came his brother-in-law, Absalom Starr, who took up his 
claim the following year, 1821, on the same section, south of Johnson's, 
where the then Mrs. Starr (now Mrs. Jones) yet resides. For fifty- 
eight years this good woman has lived here, performing all the arduous 
duties which mothers in the pioneer days were called on to do, and has 
seen the wild home of the red man converted into the busy abode of 
progressive civilization. Without seeming to realize it, she is now a 
wonder and a surprise, and is to-day the oldest living resident of Ver- 
milion county, the story of whose life, trials, labors, triumphs and good 
deeds would make of itself a volume of fair proportions and enduring 
interest. 

Henry Johnson, Mr. Starr, Jotham Lyons and John Jordan, all 
settled near each other, and their several histories are, when put to- 
gether, so near a history of those times, that they will be grouped 
together here. Mr. Johnson, after living here about twelve or four- 
teen years, sold to Levy Long and went farther west. He purchased 
a fine farm on what was known back in the thirties as the " Military 
Tract," — though that name has largely passed out of memory now, — 
that productive and beautiful region of country between the Illinois 
and Mississippi rivers. Here he was making a good farm, when it 
was discovered that his title was worthless, and like so many others of 
his neighbors there, this kind, generous man, was rendered penniless 
by the fraud of those land-sharks who gave the people of that beautiful 
tract so much trouble in the early days, by forged land titles. His 
place here was for a long time known as "Johnson's Point." John 
Jordan had his farm where John Jones now lives, east of the others. 
He was a good farmer, but his weakness was his generous desire to 
help others. "Security" ruined him. Jotham Lyons took land just 
west of Johnson's where Cooper now lives. " Uncle Jackey McDow- 
ell " says that "fifty-six years ago this summer he tended corn on that 
farm," and he thinks it has never failed to produce a crop in its season 
from that time to this. Lyons died here and his children were scat- 
tered from Wisconsin to Texas. Absalom Starr came here from Pal- 
estine, where the land-office was located, before it was moved to Dan- 
ville, in the spring of 1821, and selected the piece of land which he 



GEORGETOWN" TOWNSHIP. 499 

thought he wanted. He remained on the farm at Palestine during the 
season of 21, and raised corn and wheat enough to keep him in meal 
and Hour tor a year. This/was, coming into a new country, " pretty well 
fixed," for few of the pioneers were so well off. He sold his lease and 
came here in December, built a little cabin, and with his wife and four 
children commenced life in his own house. Things looked bright for 
the young family, and why should they not? — a little place of their own ; 
four bright growing children which would soon be their help; flour 
and meal enough for a year; a good yoke of steers; good health and 
clear consciences were theirs; surely, " goodness and mercy had followed 
them," and they felt it. During that first winter, while Mr. Starr was 
out on a coon hunt, his shoe hurt his heel, and after trying ineffectu- 
ally for some time to cure the troubled spot, to their great sorrow they 
learned that a cancer was working rapidly on him. Doctors were not 
as " thick as blackberries" around here then, and the frightened couple 
whose prospects a few weeks before looked so bright, went back to 
Palestine for medical aid. The doctor there agreed to warrant a radi- 
cal, permanent cure for $50, casually remarking in an undertone, some- 
thing about cutting off the limb if other powerful remedies failed. 
This kind of "heroic" treatment was not exactly in keeping with Mrs. 
Starr's wishes in behalf of her husband, and being short of the $50 they 
decided not to employ this doctor. With sinking hearts they went 
back to their little home, where deep sorrow and fearful forebodings 
took possession, where shortly before all was joy and hope. Oh ! who 
can now imagine the keen anguish that filled the soul of that brave, 
faithful wife and mother ! with a helpless husband and four children 
too small to help her; the only growing crop upon which to depend 
for another year was her little garden and two acres of corn which she 
planted, after plowing the new land with one horse, in moments stolen 
from her hours of rest, — alone out there in the woods, far away from 
family and friends who might have consoled or comforted her. It was 
then that the goodness of Henry Johnson showed itself. He gave 
them two acres of his cornfield, and they felt assured against starva- 
tion. 

Mrs. Starr heard of an old Indian doctor whose reputation was 
above cutting off a man's best leg to cure his heel, and hunted him up. 
He could not talk English, but indicated plainly that he understood 
what the trouble was, and went off to the Vermilion River, about seven 
miles away, and collected some herbs, which soon had the effect to 
cure the troublesome disease. The Indian called himself " Old Bona- 
parte's Indian," and that was the name he went by. It was generally 
understood that he had assumed the name from a kind of admiration 



500 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

of the military renown of the man who was so famous about those 
times. 

Mrs. Starr was the mother of eleven children, most of whom grew 
up. After Mr. Starr's death, Mrs. S. became Mrs. Jones, and resides 
in the large brick house on the land which she first helped get into 
cultivation. 

Achilles Morgan became a resident of this township as early as 1825. 
He lived where Joseph Stewart resides, on section 15, and was from 
the first recognized as one of the leading men in the county. He was 
one of the first county commissioners, and with Mr. Butler, organized 
the first county commissioners' court at Butler's Point, by the appoint- 
ment of Amos Williams as clerk, and Charles Martin, constable, in 
March, 1826. His family had been a famous one in Virginia, and were 
known as great Indian fighters. The traits which had made the family 
prominent there were not wanting in him, and it is more than likely 
that the name given him was the selection of some one who intended 
to perpetuate the direful recollections of "Achilles wrath : " 

"Achilles wrath, to Greece the direful spring 

Of woes unnumbered, heavenly goddess sing! 

That wrath which hurled to Pluto's gloomy reign 

The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain; 

Whose limbs, unburied on the naked shore, 

Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore: 

Since great Achilles and Atrides strove, 

Such was the sovereign doom, and such the wdl of Jove." 

—Iliad, Book I. 

Some of the earlier settlers here and in the township south were the 
Friends, who were driven from their homes in East Tennessee and the 
Carolinas by the firm position which the society had taken against the 
institution of slavery. For more than a century this religious society 
has, by its discipline, its firm protests and its silent but effectual prayers, 
been a standing menace to human slavery, and the spirit of that church 
did much to crystallize the moral sentiment of Christendom against the 
abominations that were clustered around that relic of barbarism. 
These worthy people came here to be away from the blighting influ- 
ences and associations of the institution. They brought their religion 
with them, and their daily lives and history here have been a living 
exemplification of gospel truth. The Haworths, the Hendersons, the 
Canadays, the Mendenhalls, the Newlins, the Folgers, the Fletchers, 
and many others of those who have passed away, as well as those who 
still remain, have given character to the community and worth to the 
township. The strong traits of character which have made them a 
peculiar people remain a rich legacy to this portion of the county. 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 501 

The settlements in and about Brooks' Point were made among the 
earliest in the town. Benjamin Brooks came from Indiana and looked 
out the place on what is called the Spencer farm, now owned by 
Mr. English, and made claim to it. He went back to Indiana, and 
before he returned here Spencer had taken the land, and Benjamin 
Canaday gave him the claim at the point of timber, which from that 
time was known by his name. Bob Cotton and Mr. O'Neal had moved in 
in the meantime, and made quite a little neighborhood. It was here 
that James O'Neal was born, — probably the first white boy born in the 
county, — in 1822. Mr. Brooks died here and left five children. His 
son Benjamin, who was two or three years old when he came here, 
resides now in Danville township, and John lives in Catlin. 

James Stevens came from Indiana in 1826, and bought a claim which 
Mr. Crane had taken on section 9. He died in 1870. His son James 
H. lives yet on the same section. H. P. Stevens lives on the old 
homestead, and William I. on section 7. Mr. Crane had been here 
about two years. 

James Waters, who came here in 1832, lives here yet, on a farm in 
section 8. Though now eighty years old, he is still able to attend to 
his work. He looks as though he would outlast his hat yet. His wife 
died three years ago. His father came here to live at about the same 
date. 

Isaac Gones came here about 1825. John L. Sconce came here from 
Kentucky and settled in the same neighborhood. He also died in 1870. 
His son Philemon lives near here, and John L. at Eugene, Indiana. 
John and James Black came at the same time from Kentucky, and 
settled on sections 4 and 5. They are both dead. James left no chil- 
dren. John's son Robert lives just east of where his father settled, 
and Samuel in Catlin. Mrs. Lockett lives in Catlin and Mrs. Eli Hen- 
derson in Georgetown. 

John Cage and O. S. and L. H. Graves, from Kentucky, with their 
father, James Graves, made homes on sections 17 and 18 about 1828. 
They have been prosperous farmers and useful, enterprising citizens. 

James Sandusky resides on section 9, where his father, Isaac, first 
took a claim when he came to this state from Kentucky. Isaac had 
been in the war of 1812, and had been taken prisoner at Hull's sur- 
render, and escaping from captivity, he made his way back to Kentucky 
through this region of the country. He decided then, standing on the 
mound at Catlin village and viewing the landscape o'er, to some day 
own an eighty, or at least a forty, on that beautiful prairie. In 1828, 
in pursuance of this decision, he came here and made his home first at 
Brooks' Point. He was a man of energy and thrift, and soon had land 



502 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

enough to satisfy his youthful aspirations, but not enough to give homes 
to his seven children. He left James here and went himself to the 
mound at Catlin, where he and his sons Harvey and Josiah bought 
pretty much all the land lying around Butler's Point. At one time it 
became something of a question whether he or Henry Jones should 
own the township. James Sandusky has ten children, eight of whom 
live here with him on the farm. 

South of this Brooks' Point neighborhood, Subel Ellis was among 
the first to make a farm. He was on section 29, and died there, leaving 
a son and four daughters, who remained here some time, and Mrs. Dukes 
lives here yet. Achilles Morgan lived three miles east of this for a 
while before going to Danville. James Ogden lived south of Morgan's 
and had a considerable farm there. John and Lewis Ritter were in this 
neighborhood, then called Morgan's, but since known as McKendry. 
Lewis died here, and Mr. Calhoun bought his land. John went to 
Texas. 

Jacob Brazelton was in just north of them very early, and was the 
first justice of the peace in this part of the county. He is spoken of 
as a man of excellent character, and was everywhere respected. 

Joseph and Abraham Smith came as early as 1828, and lived on the 
edge of the timber west of Brazelton's. Abraham went to Indiana, 
Joseph died here, and his children, W. D. and J. L. Smith, Mrs. Ganse, 
Mrs. Reynolds and Mrs. Spicer, live here yet. 

The Pribbles, Mr. Foley and Mr. Dickason entered land near here 
as early as 1828 or '9. Over east of the river, and near the Indiana 
line, James Niccum and Donavan lived. 

The old salt-works road ran nearly diagonally across the township, 
striking the township line near the present residence of Mr. Alexander 
Campbell. Mr. Stark first settled this place about 1828. He died 
there in 1850. His daughter, Mrs. Smith, lives near by in El wood 
township. Mr. Campbell's first residence was farther down, in Elwood 
township. The farm upon which he lives, in section 36, is one of the 
finest in the township. Farther west Mrs. Davis settled early with 
several children, where Win. Davis's widow still lives. Mr. Lacey lived 
next west. He sold to Henthorn. Win. Moore lives on the place next 
northwest, where A. J. Richardson now lives. Mr. Denio took up land,- 
and Cyrus Douglas, who now lives in Fairmount, entered land near 
here. Mr. Denio sold to Mr. Williams, and he to Malon Haworth. 

James Pribble entered land next along this road. He is dead, and 
Thomas Pribble lives on the place. Daniel Darby lived near here, and 
had a wagon shop. He went to Missouri, and Mr. Jeffries has the 
land. Wm. Haworth lived half a mile farther north. Mr. Stowers 






GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 503 

lived early where H. Yoho lives. Moses Scott was one of the earliest 
settlers near Brooks' Point. He died there, and his family went to 
Iowa. The Dukes boys live there, John on the Brooks land. 

John Kyger and Win. Sheets came to the Little Vermilion in 1833, 
and in 1835 came to this neighborhood to live. Mr. Kyger bought 
land of James Sprawls, Mr. Kirkpatrick, David Wand and Mr. Lemley. 
Since that time he has been an honored resident of this township, ful- 
filling every duty to his family, to the church of which he is a member, 
and to society. As old age is coming on him, surrounded by beloved 
children and grandchildren, he feels the rewards of his early years of 
trial and privation. He lives now with his son-in-law, Levi Under- 
wood, just east of McKendry church. Age is never looked forward to 
with the pleasantest feelings; but there is a pleasant side to it when, 
as in the case of Mr. Kyger, we see it made happy by the smiling faces 
of bright little ones, who love and revere him who possesses its silvery 
insignia. 

Wm. Sheets, till his death, lived on the beautiful farm which he 
purchased of Mr. Hitter, or, rather, the one his labor and excellent 
taste has made beautiful, an honored and respected citizen, beloved and 
admired by every one who has known him. It gives us great pleasure, 
as it doubtless will our readers, to be able to present the portraits of 
these two worthy old pioneers. Near Mr. Kyger, on the farm just 
north, lives Andy Reynolds, now well advanced in years. He came 
to this county a poor orphan boy, more than fifty years ago, and lived 
for several years in Catlin, where his youthful days, which under 
brighter circumstances would have been spent in school, were given to 
earning enough to keep him clothed in winter. He has now one of 
the pleasantest homes in town, where he delights to dispense cheerful 
hospitality in his happy way. One of the earliest of his recollections 
is standing on the mound in Catlin a cold winter day to see a wolf 
hunt on the surrounding prairie. He had grubbed roots in the timber 
so long that he thought a prairie could only be of value as a place to 
have grand wolf hunts on. 

George Nelson lived early just north of him near Brazelton's. He 
went to Indiana. Moses Darby was another early settler in here. 
Aaron Howard settled first in this county north of Danville; but milk 
sickness drove him out, and he bought a portion of the Brazelton land 
in section 15, on Big Branch, where he engaged in coal mining and 
farming. His son Henry still lives on the farm. Elwood Bates took 
up a farm on section 30 as early as 1830. 

Georgetown has supplied the county with many of her officials, and 
has been extremely fortunate in giving to official life men not to be 



504 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

ashamed of. Achilles Morgan was the first county commissioner, and 
helped very materially in putting the machinery of county organiza- 
tion into operation. Old citizens will not forget Hiram Hickman, who 
kept tavern here so long, and who had the repeated close contests with 
Captain Frazier for the office of sheriff, in which he was finally suc- 
cessful. Elam Henderson was also a county commissioner and an asso- 
ciate justice. George Dillon, after a faithful service in the army, in 
which he lost an arm by. rebel bullets, was elected circuit clerk, an 
office he still fills to the entire satisfaction of the bar and the people. 
Rawley Martin, another grandson of Achilles Morgan, after having 
preached the gospel far and near, organizing churches, and filling the 
vacant pulpits of his denomination, was elected county treasurer, and 
performed the duties in a very acceptable way to the citizens whose 
servant he was. 

Rawley M. Martin was born in what was then Monongalia county, 
Virginia, on the 27th of February, 1816, came to Vermilion county 
with his parents in 1820, and settled near Georgetown, where with 
wonderful energy and perseverance, without the help of any kind of 
schools, he acquired a very liberal education, and with the earnest soli- 
citude of an ambitious mother, he soon became familiar with all the 
books possible to obtain at that time, principal among which was the 
bible. With this he became so familiar that he could repeat it almost 
verbatim. He united with the Christian church, of which he was 
afterward ordained a minister, in which capacity he labored for more 
than twenty -five years. He organized many churches in the county, 
baptized more than three thousand persons, was a superior teacher of 
the scriptures, unyielding and uncompromising in his religious convic- 
tions. He became an able and earnest defender of the faith. During 
the rebellion his public denunciation of the right of secession, and bold 
defense of the Union and the emancipation proclamation of 1863, won 
for him the confidence of a patriotic people, who rewarded him with 
an election and reelection to the office of county treasurer. He died 
at Danville, Illinois, on the 28th of October, 1878, having lived in the 
county fifty-eight years. 

Henry Martin was born in Maryland on the 25th of August, 1786, 
removed to what was then Monongalia county, Virginia, where he was 
married to Mary Morgan on the 11th of May, 1815. He served one 
year in the war of 1812, in Ohio, immigrated with his family to Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, in 1820, and made permanent settlement near 
Georgetown. He enlisted again under his father-in-law, Capt. Achilles 
Morgan, in 1826, and proceeded to Chicago to garrison Fort Dearborn 
against the Indians of the northwest. After a short campaign returned 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 505 

to his home near Georgetown, where he made a nice farm, reared a 
large family, and died on the 5th of September, 1851. 

CHURCHES. 

Besides being the early educational center of this comity, George" 
town seems to have been a "light set upon a hill," in a religious point 
•of view. Its early settlers were, with hardly an exception, men strongly 
imbued with deep religious convictions, and maintained religious insti- 
tutions, and built churches all over the town. There are not less than 
eight in this township. 

The Methodists held their first meetings, so far as the writer can 
learn, in the old school-house on the public square of Georgetown ; but 
from all accounts they were slimly attended. During the first ten 
years of the life of that place, few, if any, of that denomination re- 
sided there. Mr. William Taylor "gives his experience" in attending 
the meeting at which Father Anderson preached. He says that besides 
himself and wife, Mr. Dickason and daughter, Miss Kelley, Mr. Brack- 
all, and the colored woman, Harriet, who had come here from "Ole 
Virginy" as an attache of the Dickason family, were the only persons 
present. The preaching w 7 as excellent, and would have been appreci- 
ated, but there were so few of that faith here that the meetings were 
necessarily very small. A few years after this the number increased, 
and the class here purchased the ohd store of Mr. Haworth, which stood 
just north of Frazier's store, took out the partitions, and used it for 
services. Harriet is still living, though the Dickason family with whom 
she made her home are all gone except Mrs. Ruby. Somewhat later 
the building used for a church stood at the southwest corner of the 
square, and was moved to the site of the present edifice. 

During Rev. Mr. Muirhead's preaching, in 1863, the present edifice 
was built, he and Father Cowan uniting to secure a suitable house of 
worship. At this time this circuit contained Georgetown, Ridge Farm, 
Douglass school-house and Sugar Grove appointment. The church is 
36x56, surmounted by a belfry and spire. A large Sabbath-school 
is maintained the year round. The McKendry Methodist Episcopal 
Church, which by someone's forethought took the name of the good 
bishop, was built upon land, on section 23, given for that purpose by 
I. Ritter. He entered the land in 1829, and gave the corner there to 
the Methodist denomination for a church and burial-ground, and sold 
the farm and went to Texas — which is about the only record of the 
man the writer has been able to reach. That he was a good man seems 
evident from his donation to the church; but his selling such a splen- 
did farm and going to Texas tells brightly against the man's judgment. 



506 HISTOEY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

"When William Sheets, the late owner of the farm, came here in 1835, 
there was preaching in the school-house near Phelps', and in his house 
at times. Mr. Phelps was very old, had been a revolutionary soldier, 
and, while he longed to hear the Word, he could not always go the dis- 
tance of the school-house to hear it. Daniel Darby was the class- 
leader; he was a wagon-maker by trade, and lived west of the church 
on the Salt Works road. William Stowers and family, living at the 
edge of the prairie; John Stowers and family, living on land now 
owned by Mr. Yoho ; George Nelson, George Sires, who was the 
school-teacher here ; Moses Darby, Mr. Phelps, David Kyger, living 
where Meeks now resides ; Henry Kirkpatrick, Mr. Underwood, living 
a mile east, and Henry Gardner, were among the members. None of 
these remain to make the history of this branch of Zion more clear. 
The first church building was erected about 1836 — possibly a year or 
two later. Mr. Fox and Mr. James were among the early preachers. 
Later, William Stowers was class-leader and local preacher. The 
church was burned about 1860 by a young man who wanted to vent 
his spite on some one, and hence took it into his head to destroy the 
house of the Lord. The present neat building is 36 x 46, erected in 
1866 at a cost of $1,500. It now belongs to the Catlin circuit, the 
preacher attending here every alternate week. The Sabbath-school is 
in a prosperous condition under the superintendency of Miss Sarah 
Buchanan. 

The Fairview M. E. Church stands just on the town-line, between 
Georgetown and Catlin township. It belongs to the Catlin circuit, 
and is supplied by the same preachers who preach at Catlin and Mc- 
Kendry. 

PRESBYTERIANS. 

The Mount Pisgah Church of the Cumberland Presbyterians, near 
the western line of the town, was the first one of that denomination 
organized in the county, and was the pioneer work of that faithful 
laborer in the Master's cause, Rev. James Ashrnore, after making his 
home among us. In February, 1840, together with Rev. Mr. Hill, he 
held a protracted meeting in that neighborhood, and in March organ- 
ized the church, with forty-five members, under authority of the Foster 
Presbytery, at the house of Alexander McDonald, just over in Carroll 
township from where the church edifice stands. The first elders were 
Alex. McDonald, Charles Canaday and Richard Swank. Until the 
fall of 1842 the meetings were held in the school-house, then in a build- 
ing on the farm of Mr. McDonald, where the camp ground was. 
Father Ashrnore continued as pastor of this church thirty-two years. 
The first church edifice was built in 1842, of logs; the second in 1854. 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 507 

The present neat building was erected in 1876, on land given by Rich- 
ard Swank and Levi Long; is 36x50, and cost about $1,800. The 
pastors who, besides Mr. Ash more, have served this church are Rev. 
W. O. Smith, Rev. G. W. Jordan, Rev. H. H. Ashmore and Rev. 
Thomas Whitlock. The elders since the first have been Levi Long, E. 
Snyder, Samuel Hinton, R. Swank, Jr., J. S. Long, J. G. Thompson 
and J. S. Jones. 

The Georgetown Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized 
by Rev. Allen Whitlock, on the 19th of January, 1860. The original 
members were (several being members of Mount Pisgah Church) A. 
McDonald and wife, Aaron McDonald, Wm. Hesler, Charles Canaday, 
George Richards, D. S. Tucker, Elizabeth Ashmore, Rebecca Drake, 
V. Harris and wife, Sarah Hesler, Sarah White, Catherine Patty, D. 
McDonald, Martha Hinton, Sarah Hill, Geo. Miley, J. P. Miley and 
wife and Mary Richards. The original elders were Win. Hesler, Aaron 
McDonald, Charles Canaday and A. McDonald. The pastors and stated 
supplies have been: Rev. Allen Whitlock, five years; Rev. H. H. 
Ashmore, one and one-half years; Rev. G. W. Jordan, two years; 
Rev. James Whitlock, one year; Rev. R. C. Hill, six months; Rev. 
C. P. Cooley, two and one-half years, and Rev. G. B. Miley at present. 

The church edifice was erected in 1860 ; is 36x50, and cost $1,439. 
One member of this church has entered the ministry. Presbytery has 
met here three times, and synod once. The church now numbers 
sixty-one. The present session consists of J. A. Dubre, Thomas Cooper 
and Zackeus Cook. A flourishing Sabbath-school is maintained. 

The Westville Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized on 
the 17th of June, 1871, by the veteran minister, Rev. W. O. Smith, 
with the following membership, most of whom had been members of 
Mount Pisgah : D. G. Lockett and wife. R. J. Black, John Cage and 
wife, Rachel Dukes, Sarah A. Graves, Susan J. Baldwin, Ann Sconce, 
Mary Lacey, Tabitha Cook, S. W. Black and wife, Sarah E. Walls, 
Elijah Timmons and wife. D. G. Lockett, R. J. Black and John Cage 
were elected elders. The society worshiped at Brooks 1 Point school- 
house until February, 1877. The present church edifice, a neat and 
substantial building 34x48, with belfry and bell, was erected in 1876, 
and dedicated on the 19th of February, 1877, Rev. J. H. Hendrick 
preaching the dedicatory sermon. The cost of the building was $1,600. 
Rev. W. O. Smith continued to act as pastor for the church only one 
year. He was an old man, and full of faith and good works. Finding 
his strength failing, he resigned to go to Kentucky, the home of his 
childhood, to die. He had well tilled up the measure of his time, and 
left among the people with whom and for whom he had so long labored 



508 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

a kind remembrance of the faithful pastor and christian teacher. His 
pastorate was followed by that of Rev. James Ash more and Rev. W. 
R. Hendrick. The present membership is 67. Present session, J. W. 
Lockett, Hiram Baldwin and A. M. Bnshong. The Sabbath-school has 
been tinder the snperintendency of W. D. Spencer, A. M. Bnshong and 
J. W. Lockett, successively. It has an average attendance of fifty, 
with seven teachers. 

The Christian Church, known as Brooks' Point Church, was organ- 
ized in April, 1870, by Elder Martin. James B. Stevens and James 
O'Neal were elected elders, and T. W. Blakeney and David Wilson, 
deacons. The original membership was seventy-seven, which with 
those who have since been enrolled makes two hundred and forty-seven. 
The church edifice, 32x44, was built in 1876, and dedicated in Sep- 
tember of that year. It cost $1,200. Elder R. Martin preached seven 
years, and Elder J. C. Myers two years following. The following have 
preached occasionally : Elders John Sconce, of Moultrie county ; 
McBrown, of East Lebanon ; Stipp, Cosat, John Martin and Williams, 
of Edgar county ; Gregg, Colton, Stevens and Morris. The church is 
in good working order, with preaching once a month and prayer-meet- 
ing each week. A large Lord's-day school is maintained by Deacon 
Blakeney on the Sherwood plan, numbering from seventy -five to two 
hundred in attendance. The poor are looked after, and contributions 
for preaching are kept up regularly. 

The Friends have a meeting at Georgetown. Their regular days of 
meeting are First day (Sunday) and Fourth day (Wednesday). Their 
neat meeting-house is realty a church, for in no respect is it different 
in appearance from the better class of church edifices in villages of this 
size. It was built in 1874, Huffman & Reid being the builders. It is 
brick, 36x60, not over plain in its appearance. The doors and win- 
dows are neatly coped with ornamental stone and brickwork, and the 
building is surmounted by a neat belfry. A bell was purchased, but as 
no bell had ever been hung in a Quaker meeting house in America, 
the belfry had not been sufficiently stayed to be considered safe, and a 
tower was built near try to hold it, so that now the progressive Friends 
of Georgetown are summoned to their First-day and Fourth-day meet- 
ings by the gay ringing of a bell. It is said to be (though the writer 
has not been able to verity it) the first case of the kind on record. A 
substantial iron fence surrounds the lot upon which the church is built, 
and shade trees and evergreens are growing in the inelosure. Inside, 
the building presents anything but a " Quakerish 1 ' appearance. It is 
ceiled around with vari-colored woods, and the seats are set off with 
black-walnut, the aisles covered with matting, and the desk-stand car- 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 509 

peted with Brussels carpet, over which, where the preacher stands, lies a 
rug of bright colors. Fancy lamps, suggestive of naiads, stand on either 
side of the desk, and the ceiling above, in mellow tints, adds beauty to 
this pleasant house of worship. The little Sabbath-school singing-book, 
"Pure Gold," is found in the pews. A little dressing-room off in the 
corner next the door is supplied with wash-bowl and pitcher, combs 
and brush, and a moderate-sized looking-glass, which has the faculty of 
depriving the handsomest face of beauty, hangs against the wall. The 
building cost $4,000. No salary is paid preachers. Mrs. Jenkins and 
W. F. Henderson are the preachers. 

MILLS. 

In the earliest times citizens here went to Indiana to get grinding 
done. The first effort made in this township to emancipate the people 
from paying toll to the Hoosiers was by Jacob Brazelton, who put up 
a horse-mill at his place over near the Vermilion. These horse-mills 
were rather cheap affairs, but were in good demand when no better 
ones were near. 

William Milikan built a carding-mill about 1830. This w T as the first 
mill of the kind in the county, and was a decidedly primitive affair. It 
was run by a tread-power, and the time required to get up steam de- 
pended largely on his ability to find the oxen, which usually run in the 
bush. If they happened to wander over to the Yermilion river in quest 
of water, he might find them in two days; and then again, a week might 
ensue before he could card up a job; in the meantime, the old women 
were obliged to find other work than knitting. 

William Jenkins built the water-mill on the Vermilion about 1840. 
This was a good mill and did good work; but high water carried it 
away. The bridge across the river at this point was nearly thirty-five 
feet high. While a boy was crossing it with a load of corn, it fell to 
the water. The bridge, on examination, was found to be ruined, and 
the wagon disabled; but the boy, to the surprise of all, received no 
other injury except that he was frightened out of a j'ear's growth. 

Henderson, Kyger & Morgan built the large steam mill at George- 
town in 1850. It is 40x50, four stories high, and has three run of 
stone. It has proved a great success, and is doing a " land office busi- 
ness." Mr. Hall had a mill on the Little Vermilion ; but the water 
decreased with advancing civilization, and the mill is among the things 
that were. 

The Perrysville & Georgetown plank-road was among the institu- 
tions of the pre-railroad times. It was thirteen miles long, and run 
very nearly in a straight course, cutting diagonally across sections. The 



510 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

capital stock was $30,000, which proved a dead loss to stockholders, 
never having paid a dividend. Not only was it a loss as a speculation, 
but the business men here found that it injured their trade. People 
would go to Perrysville to trade, as it was a pleasant ride; and the 
Georgetown folks were glad to let it go down. It was only kept up 
about four years, and the only evidences left of it are the pieces of 
diagonal roads still kept up running in that direction. 

It was the custom in those days to drive everything to market 
which had legs and was marketable; not only cattle and hogs, but 
turkeys were driven, and a drove of geese was once driven through 
Georgetown en route for Iowa, where it is to be hoped that they and 
their descendants did full duty in rendering the beds of the pioneers 
there "as soft as downy pillows are." A drover with a lot of turkeys 
got caught in a sleet-storm on the road to Chicago, and the birds refused 
to go any farther, and he was obliged to slaughter them. 

The timber of Georgetown was composed principally of sycamore, 
Cottonwood, maple, hackberry, beech, buckeye, black- walnut, butternut, 
elm, ash, hickory and oak. The oak is being largely used yet as build- 
ing and fence lumber, and the black-walnut is being rapidly cut off and 
shipped east, by parties who are largely engaged in the business, send- 
ing it by rail to all parts of the country. 

A singular case of disease occurred to an industrious citizen about 
1864, which appears to have been almost or quite without a parallel, in 
this vicinity at least. Mr. Gebhart, who was one of the early settlers 
on the Little Vermilion, about two miles west of Georgetown, where 
he had raised a large family, was afflicted with a disease in his feet 
which was so like the descriptions given of leprosy that it was believed 
by many to have been that. The affliction came on gradually, about 
the year 1864. Inflammation set in, and the feet became so much 
affected that the flesh began to come off, leaving the bones exposed. 
He could get relief only by holding his feet in a tub of water, and he 
actually sat for weeks without removing them, the disintegration mean- 
while continually going on. Day and night he sat in great suffering, 
praying for death to relieve him. He conceived the idea that if the 
feet were amputated he would get relief, and begged to have it done 
for him. He finally took a knife, and with his own hands removed 
w T hat he had no longer any use for. He did not get the relief he ex- 
pected from a removal of the putrid mass. He lived several weeks 
afterward, with the stubs of his limbs in the w T ater, when death brought 
relief. Whether it was considered by physicians a case of leprosy was 
not known by the neighbors from whom these facts were received. 

The roads throughout the township are remarkably narrow, espe- 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 511 

cially the old ones. This is owing to the fact that under the general 
road act of 1827, which was the first act passed on the subject, the 
legal width of roads was fixed at not less than thirty feet and not more 
than fifty feet. The more recent law, fixing the width at sixty feet, did 
not alter the width of those already laid out, and those in this town- 
ship were nearly all established under the former act. 

Corn, wheat and oats are the staple crops. Winter wheat is, and 
long has been, one of the most successful crops, especially on the tim- 
ber land. The crop of the present year has been one of the marvels of 
agriculture, and reminds one of the exaggerated stories which come 
back to us from recently-settled portions of the west and California. In 
no single case has the crop of wheat turned out less than twenty-five 
bushels per acre, and instances of nearly twice that amount are quite 
common. In many instances the crop in the field before threshing is 
worth more than the land upon which it grew was valued at in the 
spring. Such remarkable uniformity in abundance has probably never 
been equaled in this county, — perhaps never before in the state. It adds 
new wealth to the town,- increases the value of agricultural labors, and 
gives new life to every industry. Threshing by steam power has come 
into pretty general vogue, and for the first time this year self-binding 
reaping machines are beginning to come into use. There are men still 
living here who have in their younger days reaped their entire crop 
with a sickle and threshed it with a flail, who have planted their corn 
by hand in furrows marked by a wooden mold-board plow, and covered 
it with a hoe, who plowed it all with a " bull-tongue" plow, and thought 
they were getting along very well. 

Below is given, in tabular form, the names of those elected to the 
principal township offices since 1851, the time of the adoption of town- 
ship organization : 

Date. Vote. Supervisor. Clerk. Assessor. Collector. 

1851 Win. P. Davis Samuel Huffman . . J. C. Dicken A. Frazier. 

1852 John Sloan E. A. McKee J. C. Dicken . . . . J. C. Dicken. 

1853 John Sloan Patrick Cowan J. Gants J. Gants. 

1854 John Sloan Patrick Cowan ... .J. L. Sconce J. L. Sconce. 

1855 John Sloan Patrick Cowan ... .J. L. Sconce J. L. Sconce. 

1856 E. A. McKee Patrick Cowan ... .J. L. Sconce . . .J. L. Sconce. 

1857 E. A. McKee Patrick Cowan J. L. Sconce J. L. Sconce. 

1858 Elam Henderson . .Joseph Thompson .J. L. Sconce ... .J. L. Sconce. 

1859 Elam Henderson . .Joseph Thompson .John Dukes John Dukes. 

I860 Elam Henderson . .Joseph Thompson .John Dukes John Dukes. 

1861 Elam Henderson . .Joseph Thompson .John Dukes John Dukes. 

1862. . .344. . . William Sheets . . .Joseph Thompson .John Dukes John Dukes. 

1863. . .240. . .Elam Henderson . .Joseph Thompson .John Dukes John Dukes. 

1864. . .162. . .Elam Henderson . .Joseph Thompson .John Dukes John Dukes. 

1865. . .154. . .Elam Henderson . .George Dillon John Dukes John Dukes. 



512 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Date. Vote. Supervisor. Clerk. Assessor. Collector. 

1866. . .157. . .Jacob Gants George Dillon John Dukes John Dukes. 

1867. . . 157. . . Elam Henderson . .George Dillon George Dillon. . .George Dillon. 

1868. . . 120. . .Elam Henderson . .George Dillon George Dillon. . .George Dillon. 

1869 Elam Henderson . .George Dillon . . .George Dillon. . .George Dillon. 

1870. . .343. . . Elam Henderson . .George Hester . . . .John Dukes George Hester. 

1871. . .229. . .Elam Henderson . .W. H. Newlin John Dukes W. H. Newlin. 

1872. . .240. . .Elam Henderson . .W. H. Newlin W. H. Newlin . . W. H. Newlin. 

1873. . .193. . .William Sheets . . . W. H. Newlin W. H. Newlin . . W. H. Newlin. 

1874. . .303. . .William Sheets . . . W. H. Newlin W. H. Newlin . .W. H. Newlin. 

1875. . .317. . . J. H. Gadd W. H. Newlin W. H. Huffman . W. H. Huffman. 

1876. . .364. . . J. H. Gadd W. H. Newlin J. Lewis W. H. Huffman. 

1877. . .400. . . J. H. Gadd W. H. Huffman . . . W. H. Huffman . W. H. Huffman. 

1878. . .377. . .J. H. Gadd C. A. Fertig W. M. Sheets. . . W. M. Sheets. 

1879... 374... J. H. Gadd C. A. Fertig W. M. Sheets. . .W. M. Sheets. 

Justices of the peace have been, Patrick Cowan, Jacob Gants, John 
Newlin, Jacob Yapp, V. J. Buchanan, Richard Cotton, J. CI. Thomp- 
son, Titus Bennett. 

Commissioners of highways have been, Levi Long, John Mitchell, 
R. Lockett, Ellis Dukes, Jacob Gants, Win. Sheets, John Gerrard, S. 
Ellsworth, Thos. Galyen, Wm. Richards, James O'Neal, J. L. Sconce, 
J. C. Jones, Isaac O Neal, Wm. J. Terrell, E. Henthorn, Solomon 
Haworth, T. E. Madden, D. B. Ried, Daniel Bennett, Hiram Yoho. 

On the 11th of May, 1867, a special town meeting was held to vote for 
or against levying a tax of $18,000 for aid to the Chicago, Danville & 
Vincennes railroad, which resulted, for, 230 ; against, 134. This road 
was never built, however, through this township. On the 25th of Sep- 
tember, 1869, at an election held for the purpose of voting for or against 
subscribing $30,000 to the capital stock of the Paris & Danville railroad, 
the vote was, for, 221 ; against, 195 ; which was a very close vote, consid- 
ering the conditions with which the proposition was hemmed a 1 iii t: 
"No part of such' bonds shall, issue, nor bear interest, until the road is 
completed. The road to run within a half a mile of the public square 
of Georgetown, and be completed within three years from September 1, 
1869." The bonds were signed and put into hands of Elam Henderson 
as trustee, under a bond from him in the penal sum of $40,000, condi- 
tioned that he should not date or deliver them until these conditions 
were complied with. A resolution was also adopted directing the 
supervisor to sell the stock as soon as it should come into his hands, to 
the railroad company, for $10. 

GEORGETOWN VILLAGE. 

Georgetown village, or rather, as it was then called, the town of 
Georgetown, was laid out in the spring of 1827, two months after Dan- 
ville was. The plat was acknowledged before Esquire Asa Elliott,. 







X^^Z^^^ 



GEOEGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 513 

June 5, and contained only four blocks of eight lots each. The onlv 
two streets were State street, running north and south, and West street 
crossing it at right angles. These streets were sixty feet wide. The 
public square, which remains to the present time as it was then, was 
laid out after the fashion of the day, as seen in Danville and other 
towns of that age, by cutting corners out of the four central blocks. 
The naming seems to be problematical, — some asserting that Mr. Ha- 
worth named it for his son George, who was a cripple, and who is said 
to have entered into the frolic which was made on the opening day, 
with a spirit that indicated something more than " lemonade straight ;" 
others, that Danville having been named for D. W. Beckwith, that 
Haworth believed it was a good stroke of policy to try to divide the 
sympathies of the Beckwith family by naming his place in honor of 
George Beckwith. The probability is that both statements are true, 
ami that the two considerations combined to fix the naming as it is. 

When Mr. Haworth laid out his town, Mr. Nelson R. Moore, who 
for a time had lived on the adjoining section, was talking of laying out 
one. Haworth was more of a man of action than of talk, and one day 
Moore started out with his son W. M. to hunt for a deer in the bushes 
which grew where the village now stands, and found Haworth and his 
son measuring off town lots with a mammoth grapevine which he had 
cut a rod long. It seems that he was afraid to call in the aid of a surveyor, 
as Moore might discover what he was up to. Subsequently, additions 
have been platted and recorded by James Haworth, A. Frazier, Samuel 
Brazelton, Malon Haworth, J. B. Plaworth, A. F. Smith, Mr. Hender- 
son and others. In laying off the lots his " vine" needed some stretch- 
ing, and a little variation in the force employed to do this stretching, 
will account for the variation which still exists in the size of the lots, 
some of which are six feet longer than others. This son George, after 
whom the town was named, died of cholera in 1854. 

The first building here was a doctor's office. Dr. Smith, a man of 
good education and an excellent man, put up a building to hold his 
little stock of "calomel and jalap," salts and senna, lancetand wisdom. 
Dr. Smith, after a short practice here, went to Mackinaw and died. 
" The next house was a blacksmith shop," and then came a store, or, 
rather, an inclosure made of poles was called a store. It stood out on 
the square, in front of where the red store now stands. It was built 
by Samuel Brazelton. Here a little stock of goods was kept for sale. 
The log tavern stood near where the post-office is now kept, just north 
of it, and a log house farther south. This was made of huge sassafras 
logs as large as a small barrel. He had to go to Butler's Point to get 
men to come to the raising. 
33 



514 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

The first school-house was also built on the square in front of 
Frazier's store. H. Givens taught the first term of school there. 
" Coffeen's Hand-Book," page 24, says : " The first school was taught 
on the Little Vermilion, near the present location of Georgetown." 
Upon the authority of Win. M. Moore, now the oldest resident at 
present in Georgetown village, the writer is satisfied that this school at 
Georgetown was the one spoken of by Mr. Coffeen, though it is possi- 
ble that the Friends at Vermilion Grove may have had one there before 
this building was erected in Georgetown. This school-house was 
hardly a model for architectural display at the present day. Indeed, 
it was about as cheap a concern as could be constructed out of logs. 
Among those who learned wisdom from Givens, and after him from 
Owen West, were Perry, Martha and Luzena Brazelton, Bracken 
Lewis, George Lewis, Millikan Moore, Eli and Malon Haworth, and 
James Staunton. Mr. Moore thinks this was in 1827, though it may 
have been a year later. The books used, as far as he can remember, 
were the old English Reader, Talbott's Arithmetic, American Spelling- 
Book and Lindley Murray's Grammar. At that time it was the uni- 
versal practice to study aloud in school, and the lad who made the 
most noise was popularly credited with making the greatest progress. 
Preaching service was first held in this building by traveling and local 
preachers of the Methodist church. James Haworth had a farm just 
north of the village, where Mr. Frazier now lives. 

Nelson R. Moore came from North Carolina, but had lived a while 
in Kentucky and Indiana, and arrived here in 1825. He made his 
first cabin just southwest of Georgetown, and bought some land of 
Andrew Wagerman, who lived farther west, near Johnson's Point. 
Wagerman was a son-in-law of Jotham Lyons. Moore bought two 
hundred acres of Wagerman and Lyons, and went to work to make a 
farm of it. He moved here with an ox-team, coming in one of those 
old-fashioned "schooner" wagons, such as have passed entirely out of 
use, and indeed fast fading from memory. They were made very 
heavy, the box being framed and fitted with panel-work, being elevated 
at least a foot at each end higher than it was in the middle. Why 
they were given this shape it is difficult to tell, except that it may have 
been that in the hilly country where the} 7 were made the danger of 
having the load spill out over the ends when going down the steep 
hills, or ascending, must be provided against. As late as thirty years 
ago they were frequently seen passing across these prairies, carrying 
the movers toward the setting sun, and were even at that day a curios- 
ity, and were called "prairie schooners." Indeed, all they lacked to 
give them the appearance of a schooner were the masts, ropes and sails. 



(GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 515 

The first log cabin put up where John Madden's house now is was 
built in 1827, and was raised by the help of all the men that could be 
found. "Indian John' 1 was a character here then ; he was six feet and 
a half iu height, and had been a famous medicine-man of the Potta- 
watomie Indians, but remained here with the white man when they 
went away. 

Mr. Moore did about as much as any of his neighbors toward set- 
tling this part of the country. He was the father of thirteen children, 
all but one of whom grew to adult age. Carroll, a soldier in the grand 
army of the Union, was killed in battle at Peach Tree Creek. His 
widow and children still live here; George, a lieutenant in the 25th 
Regiment, served through the war, and was killed, while crossing the 
plains, by Indians; Jacob served two years in the Mexican war, and 
died after returning; Elijah early took Greeley's advice to "grow up 
with the country," and if the country does not stop growing pretty 
soon he will have to give up the job; W. M. lives in Georgetown; 
Mrs. Rogers is dead; Mrs. Friezell lives in Missouri; Mrs. Dr. Porter 
in Lebanon, Indiana; Mrs. Judge Glessner in Shelby ville, Indiana; 
Mrs. Harding in California, Mrs. Dr. Blanchard and Mrs. Peck here. 

Benjamin Canaday was one of the first to engage in mercantile 
business here, and continued for about forty years to sell goods in 
Georgetown. He came with his father to the little settlement west of 
Vermilion Grove Station, about 1822, but went back to Tennessee. 
He was a tinner by trade, and after they came baek here again from 
Tennessee he built a small log house, which he used for a dwelling and 
tin shop, and there made up a stock of tinware, which he took to Louis- 
ville and traded for goods. He brought these goods back and put up 
a store and turned merchant. He continued this kind of trade till 
1830, when he was induced to come to Georgetown, and, with the 
Haworths, commenced the mercantile trade here. He afterward formed 
a partnership with Abraham Frazier, and soon sold the business and 
store to Dr. Gillaspie, who came here from Tennessee, and continued 
the business with Frazier awhile. Canaday and the Haworths be- 
longed to the Society of Friends, and early instituted religious meet- 
ings here. Canaday lived in the house on the corner of the public 
square, where William Alexander now has a store. It was a small 
one-story house, and has been enlarged since. He continued the lead- 
ing merchant of Georgetown, and built the large brick store now occu_ 
pied by his successors in business, Richie & Thompson. He amassed 
a comfortable fortune, and died a few years since, honored and re- 
spected. His latter years were largely given to making proper dispo- 
sition of the accumulations of a busy life of frugal care, and was one 



516 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

of the principal donors to the beautiful church at Georgetown. He 
was the father of eight children. His two sons are dead, though the 
two daughters of one of them (John) are living: Mrs. Holloway, of 
Danville, and Mrs. Thompson, of Georgetown. Of his daughters, Mrs. 
J. P. Johnson lives in Kansas, Mrs. Dr. Morgan in Iowa, and Mrs. 
Richie lives at Georgetown ; Mrs. Morris and Mrs. McCowan are dead. 
Few men have left as a legacy to their children a more honored name 
or the example of a more useful and successful life. 

Dr. Gillaspie, before spoken of, continued in business a short time 
and then went to Arkansas. He was a man of splendid parts and 
good education, whose usefulness was destroyed by the habit which in 
those days ruined so many of our ablest men. 

Win. Taylor left his home in Wayne county, Ohio, when only 
twenty-two years old, intending to be gone.six weeks, and has not yet 
returned. He had been apprenticed to learn the cabinet trade, and 
believed he had got it well enough learned to make his way in the 
world without further instruction. He went to Brown county, Ohio, 
and made that his home. He became well acquainted with the Graut 
family there, and had an opportunity to see the budding genius of 
young Ulysses. There was little that was remarkable about the lad, 
as Mr. Taylor now recollects him, but the dogged pertinacity with 
which he would conquer every unruly horse which he could get hold 
of. His father used to say that he would make a great man of him, 
but the lad's greatness failed to take any very useful turn, unless 
riding horses may be considered such. He never liked hard work, 
and the boys sometimes doubted whether " Lys " would ever, in any 
alarming degree, fulfill the high anticipations of his doting father. 
Mr. Taylor came to Georgetown in 1831. He purchased the log- 
house and two lots back of the tavern for $120, and put up an addition 
to it, which made a very comfortable residence. He also bought the 
old log store which stood in front of the red store, and went to work 
at his trade. For thirty years he carried on cabinet work here, and, 
until by the changed order of things, he could buy work cheaper in 
Cincinnati than he could make it. Long after this he continued mak- 
ing coffins, and has probably made more of those articles than any man 
in the county. 

The post-office was established here about 1828. The mail route 
ran from here via Carroll, an office in the McDonald neighborhood to 
Paris. 

Mr. Brazelton was first to " keep tavern." He occupied a building 
which was on the site of the present post-office. Benjamin Canaday 
was for a long time the postmaster. 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 517 

Abraham Frazier was one of the first to engage in trade. He was 
a tanner by trade, and made that his business for awhile before he com- 
menced mercantile trade. He was a man of excellent judgment, very 
careful business habits, honest and true. He had no children, and 
hence his propensity to save was deemed penuriousness, but those who 
knew him best unite in saying that he had none of the sordid love of 
money which marks the miser's traits. That he was plain in all his 
tastes, and exceedingly careful in his expenses, is undoubtedly true. 
He died leaving an honored name for probity and industry through an 
unblemished life. His brother, Abner Frazier, came here with other 
Friends from East Tennessee, in 1830, and farmed awhile, then clerked 
for his brother. He married, and commenced farming southwest of 
the village, and afterward bought the Haworth farm, north of town, 
where he resides at this writing, gradually sinking from advanced age 
and the labors of an active life, largely given to exacting toil and busi- 
ness. He holds the highest place in the esteem of those among whom 
his active years have passed. With a large family of children around 
him, whose characters he has molded in habits of industry, thrift and 
christian life, he reaps the honors which are higher than merely worldly 
ones. Two sons carry on a large trade in Georgetown, enjoying in a 
large degree the goodly reputation of their father, and one lives on the 
beautiful farm just north of the village. Two daughters, Mrs. Snapp 
and Mrs. Newlin, reside here, and Mrs. Mendenhall and Mrs. Rogers 
in Kansas. 

John Sloan was probably the first blacksmith here. Dr. Thomas 
Heywood was one of the earliest to practice medicine. He was a man 
of good education and excellent judgment. He was educated in Ohio, 
and came here to begin his practice. After a time he removed to a 
farm southwest of Georgetown, in Carroll township, and continued his 
practice until his death. Dr. Richard Holmes practiced here a while, 
and then went to Ohio. 

James Shannon was engaged in selling goods here at an early date, 
and his brother John was engaged in the practice of medicine. They 
went from here to Mackinawtown, in Tazewell county, and one cold 
winter's day the latter wandered off into the stream, and after going 
a mile in the water went out into a cornfield, where he froze to death, 
and his remains were not discovered until long after, when they had 
been partially devoured. 

Elections for this voting precinct were held here from the first. 
They were held in the old store which stood north of Frazier's large 
brick store, and which was afterward, though of good Quaker origin, 
converted into a Methodist church. Voters were required to give in 



518 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

their votes viva voce. The honest, nntrammeled political voice of 
Georgetown precinct in the olden times sounded the name of Jackson 
with great unanimity. 

For many years legalized dramshops sold ardent spirits freely in 
Georgetown. In fact, at an early day, before the temperance societies 
were an established institution, drinking and drunkenness were very 
common. Horse-racing was a common sport before the civilizing 
effects of circuses and agricultural fairs were felt. The Sons of Tem- 
perance had a wide field to exercise their graces and good works here; 
but triumphed at last, and the results are everywhere evident. Sobri- 
ety rules, and every one rejoices in the change. 

In 1831 came another young man whose life has been a part of the 
history and business success of Georgetown. Elam Henderson came 
with his father, Eli, to Elwood, in 1824, and in the year above men- 
tioned came to Georgetown, where he commenced to make a farm in 
section 28. Here he showed the qualities of energy, thrift and perse- 
verance which have clung to him through life. While attending to his 
large farming interests he was drawn much into official life, and served 
as county commissioner and associate justice. After acquiring a suffi- 
ciency he engaged in trade at Georgetown, helped to build a better 
class of buildings than had been known here before, and helped to 
build the mill. Later he established the Citizen's Bank, and with the 
opening of railroad facilities engaged in buying grain. He served for 
many years as supervisor of this township, and in other official capaci- 
ties. Now, at near seventy, he is actively engaged in business, giving 
the same careful attention to all its minutiae that he did when such care 
was a necessity. Indeed, with him it has become a settled habit. To- 
gether with Mr. Canaday, he bore the larger part of the expense of 
building the new place of worship which was recently erected at 
Georgetown. He has shown himself a thorough business man, whose 
good example is better than all the golden precepts which could be 
showered upon the young of the growing generation. 

Patrick Cowan was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 
1794. As he grew up he became interested in religious matters, and 
joined the Methodist Church in 1818. He was licensed to exhort Feb- 
ruary 14, 1833, and to preach, at the quarterly conference at Paris, 
September 5, 1834, by Presiding Elder Michael Taylor. He was 
ordained deacon by Bishop Morris, September 15, 1836. He was a 
hatter by trade, and lived near Bloomfield for some time, coming to 
Georgetown to live in 1846. He engaged in wool-carding as a business, 
for which there was much local demand here, at a time when every- 
body kept a few sheep, and people very generally made their own 






GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 519 

cloth. This business lie carried on for several years, all the while 
preaching here and there through the country, at McKendry, at 
Douglass' school-house and at other preaching points. He never 
accepted the traveling relation, preferring the local work. Coining into 
a community which from the beginning had been strongly of another 
denomination, he had a good opportunity to exercise the liberal Chris- 
tian traits of which he was possessed. Citizens of all denominations 
respected and esteemed the character of Father Cowan, and hold his 
good name in kind remembrance. He w T as always punctual to every 
duty; particularly was this so in regard to political and official duties. 
He was often called on to administer the affairs of the town or town- 
ship, and always gave the same conscientious attention to them that he 
did to his own affairs. He died September 4, 1873, in his eightieth 
year, leaving to his children the inheritance of a good name and the 
remembrance of a life devoted to his family, his people and his God. 
He left a family of seven children. His sons, trained under his kind 
and careful eye, are among the leading business men of Georgetown. 
His widow still lives, at the advanced age of eighty-three, the care and 
associate of these loving children, which she so long watched over, 
guided and instructed. 

J. H. Gadd came to this township with his mother and brother in 
1834. After helping to hew out a farm in the Wabash timber east of 
here, he concluded to study law, and for several years has been engaged 
in the practice of that profession in this county. For five years past he 
has represented this town on the board of supervisors, to the evident 
satisfaction of the people. 

G. W. Hollo way, who came here in 1.835, has been long in business, 
taking an active part in the religious and educational interests of the 
town. 

Dr. Payne was an early practitioner of medicine, and remained here 
two years; then went to Iowa. Dr. Isaac Smith commenced the prac- 
tice as early as 1830. He lived just south of town, on the Little Ver- 
milion. He was from Tennessee. He died on the farm where the 
Martha Smith school-house is. 

The first burials were made at the small burying-grounds in the 
neighborhoods around, at Vermilion Grove, Elwood Meeting-house, and 
at others. Wm. Taylor laid off a cemetery in 1838, which was after- 
ward conveyed to the town for a public place of burial. Felix Noel 
was the first one buried there. 

The particular school of doctors known as Thomsonian, or, in pop- 
ular parlance, " steam doctors," had a considerable practice here at an 
early day, and the Indian practice of doctoring with herbs and roots, 



520 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

found in profusion at an early day, was quite common. New material 
was added to the Materia Medica, and roots and steam did duty on 
every conceivable occasion. The pioneer doctor of this country will 
not soon forget the occasion of the introduction to his notice of the 
celebrated Wacun root, until then to him a new remedy. Dr. A. M. 
C. Hawes, who came here in 1836, is now next to Dr. Fithian, the 
oldest practicing physician in the county. He was educated at La 
Fayette, Indiana, where he studied with Dr. O. L. Clark. Previous 
to this, however, he had traveled through this state, looking over the 
central and northern portions of it. Early in life he had entered a 
printing-office, and, after graduation in that school, which gives to its 
pupils a breadth of education not found in any other, became an editor 
of the La Fayette "Journal" at its starting, nearly fifty years ago. 
After preparing himself to practice medicine, he came to Georgetown, 
and at once grew into a wide and successful practice, all over the 
southern part of this county, and in Indiana, Edgar and Champaign 
counties in this state. Being a great student, and having an investi- 
gating turn of mind, he has kept abreast with the times, never retaining 
an old theory or practice because it is old, or adopting a new one 
because it is new. After more than forty years' practice, he is still 
found fully up with the times, and wears well. He was one of the 
early promoters of better educational facilities, and a friend of liberal 
education. He was one of the originators of the County Medical So- 
ciety, and was its first president, and was selected as its annalist to pre- 
pare for the Society the history of the profession in this county, — a 
work from which much is expected. It is rare, indeed, that a man of 
Dr. Hawes' analytical turn of mind, — one who sees so much in what 
is daily going on around him, and has so good a faculty of retaining for 
use that which he sees, and can put it to so good use, has such excel- 
lent opportunities for studying, during a daily practice of almost half a 
century, the great questions which are his chief delight, and which 
pertain to the highest physical interests of man. The wealth of infor- 
mation — knowledge is a better term — is not easily contemplated. 

Jacob Yapp has been for a number of years one of the leading busi- 
ness men of Georgetown. He has always exhibited a broad public 
spirit, and gives that close attention to business which commands suc- 
cess under any circumstances. Frequently called to attend to the 
public affairs of his town, he has shown himself a wise and faithful 
officer and a good citizen, while in his own business affairs he has 
maintained a reputation for business integrity of the highest order. 

Mr. Joseph Bailey was long one of the active business men here at 
Georgetown and at other points in the county. His mercantile rela- 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 521 

tions were varied and always successful, and during the time of his 
business life he displayed ability of a high order. 

The sons of Mr. Abner Frazier, who have long managed the impor- 
tant interests and kept up the business which he and his brother built 
up, are men of excellent business capacity and the strictest integrity. 
Messrs. Richie & Thompson have, as successors of the important busi- 
ness of Mr. Canaday, acquired a reputation second only to him whom 
they succeeded in business. The Cowans have grown into business 
men of first-class ability, evincing business traits of a high order, giv- 
ing close attention to their business. Mr. G. W. Holloway has for 
years maintained a splendid reputation for business, and carries on a 
large and successful trade. 

The mercantile business of Georgetown has always been its chief 
interest. Since the day Benjamin Canaday commenced, her leading 
men have sold goods, grown rich, and left their business, their acquired 
capital and their reputations to their children, who have followed on in 
the good way. What Canaday, Henderson, Frazier and Cowan have 
done here in days gone by their sons and successors are doing now. A 
similar state of things probably does not exist in this part of the state, 
certainly not in this county. 

SCHOOLS. 

In educational interests, Georgetown, under the lead of the public 
spirit which actuated her early settlers, has always been in advance of 
neighboring towns. The first school held in a little building on the 
Square has been described. The school thus begun was continued by 
subscription, with varying success, until 1844, when the Georgetown 
Seminary was organized, and for twenty years continued to be the cen- 
ter of educational light for this and surrounding counties. 

Several years before any high-school was in existence at Danville, 
this seminary was furnishing excellent educational facilities to the 
youths who came here from the surrounding country. Benjamin Can- 
aday, Presiding-Elder Robbins, J. H. Murphy, of Danville, and Mr. 
Curtis, were its early promoters. The seminary was under the charge 
of the Methodist Conference, and the teachers were selected by that 
body. They were fortunate in the selection of the first principal, in 
the person of a young man of excellent education, commanding pres- 
ence and superior tact, — Jesse H. Moore, — then a local preacher, but 
since one of the leading preachers of that church, a presiding elder, 
then a general in the grand army of the Union, buckling on ''the 
sword of the Lord and of Gideon" as he went forth to establish the 
authority of right against treason, then a long time member of congress 



522 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

from this district, and afterward pension agent at Decatur. A gentle- 
man who in every position has acquitted himself with honor and credit, 
and who, as his long and useful life is now certainly drawing to a close, 
may well feel that in no position, however exalted, in no avocation, 
however honored, has he done more lasting good than during the four 
years of his service as principal of Georgetown Seminary. During his 
administration the school was held in the frame building which had 
been built for a church and had been moved to the grounds now occu- 
pied by the district school. His assistants were Miss Fairbanks, Walter 
Smith, now a Baptist preacher, and Archibald Sloan, since become a 
minister. Among the pupils who "grew up" under his fostering care 
were Elijah Moore and Jesse and G. W. Holloway. The seminary 
building was erected in 1848. It was a plain brick building, two 
stories high, and capable of accommodating two hundred pupils. Prof. 
J. P. Johnson, now of Highland, Kansas, was in charge of the school for 
five years, his wife and two nieces being assistants. During his excellent 
management the school increased in numbers and popularity. Pupils 
came from one hundred miles away to attend the school, and Danville 
sent great numbers. Miss Sophia Lyons, now Mrs. Holloway, taught 
music. During a portion of the existence of the seminary there was 
a kind of a partnership existing between the district and the trustees 
of the seminary, — wanting in legal authority, it was admitted, but so 
just in its character and so successful in its operations that no one com- 
plained. Among those who received their education here the follow- 
ing are remembered by Mrs. ¥m. Taylor, to whose faithful memory 
the writer is under obligations for most of the facts in regard to this 
now almost forgotten institution : Rev. O. P. Light, Daniel Trimble, of 
Coles county, and Dr. Morris, of Mattoon. Prof. Asa Guy taught two 
years, from 1853 to 1855. His wife and Miss Hazelton were assistants. 
Rev. Mr. Railsback, who died recently, was principal for four years, 
and after him Rev. Mr. MeNutt, until it became entirely absorbed in 
the free school. 

The seminary building was built by the proceeds of contributions 
made by the citizens in general, such as money, cattle, hogs, shoats, 
lumber, yellow-legged chickens, and anything that a good Methodist 
preacher could secure by energetic begging. 

The directors of the district came into full management of the 
school in 1861,'by the disbanding of the seminary in consequence of 
the growing sentiment in favor of free schools, and the perfecting of 
our school system by state action. Asa S. Guy taught first, and was 
assisted by T. Barnett and Rebecca Lawrence. After them Mr. Spang- 
ler, Mr. Barnett, Mr. Mack, Mr. Lane and Mr. Cathcart taught. The 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 523 

present teachers are : F. N. Traeey, principal ; Mrs. Tracey, Miss Mary 
Ankrum, Miss Emma Jenkins and Miss Laura Richmond, assistants. 
The district has a magnificent school-building, erected in 1872 at a 
cost of $10,000. It is of brick, two stories high, and is substantial and 
well built, nicely set off with neat display work in brick. It is 28 x 90 
in front, with a rear extension 30x40; six rooms. The school is in 
good hands, and is deservedly popular. It is graded, high-school, 
grammar school, first and second intermediate, and primary. All the 
branches usually taught in the high-schools of this state are taught. 

The annual report of Joseph Thompson, Esq., treasurer of schools 
for town 18, range 11, and fraction of range 10, for the year ending 
July 15, 1879, is as follows: 

Number of children under 21 years 1,221 

Number over 6 and under 21 years 886 

Number of districts 10 

Number of teachers 21 

Number of school-houses brick, 4 ; frame 6 10 

Average number months taught 6^ 

Value of school property $11,550 

Principal of township fund $4,080 

Amount paid teachers $3,816 

Total expenditure for schools $4,638 

Russell Lodge, 'No. 154, A.F. & A.M., was constituted on the 3d of 
October, A.L. 5854. The charter members were John Kilgore, W. 
P. Shockey, W. T. Hoi man and others. The first officers were : W. P. 
Shockey, W.M. ; J. Kilgore, S.W. ; W. T. Holman, J.W. ; O. E. D. 
Culbertson, Sec. The lodge has since been served by the following 
Masters in order: W. D. Craig, E. R. Ankrum, W. C. Cowan and J. 
P. Cloyd. The present officers are: D. B. Reid, W.M. ; D. Bennett, 
S.W.; W. V. Jones, J.W. ; R. W. Cowan, Treas. ; W. L. Hall, Sec; 
W. C. Cowan, S.D. ; E. R. Ankrum, J.D. ; J. P. Campbell, T. The 
lodge numbers thirty-eight members, and owns its hall. 

Georgetown Lodge, Eo. 62, I.O.O.F., was chartered on the 25th of 
July, 1850, by G. W. Woodward, G.M. The original members were: 
Samuel Huffman, J. E. Dugan, D. C. Hill, Othniel Gilbert, William 
Anderson, Wm. Tayor, Newton Dukes, Dr. Balch, Dr. Davis, A. A. 
Dunseth and H. Cook. The lodge was prosperous for a time, and 
then, owing to the dispersion of its members, became weak, and sur- 
rendered its charter. In 1872 it reorganized, and the following officers 
were installed : Henderson Cook, N.G. ; A. H. Kimbrough, Y.G. ; J. 
H. Ladd, Sec. ; William Taylor, Treas. The present membership is 
twenty-two, and its officers are: James A. Dubre, N.G. ; James H. 



524 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Gadd, V.G. ; James Baldwin, Sec. ; J. A. Blakeney, Permanent Sec. ; 
J. B. Clifton, Treas. ; James Baldwin, Lodge Deputy. 

There were nourishing lodges of Sons of Temperance and Good 
Templars in times past; but both have been discontinued, as the need 
for their special work seemed to grow less. 

W. C. Cowan is collecting a museum of antiquarian curiosities, 
among which are a land patent of 1825, bearing the autograph of J. Q. 
Adams, President; a six-dollar bill of Virginia, agreeing to pay six 
•Spanish milled dollars, or their value in gold or silver, dated May 6, 
1777, on the thick brown paper of that day ; and quite a collection ol 
the different scrip issues of the United States issued during the recent 
"unpleasantness," and a petrified buffalo's tooth. The Historical So- 
ciety will be glad to enlist him in their work. 

The streets of the village are wide, and a general air of neatness 
pervades them. While this is true, the habit of crowding the build- 
ings which are used for residences, out near the street, leaving insuffi- 
cient yards before them, or none at all, detracts from the elegance 
which would otherwise attach. No amount of decorative taste can 
make amends for a cramped door-} 7 ard, in a locality where land is no 
object. There are many pleasant residences, ard several substantial 
business blocks in Georgetown. 

The large double three-story store, occupied by Richie & Thomp- 
son, was erected by Benjamin Canaday about 1850, and like its builder, 
is a great broad-shouldered, honest specimen. It cost $5,000. The 
Holloway building, fifty feet on the square and sixty on State street, 
three stories high, brick, was built by the proprietor in 1867. His 
store and the bank occupy the first floor, offices the second, and the 
upper story is occupied and owned by the Masonic fraternity. The 
Frazier store, 36x60, brick, two stories, was built in 1859 at a cost of 
$5,000. W. C. Cowan's drug store, 18x40, built in 1872, brick, two 
stories, $2,000. Elam Henderson built the drug store occupied by 
Cowan & Co., 18 x 40, brick, two stories, later, at a cost of $1,800. The 
residence of Dr. E. T. Pritchard, one of the best in town, is 34x40, 
two stories with addition one story, and cost $2,500. The grounds are 
nicely adorned witli shade trees and shrubbery. Elam Henderson's 
brick residence was built in 1870, and is about the same size; it has 
ample grounds. J. K. Richie has a nice two-story brick residence, with 
comfortable grounds and pleasant surroundings. Wm. Frazier has a 
good story-and-a-half brick residence, and Zack Morris a pleasantly 
fixed framed house of similar dimensions. Miss Haworth has a fine 
two-story residence, and P. West has a very pleasant one. 






GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 525 

VILLAGE ORGANIZATION. 

The first record which appears in the office of the clerk is of a meet- 
ing of the town council, April 12, 1866, at which were present, H. 
Cook, president; Patrick Cowan, clerk; J. H. Lockett, Josiah Bailey, 
J. PI. Gadd and W. C. Cowan, trustees. There is no further record 
until April 5, 1869, when John Newlin was elected president; Elam 
Henderson, Abner Frazier, D. B. Reid, Oliver Finley and J. H. Lock- 
ett, trustees; Titus Bennett, police magistrate; W. H. Newlin, treas- 
urer, and J. E. Moore, clerk. 

February 22, 1873, the question was submitted to a vote of the 
legal voters whether Georgetown should become incorporated under 
the general act of 1872, and was decided in the affirmative by 51 to 35. 
The first election under this organization resulted in the election of 
Titus Bennett, W. O. Mendenhall, A. Frazier, E. R. Ankrum, B. F. 
Cook and P. West, trustees; J. H. Hewitt, police magistrate, and W. 
H. Newlin, clerk. The present Board consists of Jacob Yapp, J. 
Thompson, W. F. Henderson, W. B. Cowan, J. H. Hewitt and J. D. 
Shepler ; clerk, C. A. Fertig ; treasurer, Daniel Alexander; police 
magistrate, W. B. Hanes. License for the sale of liquor is not 
granted. 

WESTVILLE. 

Westville, a station on the Danville & Southwestern railroad, four 
miles from Georgetown, was laid out by William P. West and E. A. 
West, on the southeast corner of section 6, in May, 1873. Two blocks 
only were platted for record. Parker & Ellsworth commenced business 
in 1872, west of the railroad. When they moved across to the east 
side, Cook & Alexander bought them out, and began a general mer- 
cantile trade. Dukes & Doops succeeded that firm, and Boone & 
Jumps Brothers followed them. They continued in business here only 
a short time, and were succeeded by J. W. Lockett & Brother, who are 
carrying on a fair trade in general merchandise, and buying country 
produce. H. C. Myers opened a drug store in 1877, and has been suc- 
ceeded by Dr. W. D. Steele, who is engaged in the practice of medicine. 
Jonathan Clayton commenced the blacksmith business in 1872. He 
died three years ago. Mr. Haller had the shop a year, and was fol- 
lowed by J. F. Hutchinson. The post-office was established in 1876, 
and S. W. Dukes was appointed first postmaster. He was succeeded 
by J. W. Lockett, the present incumbent. John Dukes is engaged in 
buying and shipping stock. 

Graves' is a flag-station about half way between Westville and 
Georgetown, for the convenience of that neighborhood. 



526 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

James O'Neal, Westville, farmer, was born near his present place, 
in Georgetown township, on the 20th of April, 1822. He lived with 
his parents until he was twenty-six years of age, when he moved near 
Kyger's Mill, and from thence to his present place. On the 18th of May, 
1848, he married Miss Vesta Pratt. She was born in this county, near 
Danville, on the 2d of October, 1829. They had ten children, eight of 
whom are living, viz: Cynthia Ann, Oliver P., Jonathan T., Mary 
Lincoln, Silva A., Clarrissa E., Effie L. and James Hawes. Mr. 
O'Neal's parents, Thomas and Sarah Howard O'Neal, were natives of 
Nelson county, Kentucky, and settled here in the fall of 1821. He 
died in the fall of 1861, and she in the fall of 1863. Mr. Thomas 
O'Neal and one of his sons volunteered in the Black Hawk war. His 
son James was among the first born in this county. The latter's 
daughter married Mr. Simon Doop, on the 19th of November, 1868. 
They are living here with Mr. O'Neal. They had five children, three 
living: Alfred E., Jessie P. and Yesta J. 

Elam Henderson, Georgetown, president of the Citizens' Bank, is a 
native of Union county, Indiana. He was born on his father's farm, 
on the 6th of July, 1810, and lived on the same fourteen years. The 
family then moved to Illinois, and settled in Edgar, now Vermilion 
county, about five miles south of Georgetown, where they engaged in 
farming, and remained until 1831. In the year last named he moved 
into the neighborhood of Georgetown, and engaged in farming on his 
own account, and continued at the same until 1853. He then engaged 
in the general merchandise business in Georgetown, and in 1855 moved 
his famity to the village. He continued in the business until 1876. 
At this date he took an interest in the Vermilion County Bank, of 
Danville, and retained the same about a year. He then occupied him- 
self in looking after his farm and in building. In 1878 he formed a 
partnership and engaged in the banking business, under the firm name 
of Henderson & MendenhalPs Citizens' Bank. The institution was 
opened on the 1st of January, 1878, and is now conducted by E. Hen- 
derson & Co. Mr. Henderson held the office of county commissioner 
from 1836 till 1839. He was then elected associate justice, and held 
that office until 1853, and that of supervisor from 1857 till 1873, except 
two years. On the 11th of March, 1830, he married Miss Mary Golden. 
She was born in East Tennessee. 

Elijah Moore, Georgetown, farmer, is a native of this township ; he 
was born on his father's farm on the 16th of October, 1825, and is the 
oldest living resident native of this part of the township. He lived 
with his parents until he was twenty-one. He then bought feathers, 



GE0RC4ET0WN TOWNSHIP. 527 

marketing them in Chicago. He traveled in Illinois and Indiana, and 
then began farming on his own account on a farm adjoining his father's, 
and lived there about six years. lie then sold his farm and came on 
the home farm, buying the location of present residence ; built a house, 
and has lived here since. After his father's death he bought the old 
homestead, and has added to it, until now it contains nearly four hun- 
dred acres. On the 7th of December, 1848, he married Miss Nancy S. 
Chambers, a native of Indiana. They had five children, four of whom 
are living : Jesse C, Homer, Romazo E. and Nelson R. The name of 
the deceased was Sarah Ann. 

Esau Starr, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native of Ver- 
milion county, Illinois; he was born on the 10th of February. 1826, 
and has always lived in this county. His father died when he was 
about four years of age. He lived with his mother until he was 
twenty-three. On the 31st of May, 1849, he married Miss Rebecca 
Sherer, who was born in this county on the 23d of October, 1831. 
After his marriage he rented one year; he then bought his present 
place and settled. He has made many trips to Chicago by team, dating 
back as early as 1840. He had six children, three are now living: 
James T., Carrie A. and Lydia J. He owns one hundred and eighty- 
seven and a half acres of land in this county, which is principally the 
result of his own labor and management. 

Henry Howard, Danville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Pike 
county, Ohio, on the 12th of December, 1821, and lived there five 
years with his parents. He then settled near Danville, Illinois. He 
lived with his parents until he was twenty-three years of age. Febru- 
ary, 1844, he married Miss Susannah Ogden. She was born in this 
county, and died in November, 1851. They had four children, three 
living, viz: James, Luc} r J. and Reason. On the 11th of May, 1852, 
he married Mrs. Rachel Martin, formerly Miss Mossbarger. She was 
born in Vermilion county, Indiana. They have seven children, viz : 
William H., Eliza A., Jacob, Daniel, Charles, Mary A. and Melissa. 
Mr. Howard has served one year as supervisor of this township. He 
owns one hundred and six acres of land in this county. His parents, 
Aaron and Jane (McDougal) Howard, were natives of Ohio. They 
came to this county in 1826. He died in April, 1860, and she in 
March of 1844. 

Wm. D. Smith, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Washington county, Tennessee, on the 29th of December, 1822, and 
lived there nearly six years; then, with his parents, he came to Illinois, 
and settled in Vermilion county, near his present place. He lived 
with his parents until he was twenty-four, when he came to his present 



528 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

place and has lived here since. On the 22d of August, 1848, he mar- 
ried Miss Sarah F. Littner. She was born in Knox county, Tennessee, 
on the 1st of July, 1831. They had thirteen children, nine of whom 
are living, viz : James F., Sarah F., Thomas, Phebe, Theodore, Will- 
iam D., jr., James, Andrew S. and Susan. He owns two hundred and 
eighty-five acres in this county, which he has earned by his own labor 
and management. He teamed to Chicago, beginning as early as 1836. 
From 1842 to 1846 he made seven trips by flat-boat to New Orleans, 
from Eugene, Indiana. He followed threshing for twenty-six years, 
and took the premium at Catlin fair for best threshing. He was also 
considered one of the best feeders. 

James Sandusky, Westville, farming and stock-raiser, was born in 
Bourbon county, Kentucky, on the 27th of July, 1817, and lived there 
until 1827, when, with his parents, he came to Illinois and settled on 
the present place, and lived here until 1836, when they moved to where 
Catlin now stands, and lived there until 1848, when he again came to 
the present place, and lived here until 1859. He then rented the 
place and moved to his brother's farm at Catlin, and lived there until 
1864. He then came to the present place, where he has since lived. 
On the 6th of December, 1847, he married Miss Mary Ann Greene. 
She was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, where they were mar- 
ried. They had eleven children, nine living, viz : Sarah E., Josiah, 
James S., Henry C, Eliza, Stephen A. D., Thomas, Susan A. and 
Lora. Mr. Sandusky marketed wheat in Chicago in early days. In 
1838 he, with six yoke of oxen, took one hundred bushels, and received 
$1.25 per bushel. He owns three hundred acres in this county. His 
parents, Isaac and Enphama McDowell Sandusky, were natives of Ken- 
tucky and Virginia, and came here as stated. He served in the wars 
of 1812 and the Black Hawk war. He was taken prisoner in the 
former. He was with Harrison at Tippecanoe. He died on the 6th 
of August, 1852; she died on the 15th of June, 1864. 

Andrew Reynolds, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, is one of 
the early settlers of this county. He w T as born on the 25th of May, 
1819, in Knox county, Tennessee, and lived there about eight years. 
During this time his parents died. He then came to Illinois with his 
brother, who lived near Catlin, and remained with him four years. He 
then came to Georgetown township, and lived with Mr. Gardner until 
he was twenty-one. He then rented a place, and has farmed on his 
own account since. In 1859 he came to his present place. He owns 
one hundred and six acres in this county, principally the result of his 
own labor. He married Miss Amanda Smith. He came here from 
Tennessee by wagon. In 1835 he made his first trip to Chicago by 






GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 529 

team, and has since made the trip in all kinds of weather, and in some 
cases suffering extreme hardships and privations. 

A. B. Smith, Danville, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native of Wash- 
ington county, Tennessee. He was born on the 25th of December, 
1817, and lived there eleven years. He then, with his parents, came 
to Illinois, and settled near Georgetown. He lived with his parents 
until he was twenty-three. On the 8th of October, 1840, he married 
Miss Eliza Lockett. She was born in Wythe county, Virginia. After 
his marriage he settled on his present -place. He is no office-seeker, 
and has held no offices except those connected with the school and roads. 
He owns five hundred acres in this count}', principally located nine 
miles southeast of Danville. In early days Mr. Smith made journeys 
by team to Chicago, making his first trip in 1832, and he lias sold 
wheat there as low as forty-two cents per bushel. His parents, Joseph 
and Sarah (Brown) Smith, were natives of Tennessee, where they were 
married on the 15th of August, 1812. He was born on the 7th of 
March, 1793, and she -was born on the 29th of May, 1793. Both died 
in this township. 

O. S. Graves, Westville, farming and stock-raising, was born in 
Clark county, Kentucky, on the 5th of May, 1818, and lived there 
until he was ten years of age. With his parents he then came to Illi- 
nois, and settled in Vermilion county, near the present place. He lived 
with his parents until he was thirty years of age. He then came to his 
present place. On the 21st of September, 1843, he married Miss Sarah 
Ann Ashby. She was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and came 
to Vermilion county, Illinois, with her parents, in 1829. Mr. Graves 
has made a number of trips to Chicago by team, taking wheat, stock, 
etc. Plis first trip dates back to 1838, and he has sold wheat there 
at from forty-four to sixty-four cents per bushel. They had six chil- 
dren, — five living, viz: James L., Henry C, Martha E., Isabel and 
Orvil D. The two former are married, the latter live at home. Mr. 
Graves owns four hundred and forty acres in this county, iocated on 
the main road from Danville to Georgetown, seven miles south of the 
former place. His parents, James and Margaret (Blackburn) Graves, 
were natives of Kentucky. They were married there, and came to 
Illinois in 1828. He died in July, 1857, and she is living with her 
son. 

Charles Yoho, Georgetown, retired farmer, was born in West Vir- 
ginia in the spring of 1807, and lived there eighteen years. He then 
went by water to Eugene, and from there to his present place, where 
he lived one year. He then -went back to his home, and in the follow- 
ing winter went down the Ohio to Kising Sun, and cut wood. In the 
34 



530 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

spring following he catne to Illinois, and worked in this neighborhood. 
He has lived here since, with the exception of the time spent in a few 
short trips east and to Chicago. In 1832 he volunteered in Major 
Sloan's regiment to fight Black Hawk. He has teamed to Chicago a 
number of times, and sold wheat as low as thirty-seven and a half 
cents per bushel. He married Miss Annie Brown, of Tennessee. They 
had sixteen children, fourteen of whom are living, viz : Hiram, Jacob, 
Thomas, William, Alleck, Catharine, Eliza, Jamina, Nancy, Victoria, 
Lucinda, Lilly, Elmyra and Julia. After his marriage Mr. Yoho engaged 
in boating to New Orleans. He owns two hundred and eighty acres 
of land in this county, which he has earned by his own labor. He 
came to Illinois in company with James and Thomas Pribble and N. 
Hen thorn. They had two boats, and at the Falls of Ohio had to pay 
$10 to be piloted through. Mr. Yoho accompanied the first boat, and 
concluded he would save the $10 on the second, and so piloted the 
same through in safety, though greatly opposed by the native pilot. 

James Pribble, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Monroe county, Ohio, on the 21st of September, 1826, and lived there 
three years. In 1829, with his parents, he settled in Vermilion county, 
Illinois, near his present place, and lived with his parents until their 
death. In 1853 he began farming on his own account, farming part of 
his father's place. He married Miss Susannah Haines. She was born 
in Virginia, and died in the fall of 1860. They had four children, — 
three living, viz: Mary E., Deborah V. and Flora L. His present wife 
was Miss Catharine Yoho. She was born in this county, and married 
on the 4th of May, 1861. They had nine children, six of whom are 
living, viz : Richard, Andrew, Robert, Ellen, Rachel and Justin. Mr. 
Pribble owns one hundred and twelve acres in this county, located 
three and a half miles east of Georgetown. His parents, Thomas and 
Deborah Dickinson, were natives of Pennsylvania and Virginia. He 
moved to Ohio when young, and followed keel-boating. He died on 
the 10th of September, 1872, and she departed this life on the 13th of 
September, 1851. 

James Ashby, Westville, farmer, was born in Bourbon county, Ken- 
tucky, in September, 1817, and lived there until 1829, when, with his 
parents, he came to Illinois, and settled in Vermilion county. He 
lived with his parents twenty-eight years, and then rented a farm and 
worked for himself. In 1863 he came to his present place, which con- 
tains sixty-four acres. On the 3d of April, 1845, he married Miss 
Sarah J. Blakeney ; she was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky. They 
had nine children, seven of whom are living: Milton, Liza Ann, Mar- 
tha E., Paulina J., Pleasant, Emma L., and Medora L. Mr. Ashby 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 531 

has hauled apples to Chicago as early as 1851. His parents, Joseph 
and Nancy Cloe Ashby, were natives of Stafford county, Virginia; they 
were married there, and came to this county in 1829 ; he died in the 
tall of 1845, and she in 1861. 

Thomas Pribble, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Ohio on the 1st of March, 1828, where he lived one year. He then, 
with his parents, came to Illinois and settled on his present place, 
coming down the Ohio and up the Wabash to Eugene, settling on his 
present place in 1829. In 1854 he took the management of the farm. 
In 1862 he enlisted in the 125th 111. Regiment, and was in service until 
the close of the war. He was in the battles of Perry ville, Chattanooga, 
Chickamauga, Mission Ridge and Dallas, Georgia, where he was wound- 
ed and confined to the hospital until his discharge. He returned to 
the farm and has lived here since. He owns eighty-two acres of land, 
located three miles east of Georgetown. On the 25th of December, 
1866, he married Miss Cynthia Morgan ; she was born in this county. 
They have four children : Commodore, Hamilton, Snowden H. and 
Minnetta. His parents were James and Flora (Cree) Pribble. 

Levi Long, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Nicho- 
las county, Kentucky, on his father's farm, on the 20th of October, 
1810, and lived there until the fall of 1830. He then, with his brother- 
in-law, Mr. Jones, came to Illinois, and settled in Vermilion county, 
and, after living here one year, went to Kentucky and assisted in- 
moving his brother-in-law's family to this county. On the 15th of 
December, 1831, he married Miss Celia R. Jones; she was born in 
Nicholas county, Kentucky, and died here on the 5th of June, 1876. 
After his marriage he rented a place, and farmed it one year ; he then 
went to Elwood township, and farmed three years. On the death of 
his father-in-law he bought out the heirs and moved to the place, and 
has lived here since. He assisted in laying out the roads of this town- 
ship, and served as road commissioner for some time. Of the ten chil- 
dren, seven are living : John E., William L., Charles F., Nancy J., 
Josiah S., Sarah F. and James P. Mr. Long owns five hundred and 
forty-eight acres of land in this county, which he has earned by his 
own labor and management. As early as 1833 he hauled potatoes to 
Chicago for twenty-five cents per bushel, and he has made a number 
of trips since. 

Gabriel Pribble, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Monroe county, Ohio, on the 14th of June, 1826, and lived there four 
years, when, with his parents, he settled near his present place in Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, and lived with them until he was twenty-eight 
years of age. He then farmed a portion of his father's farm for one 



532 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

year, when he bought eighty acres adjoining, and moved on the same, 
and there remained for twenty years, when he moved to an adjoining 
eighty, which he bought. He owns one hundred and sixty acres in 
this county, located four miles east of Georgetown. He has made a 
number of trips by team to Chicago, the first dating back to 1846. In 
the fall of 1858 he married Miss Moriah Ramsey; she was born in 
Ohio, and died on the 23d of June, 1873. They had seven children, 
five of whom are living: Jerome, James, Flora B., Isadora, and Sarah 
M. On the 13th of November, 1876, he married Miss Jane Canaday. 

Silas D. Underwood, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born 
in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 23d of November, 1830, and 
lived with his parents until he was twenty-four; he then moved to a 
farm north of Georgetown, thence to Iroquois county, Illinois, thence 
to his present place. February 12, 1856, he married Miss Nancy Bow- 
man. She was born in Indiana and died in the fall of 1861. His 
second wife was Miss Nancy Haworth. She was born in this county 
and died in the spring of 1S66. His present wife was Miss Martha 
Lewis. She was born in this county. There is one living of the three 
children by first marriage: Catharine; of the nine by second mar- 
riage seven are living: Oliver, Lyman, Lorie, Thomas, Charlotte, 
Colfax and Maimie (Grant, deceased, Charlotte and Colfax were trip- 
lets). Mr. Underwood is living on the old homestead which he is farm- 
ing for his mother, with whom is living John A. Thompson, a son of 
her deceased daughter, Broakie C, who married Alex. Thompson, and 
died May 8, 1870. 

John C. Jones, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Nicholas county, Kentucky, on the 25th of December, 1820, and lived 
there eleven years ; he then, with his parents, came to Illinois and set- 
tled in Vermilion county, and has lived here since, — with the excep- 
tion of one year in Missouri; — he lived with his parents seventeen 
years; then after the death of his father he began working for himself 
teaming to Chicago one year. He subsequently worked on the railroad 
between Danville and Fairmount, and afterward went to Missouri, 
remaining one year. He then bought one hundred acres here on credit, 
and was five years in paying for it. On the 30th of November, 1850, he 
married Miss Martha J. Dye. She was born in Mason county, Kentucky. 
They had eight children, seven of whom are living : Wm. C, Charles F., 
Lydia J., Jethro R., Zebedee, Joanna and Arms C. Mr. Jones owns four 
hundred acres of land in this county, the result of his own labor and 
management. His parents (John and Casander Parrish Jones) were 
natives of Kentucky. He died in October, 1837, and she in June, 
1833. 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 533 

Harvey Cloe, Georgetown, farmer, was born in Clark county, 
Kentucky, on the 26th of April, 1822, and lived there until 1831, when, 
with his parents, he came to Illinois and settled in Vermilion county, 
and engaged in farming. He lived with his parents until he was mar- 
ried, November 27, 1842, to Miss Elizabeth Eslinger. She was born 
in this county, and died October 16, 1849. After his marriage he set- 
tled on his present place. They had four children, three of whom are 
living: Henry, Harvey T. and Susan H. In February, 1850, he mar- 
ried Miss Amanda Cowell. She was born in Illinois. They had seven 
children, two living: Mary E. C. and Elizabeth R. Mr. Cloe owns 
287 acres in this township, which he has earned by his own labor. 
His parents, Henry and Ann Constine (Foxworthy) Cloe, were natives 
of Virginia. They were married in Virginia, and went to Kentucky 
in 1813, to Illinois as stated, and to Iowa in 1855, where they died. 

John Kyger, Georgetown, retired, whose portrait appears in this 
work, is a native of Virginia, and is a son of Daniel and Annie (Hen- 
thorn) Kyger. He was born near Morgan town on the 6th of May, 
1799, and lived until 1806 in his native state, at which time his 
parents moved to Monroe county, Ohio, where they engaged in farming. 
At the age of eighteen Mr. Kyger commenced flatboating, and this he 
followed for a number of years. He would load one of these boats 
with produce and sell it along the banks of the Ohio and Mississippi 
rivers as far down as New Orleans, it taking him from five to seven days 
to make the trip. On the 7th of June, 1821, he married Miss Mary 
Sheets, a native of Washington county, Ohio. She was born on the 
27th of November, 1799. They continued their residence in Ohio 
until 1832, when they came to Illinois, taking a keelboat down the 
Ohio and up the Wabash, and settling in Vermilion county same year. 
He engaged in farming, and has lived; in this, county since. In 1858 
he moved to his present residence, where, on the 6th of January, 1870, 
his wife, Mrs. Mary Kyger, died. By the marriage there were seven 
children, four of whom are now living: Henry T., Daniel, Annie 
and Sarah. Mr. Kyger is one of the early settlers and well-known citi- 
zens of this neighborhood. He remembers well the early times in the 
county when they marketed produce in Chicago — he making his first 
trip of this kind in 1838. Born on the farm, he has always followed 
farming, in which he has been successful, and has made liberal pro vi- 
sions for his children upon which to begin life, having divided upward 
of three hundred acres of land among same. Hannah Kyger, a sister 
of Mr. Kyger, was born on the 3d of February, 1797, and is now a 
resident of Georgetown township. 

D. F. Graves, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native of 



534 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Georgetown township, Vermilion county, Illinois. He was born on 
his present place, on the 8th of November, 1832, and lived on the same 
until he was thirteen years of age. He then, with his parents, moved 
to an adjoining farm, where he lived until 1858. On the 1st of January 
of that year he married Miss Mary Martin. She was born in this town- 
ship, near Georgetown. After his marriage he came to his present 
place, and has lived here since. He is no office-seeker, and has held no 
offices except those connected with the school and road. They have 
five children : Margaret E., Clara F., Katie, James H. and Nellie. 
He owns one hundred and eighty-five acres'in this county. 

John Dukes, farmer and stock-raiser, Westville, was born near his 
present place, on the 21st of March, 1832. He lived at home until he 
was twenty-two years of age, when, on the 19th of April, 1855, he mar- 
ried Miss Rubie Lacey. She was born in Vermilion county, Indiana, on 
the 24th of December, 1838, and came to this county with her parents 
when she was fourteen years of age. After his marriage he moved to 
a residence on his father's place, and farmed a portion of his farm. He 
lived there thirteen years, and then came to his present place. He has 
hauled produce to Chicago, making his first trip as early as 1844. 
During the late war he acted as enrolling officer for the first district. 
He has been assessor of this township for eleven years and collector for 
ten years. By the marriage there have been nine children, seven of 
whom are living: Rachel, Sarah S., Mary, Martha, Susannah, Will- 
iam and Nancy. Mr. Dukes owns three hundred and twenty-seven 
acres of land in this county, which he has principally earned by his own 
labor and management. In 1864 he engaged in buying and shipping 
stock, and has done an extensive business in that line. His parents, 
Stephen and Rachel Ellis, were natives of Virginia and Tennessee. 
They were born on the 25th of June, 1796, and 25th of October, 1804, 
respectively. He came to this county at an early date, and she came 
in 1821. They were married in this county, on the 23d of January, 
1826. Mr. Dukes died on the 18th of July, 1847. She is living here 
on the old homestead. Miss Rubie Lacey was the daughter of William 
and Salona (Sanderson) Lacey. They were natives of New Jersey and 
New York. They came to this county in 1853, where they died, on 
the 27th of September, 1873, and 28th of December, 1859, respectively. 

Jotham Lyon, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native of 
Vermilion county, Illinois. He was born on the 25th of September, 
1833, and lived at home until he was twenty-three. He then took a 
trip to Minnesota and Wisconsin, returning the same year, and again 
going there the following winter. The following spring he came here 
and engaged in farming, on the old homestead, for two years. He then 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 535 

came to his present place. On the 26th of January, 1858, he married 
Miss Sarah Worth. She was born in Wisconsin. They had six chil- 
dren ; five are now living : Mary, William, Datus, Noah and Elmer. 
He owns ninety acres of land in this county, which he has earned by 
his own labor and management. His parents, Jotham and Mary 
Harrington Lyon, were natives of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. 
They were married in Indiana, and came to this county in 1827, though 
he had been here before that time. He assisted in laying out the old 
Salt Works road. He died on the 2d of August, 1843, aged sixty-one 
years, four months and twenty days. She is living with her son in this 
township. 

Isaac A. Brown, P. O. Eugene, Ind., retired, was born in Washington 
county, Tennessee, on the 6th of October, 1816, and lived there seven- 
teen years, when, with his parents, he moved to Illinois, and settled in 
Elwood township, Vermilion county, and lived there until 1836. They 
then moved to Danville, and engaged in coopering. He there built a 
house in South Danville (the first after the laying out of the place), 
and engaged in the grocery business. He then went to Sidney, Illi- 
nois, and engaged in general merchandise, and then went to LeRoy, 
and engaged in general merchandise. Afterward he went to Lyme 
Grove, Champaign county, and engaged in farming. From there he 
went to Vermilion county, Illinois, and engaged in tanning and cooper- 
ing in Elwood township. He then came to his present place, thence 
to Perrysville, and from there back to his present place. In 1834 he 
made his first trip to Chicago by team. On the 14h of April, 1836, he 
married Miss Eunice Beasley; she was born in Vermilion county, Illi- 
nois, and died in May, 1848. They had six children, four living : 
Elijah, Joseph, Elizabeth J. and Phoebe. On the 26th of July, 1848, 
he married Miss Cordelia M.White; she was born in Clermont county, 
Ohio. They have eight children : Isaac A., jr., Eunice, Hannah, Lilly 
G., Naomi, Edmoni, A. Lincoln, and Patience. His sons, Milo G. and 
Joseph B., enlisted in the 8th 111. Reg. and 21st Ind. Reg. respect- 
ively ; the former was in the service one year, the latter, three. The 
present place is known all over the county as "Browntown." On the 
place is a store 20 x 40, two stories and good basement, formerly used 
by Mr. Brown in the general merchandise business ; over the store is 
a hall used as a lecture room and church. The store is complete and 
ready for occupancy. There is also on the place a large coopering es- 
tablishment. 

James Clifton, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Vermilion county, Illinois, near his present place, on the 8th of Oc- 
tober, 1833. He lived with his parents until he was twenty-three years 



536 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

of age ; he then came to his present place, and has lived here since. On 
the 15th of June, 1855, he married Miss Martha Barnhard; she was 
born in this county. They had seven children, five living : Ellen, 
S. A. D., Olive, Laura, and James, jr. Mr. Clifton owns two hundred 
and five acres in this county, located three miles due east of George- 
town. His parents, William and Jane Brown Clifton, were natives 
of Ohio and Tennessee. They were married near the present place. 
Both died in this county; he in the winter of 1869, and she in the 
winter of 1877. 

J. K. Richie, Georgetown, general merchandise store, the subject 
of this sketch, was born in Jefferson county, Tennessee, on the 24th 
of October, 1826. Soon after his birth his father died, and his mother 
moved to New Market, in the same county, where he lived until he 
was six years of age, when he came to Vermilion county, Illinois, with 
his mother and grandfather. They wintered in Georgetown, and in 
the spring (1833) they moved to a farm southeast of the same village, 
where he lived until the fall of 1843. He then went to his native 
place in Tennessee, living with his uncle, Gen. William Battleton. On 
arriving he entered Holstine College, attending his uncle's store morn- 
ings, evenings and Saturdays. This continued two years, when he 
engaged regularly in the store, and remained in it until October, 1847. 
He then visited Georgetown, and, in the spring following, he went to 
New Market, and remained but a few months, when he engaged as 
clerk in a store in Dandridge, Jefferson county, this being. his first 
position under salary. He remained until the 1st of April, 1850, and 
then came north to Georgetown, and engaged as clerk with B. Canaday 
& Son, who occupied the present location of Mr. Richie's business. 
He clerked twelve months, and then formed a partnership with I. B. 
Haworth in the business of general merchandise. They continued 
until August, 1854. Mr. Richie then formed a partnership with B. 
Canaday & Son, the firm changing to B. Canaday & Co. This con- 
tinued until 1869, when the firm changed to Canaday & Richie, and 
in 1871 it again changed to the present style, and has continued so 
since. On the 31st of May, 1854, he married Miss S. R. Canaday. She 
was born in Georgetown. They had seven children, three of whom 
re living : Morris E., Benjamin C. and Mary A. 

J. Niccum, Gessie, Indiana, farmer and stock-raiser, was born 
in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 15th of June, 1833, and lived 
there eighteen years. His parents then moved to Indiana, and he 
lived there two years. On the 25th of September, 1853, he married 
Miss Sarah Ann Niccum. She was born in Vermilion comity, Illinois, 
on the 12th of October, 1830. They moved near Catlin and lived 



~=s>s^re li 



georgp:town township. 537 

there six years, and then came to his present place. In 1854 they took 
a relative, Frank Billings, to raise. He was born on the 27th of De- 
cember, 1853, and lived here until the 4th of September, 1878, when 
he went to Stafford county, Kansas, and is now farming there with his 
brother. They also, in 1863, took the present Mrs. Henry Bonton to 
raise until her marriage. In the fall of 1876 they took Miss Mary B. 
Davis, then about six years of age, and she is living here at present. 
His parents, William and Elizabeth (Smith) Niccum, were natives of 
Ohio, and came to this county at an early date. She died in 1854. He 
is now living in Indiana. Her parents, James and Catharine (Croll) 
JSTiccuin, were natives of Kentucky. He came to this county in 1824 

Levi C. Underwood, farmer and stock-raiser, Georgetown, is a na- 
tive of Vermilion county, Illinois. He was born near his present 
place, on the 21st of October, 1834, and lived at home until the fall of 
1870, having farmed his father's farm since 1858. On the 27th of Sep- 
tember, 1870, he married Miss Sarah Kyger. She is also a native of 
this county. After the marriage they moved to the wife's home, 
where they have since lived. They have three children, viz : Evie, 
Annie M. and Evert. Mr. Underwood owns two hundred and fifty- 
five acres in this county. His parents, John and Drusilla Morgan Un- 
derwood, were natives of Virginia, born on the 19th of January, 1794, 
and the 2d of April, 1801, respectively. They were married on the 
10th of December, 1818; came to this county in 1827, and settled 
where she now resides in 1828. He died on the 25th of September, 
1858. 

Jacob Gauts, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native of 
Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and was born on the 15th of July, 1815. 
He lived there nineteen years, and then came afoot to Illinois. He 
settled in Vermilion county, near his present place, and has lived here 
since. In 1840 he went to Texas and remained three months. In 
1846 he went to Iowa and was gone six months. He settled on his 
present place in 1858. On the 7th of July, 1842, he married Miss 
Elizabeth Jenkins. She was born in Miami county, Ohio. They have 
three children : John J., Eli M. and William T. John J. was in the 
125th 111. Reg. for nearly three years. Mr. Gauts has served as con- 
stable of this township, and has held the office of justice of the peace 
for about eighteen years; road commissioner eight to ten years; also 
supervisor of township. He owns one hundred and eighty-four acres, 
which he has earned by his own labor. He spent the first seven 
years here in teaching school. He then rented until 1849, when he 
bought ninety acres, on which he settled. He then came to his present 
place. He learned the carpenter's trade in Pennsylvania. Soon after 



538 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

arriving here he was hurt by a runaway horse, thereby losing the use 
of his arm. 

J. H. Hewit, Georgetown, retired, was born on his father's farm, 
one mile west of Georgetown, on the 26th of May, 1834, and lived 
there until 1861, farming the place since he became of age. He then 
moved to a farm of his own, about five miles northwest of Georgetown. 
In September, 1862, he enlisted in the 125th 111. Reg., and was in ser- 
vice until the close of the war. He was in the battles of Perryville, 
Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Atlanta campaign, and all the battles of 
the regiment. At Jonesboro' he was struck with part of a shell, but it 
occasioned but slight injury. On his return from the army, he lived 
on his farm until 1867. He then moved to Georgetown and has lived 
here since. On the 16th of May, 1861, lie married Mrs. Aboline Green. 
She was born in Preble county, Ohio. His parents, Eli and Mary A. 
(Prather) Hewit, were natives of Ohio and Kentucky. He settled near 
Danville in 1828, and died on the 17th of October, 1874. She died on 
the 1st of October, 1874. 

James Gibson, Danville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, on the 5th of December, 1835, and lived there 
six years, when, with his parents, he moved to Clermont county, Ohio, 
where he lived until 1857. He then came to Vermilion county, 
Illinois, and worked with Larken A. Cook until 1862. On the 12th of 
June of this year he married Miss Elizabeth Ogden. She was born in 
this county. They have had five children, three of whom are living: 
Franklin, Mary A. and Kate A. Mr. Gibson owns sixty-nine acres of 
land in this county. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the 125th 111. 
Reg., Co. K, and was in service until the close of the war. He was 
for the greater part of the time teamster. After the fall of Atlanta he 
and others were captured, and were confined in Andersonville and 
Milieu prisons. 

J. H. Lockett, Georgetown, miller, the subject of this sketch, was 
born in Wythe county, Virginia, on the 2d of December, 1819. He 
lived in Virginia about fifteen years, when, with his parents, he moved 
to Knox county, Indiana, and engaged in farming, living there one 
year, when they came to Illinois and settled in Georgetown township, 
where he lived with his parents twenty-two years. He then moved to 
Perrysville, Indiana, and engaged in farming for ten years. He then 
came to this county and settled on a farm two miles north of George- 
town, where he lived until 1857. He then engaged in the stock busi- 
ness. In 1861 he bought an interest in the present mill, and followed 
the milling business about five years, the firm being J. H. Lockett & 
Co. He then sold his interest and engaged in the general merchandise 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 539 

business in Georgetown for eight years, when he sold out and again 
engaged in the present mill. On the 22d of December, 1843, he mar- 
ried Miss Elizabeth Smith. She was born in Virginia, and died on the 
3d of June, 1857. They had three children, two living: David and 
Mattie. On the 20th of December, 1860, he married Miss Ella Wals- 
ton. She was born in this county. They have three children: Frank, 
Grace and Jessie. In early days Mr. Lockett has hauled wheat to 
Chicago by team, making his first trip in 1837, and has delivered wheat 
in Chicago at sixty cents per bushel. 

I William R. Richards, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, is a 
native of Frederick count} 7 , Virginia. He was born on the 16th of 
April, 1809. At the age of six years, with his parents, he moved to 
Washington county, Tennessee, where he lived twenty years. They 
then came to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled in Georgetown. 
While there they entered land in this township. Mr. Wm. R. entered 
his present place and began improving the same. On the 8th of 
October, 1844, he married Miss Cynthia Parks. She was born in 
Monroe county, Indiana, and died on the 10th of August, 1846. After 
the death of his wife he sold out his stock and rented his farm. He 
worked at milling and other trades until 1850, when he married Miss 
Mary Jenkins, of Ohio. They moved to the farm and have lived there 
since. They have six children : Julette, Martha, Mary, Lillie, Lydia 
and John. In 1835 Mr. Richards walked to Chicago and worked in a 
warehouse. He has hauled produce there by team a number of times. 
He owns two hundred and twenty-two acres of land in this county. 
His parents, Henry and Hannah (Reiley) Richards, were natives of 
Virginia, where they were married. They came here as stated. He 
died in October, 1837, and she in January, 1838. 

Capt. G. W. Holloway, Georgetown, general merchandise, was born 
in what was then known as Berkeley county, Virginia, on the 22d of 
February, 1823, where he lived until he was twelve years of age. He 
then, with his parents, came west to Illinois, and settled near George- 
town. Here he improved a farm and remained until the spring of 
1853. He then came to the village of Georgetown and formed a part- 
nership in general merchandise business with Henderson, Dicken & 
Co., which soon after changed to Henderson & Holloway, which firm 
continued until the spring of 1874, since which time Mr. Holloway has 
conducted the business. On the 6th of August, 1862, he enlisted in 
the 125th 111. Reg., he being captain of Co. D. He remained in the 
service until close of war, taking part in the battles of the regiment. 
On the 17th of January, 1855, he married Miss Sophia Lyons, a native 
of Massachusetts. 



540 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

William Sheets, deceased, whose portrait appears in this work, was 
born in Washington county, Ohio, on the 7th of October, 1806, and 
lived there until the spring of 1833, when he came to Vermilion county, 
Illinois, and engaged in farming. In 1835 he moved to Danville 
township, where he and his brother-in-law built a mill, now known as 
Kyger's mill, and carried on the same for nine years. He then sold 
his interest in the mill and bought the present place and moved on the 
same. He lived here for seven years, when he bought an interest in 
the mill and again moved to the same, and lived there two years, when 
he sold his interest and returned to the place which was his home at 
his death. During his two years' residence at the mill, he, Thomas S. 
Morgan, and Henry and Daniel Kyger, built the steam mill at George- 
town ; he sold his interest before the mill was run. He married Miss 
Elizabeth Kyger on the 3d of September, 1829. She was born in 
Monroe county, Ohio. They had six children, two of whom are now 
living: Angeline, born on the 29th of July, 1832, and Matthias, born 
on the 21th of November, 1843. His son, John McH., enlisted in 
the 73d Reg. 111. Vol., and died in the hospital on the 26th of De- 
cember, 1862. Mr. Sheets owned, at his death, two hundred and 
ninety-five acres of land in this county. He was justice of the peace 
two terms, supervisor three, and had also held the school and road offices. 
He had been a member of the M. E. Church thirty-six years, class-leader 
thirty-four years, steward 33 years, and also superintendent of Sunday 
school. Mr. Sheets departed this life on the 11th of August, 1879, at 
8.35 a.m., after being in ill-health two years. He died of heart disease. 
Mr. Sheets was one of the early settlers of this county, and his loss is 
mourned by a large community of sorrowing friends. 

Andrew Clifton, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native of 
Vermilion county, Illinois. He was born on his present place on the 
13th of November, 1836, and lived on the same until he was twelve 
years old; the family then moved to a farm near by, and he lived 
there until 1861, when he came back to the present place, having 
bought it from his father. On the 4th of March, 1857, he married 
Miss Nancy J. Barnhard. She was born in this county. They had 
seven children, four of whom are living, viz: Jennie, Frank C, Lucy 
and Cora. He is no office-seeker, — his only office being connected 
with the school and road. He owns sixty acres in this county, located 
four miles east of Georgetown, which he has earned by his own labor 
and management. 

Captain Hiram Yoho, Georgetown, farmer and stock raiser, is a 
native of Vermilion county, Illinois. He was born on the 24th of De- 
cember, 1836, and has always made his home in the county. He lived 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 541 

with his parents until 1861. He then enlisted in the 12th 111. Inf., and 
was in service three months; he then enlisted in the 35th 111. as pri- 
vate in Co. E, and was in service until the close of the war. He was 
made second sergeant, and in a few months chosen first lieutenant, and 
served as such about one year. He was then made captain of Co. E, 
and was in the battles of Pea Ridge, Nashville and Corinth. He served 
mostly on detached duty, transporting prisoners, assisting in drafts in 
New York and Michigan, etc. etc. On the 15th of May, 1865, he mar- 
ried Miss Nancy A. Hitter. She was born on the present place. They 
had five children, four living, viz : Marquis R., Ophelia, Thaddeus and 
Allen B. 

James T. White, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Bourbon county, Kentucky, on the 8th of December, 1829, and at the 
age of two his parents moved to Indiana, near State Line, and lived 
there live years. They then settled near Georgetown, Illinois, and he 
has lived in that neighborhood since. In 1852 he began farming on 
his own account, and in December, 1853, he married Miss Susannah 
Henderson. She was born in Vermilion county, Illinois. They had 
ten children, six of whom are living, viz: Allen A., Nathaniel H., 
Charles, Moranda, Alonzo and James. Mr. White owns two hundred 
and fifteen acres of land in this county. His parents, Solomon and 
Nancy Prather White, were natives of Kentucky. They came to this 
county as stated, and here both have died. 

A. M. C. Hawes, Georgetown, physician, the subject of this sketch, 
was born in Clinton county, Ohio, on the 9th of February, 1813, where 
he lived until he was fourteen years of age. He then went to Wil- 
mington, and apprenticed to the printing trade in the " Argus" office. 
When the latter was moved to Lafayette, and appeared as the " Lafay- 
ette Free Press and Tippecanoe Journal," he accompanied it, and was 
connected with the same until 1835, working at his trade and acting as 
assistant editor. In the winter of 1830-31 he went to Indianapolis, 
and set type for the 1st Blackford Reports of Indiana. In 1833 he 
began to read medicine with Dr. O. L. Clark. In 1835 he went to 
Ohio, and on the 15th of March, 1836, he came to Georgetown, and 
has practiced here since. With the exception of one, he has practiced 
longer in this county than any other physician. On the 15th of May, 
1837, he married Miss Wilmoth Walters. She is a native of Barren 
county, Kentucky. They had twelve children, ten of whom are living: 
Marquis De La Fayette, Albert S. W., Cassius M. C, Marshal H., Will- 
iam B., Victor L., Amanda M., Alice M., Lorie O. and Kate. 

William J. Terrell, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native 
of Clinton county, Ohio. Pie was born on his father's farm, on the 



542 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

29th of November, 1813, where he lived twenty-three years. At the 
age of twenty -one, he began work at the carpenter and joiner's trade, 
and in 1836 came west on horse-back, and settled in Georgetown, Illi- 
nois, working at carpentering for twenty years. He then farmed some 
land he had previously bought, locating on his present place. He 
owns two hundred and ten acres in this county, considerable of 
which adjoins this village, and he has earned the same by his own la- 
bor and management. On the 20th of December, 1838, he was mar- 
ried to Miss Artimecia Douglas. She was born in Mason county, 
Kentucky, on the 10th of Jul}% 1819. They had ten children, five of 
whom are now living: Luvica M., Cornelia B., Horace G., Florence 
J. and Olive. 

John P. Cook, Westville, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native of 
Vermilion county, Illinois. He was born on his present place on the 
14th of April, 1837, and has lived here since. He is no office-seeker, 
his only offices being connected with the school and road. On the 4th 
of June, 1859, he was married to Miss Minerva J. Downs. She was 
born in Indiana. They have four children, Harvey J., Sarah A., 
William and James F. Mr. Cook owns two hundred and twenty 
acres in this county, located eight miles south of Danville, which he 
has earned principally by his own labor and management. His pa- 
rents, James and Susannah Mover Cook, were born on the 23d of June, 
1797, and 2d of December, 1803, respectively, and were married in 
Clermont county, Ohio, on the 6th of October, 1822. They came to 
Vermilion county, Illinois, in a wagon, in the fall of 1834, and settled 
on their present place. They had eleven children, six of whom are 
now living: Larken, Samuel, Elizabeth, George W., John P. and 
James M. Mr. Cook died on the 19th of October, 1872; Mrs. Cook 
is living on the old homestead with her son. 

John E. Cooper, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Berkeley county, Virginia, on the 9th of December, 1821, and lived 
there four } r ears, when, with his parents, he moved to Greene county, 
Ohio, where he lived until he was seventeen, then moved to Illinois 
and settled about three miles north of Georgetown, and lived there 
with his parents four years. He then farmed for himself until 1863, 
when he came to his present place. In 1843 or 1844 he brought to 
this township a plow that would scour. It was probably the first of 
the kind, and proved an interesting and valuable curiosity, people 
coming for miles to see it. On the 10th of August, 1845, he was mar- 
ried to Miss Lucinda B. Cook. She was born in Indiana. They have 
had eleven children, nine of whom are living : George B., Jennie, 
John W., Sallie L., Anna, Charles, Lizzie R., Katie and Quinn L. He 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 543 

owns about five hundred acres in this county, which lie has earned by 
his own labor and management, having started with $2.60. He has 
teamed to Chicago, making his first trip with apples about 1844. 

Abraham Campbell, Georgetown, blacksmith and farmer, was born 
on the present farm on the 29th of January, 1838, and has always 
lived on the same. In the fall of 1856 he married Miss Elizabeth 
Hen thorn. She was born in Vermilion county, Illinois. They have 
seven children : Elander, Alexander, jr., Alice, Jane, Eliza B., Alfred, 
and Lucy C. He learned his trade with his father. In 1856 he began 
working on his own account. His father, Alexander Campbell, was 
born in North Carolina on the 25th of December, 1795, and lived 
there until he was twenty-one, when, with his parents, he moved to 
Tennessee, and, in 1833, came to Illinois, and settled on his present 
place. On the 25th of December, 1819, he married Miss Elander 
Brown. She was born in Tennessee, and died here in 1852. They had 
thirteen children, six of whom are now living. He has made many trips 
to Chicago by team. He owns two hundred acres of land in this county. 

George Sprouls, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born on 
his present place on the 2d of June, 1838, where he lived until 1861. 
He then enlisted in the 35th 111. Reg., and remained in the service 
three years and four months, and took part in all the battles of the 
regiment except one or two. After his service he returned home, and 
has lived here since, farming the old homestead in company with his 
brother. On the 22d of February, 1866, he married Miss Hannah J. 
Davis. She was born in this county. They have eight children : 
Albert, William, John, Norman, Fannie, Frank, Rosey and Norah. 

N. E. Hubbard, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Sheffield, Massachusetts, on the 20th of November, 1814, where he 
lived one year. Then, with his parents, he moved to Toledo, Ohio, 
and lived there five years. Then, in 1820, he went to Vermilion 
county, Indiana, and settled below where Eugene now stands. Pie 
lived there until 1833, when he went to Terre Haute and apprenticed 
to the tanning trade, remaining four years. He then returned home, 
and lived there until 1840, when he settled in Vermilion county, Illi- 
nois, and took charge of a saw-mill and some land belonging to William 
Curtis, and managed this for five years. He then bought a farm, and 
farmed until 1867, when he came to his present place. On the 20th 
of August, 1845, he married Miss Catharine Ogdon ; she was born in 
Fayette county, Pennsylvania, on the 22d of March, 1822. She settled 
near the present place with her parents in 1825. They have had six 
children, five of whom are living: Carydon, Cynthia Ann, Azro, Jacob 
K. and Camelia A. 



544 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Hiram Dye, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Fleming county, Kentucky, on his father's farm, on the 4th of April, 
1825, and lived there until 1841, when, with his parents, he came to 
Illinois, and settled in Vermilion county. In 1853 he came to his 
present place. On the 22d of March, 1855, he married Miss Sarah H. 
Leuman ; she was born in Vermilion county, Illinois. They have three 
children: Wilson, Mary C. and Martha J. He owns five hundred and 
twenty acres in this county, which he has earned by his own labor and 
management. After he became of age he worked eight years for one 
hundred dollars a year. He has hauled many loads of apples to Chicago 
by ox team ; he made his first trip about 1844. His parents, Lawrence 
and Mary Ann (Van Trease) Dye, were natives of Kentucky. They 
married there, and came here as stated. He is living in Elwood town- 
ship, this county, but she died about 1867. 

James M. Cook, Westville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born on his 
present place on the 1st of March, 1841. In 1861 he began business 
on his own account, farming a portion of his father's farm. On the 9th 
of March, 1862, he married Miss Judith McCabe. She was born in 
Indiana, and died on the 22d of May, 1876. They had four children : 
Minnie, Susie, Mattie and Daisy. In August, 1862, Mr. Cook enlisted 
in the 125th 111. Reg., Co. K, of which his brother, George W., was 
captain. He was in service until the close of the war. He was ap- 
pointed corporal, then promoted to third sergeant, and afterward to 
orderly. He was in the battles of Perryville, Chickamauga, Atlanta, 
Nashville, Jonesboro, and most of the battles of the regiment. On the 
19th of January, 1877, he married Miss Eliza Gerrard. She was born 
in this county. He owns two hundred and thirty-nine acres, located 
two and one-half miles east of Westville. 

Win. Frazier, Georgetown, dry-goods and general store, is a native 
of Elwood township, Vermilion county, Illinois. He was born on the 
4th of December, 1842, and lived there three years. The family then 
moved to Ash more Grove, and lived there one year, when they all 
moved to a farm near Georgetown, and there lived until 1857. They 
then moved to the village of Georgetown, where Mr. Frazier lived 
until the fall of 1862, when he enlisted in the 125th 111. Inf., and was 
in the service until the close of the war. He was in the battles of Per- 
ryville, Chickamauga, Atlanta campaign and in the march to the sea. 
He was also engaged in the other battles of the regiment. After the 
war he returned to Georgetown and farmed for two years. He then 
became connected with the firm of Frazier & Moore, but after two 
years the firm became A. Frazier & Son, and five years later, A. Fra- 
zier & Sons. On the 11th of October, 1870, he married Miss Jane F. 



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GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 545 

Alexander. She was born at Eugene, Indiana. They had three chil- 
dren, one living, — Johnnie. Mr. Frazier's parents, Abner and Mary 
(Milliean) Frazier, were natives of Tennessee and Indiana. He came 
to Vermilion county in 1830, and has been prominently identified in 
the general merchandise business at this point. Mrs. Frazier died on 
the 22d of August, 1868. Mr. Frazier is living here on the old home- 
stead, which adjoins the village. 

Bluford J. Smith, jr., Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, is a na- 
tive of Vermilion county, Illinois. He was born on his present place, 
on the 26th of September, 1813. He lived with his parents until he was 
twenty-four years old, when he went to Missouri and engaged in farm- 
ing, living there seven years. He then returned to his present place, 
retaining his farm of one hundred and eighty acres in Jackson county, 
Missouri. He married Miss Diana Sigler on the 8th of October, 1867. 
She was born in this county. They have one child, — Elmer M. Mr. 
Smith and his brothers, James B. and Thomas J., own and farm the 
old homestead here, which consists of two hundred acres, located four 
miles east of Georgetown. His father, B. J. Smith, now deceased, was 
born in Tennessee, on the 6th of July, 1806, and moved from there to 
Kentucky; thence to Indiana, and to Illinois, entering the present 
place. He worked on his farm, clearing and improving, during the 
winters, and in summers he worked in the lead mines at Galena. He 
married Miss Rachel Pribble. She was born in Ohio. He was in 
the Black Hawk war, under Captain Sherman. They had eight chil- 
dren : America, Sarah, Debra, Bluford J., Jackson, Richard, James B. 
and Thomas J. Mr. Smith died on the 16th of December, 1877, 
and Mrs. Smith died on the 15th of August, 1870. 

S. J. Cook, Georgetown, proprietor " Cook House," is a native of 
Vermilion county, Illinois. He was born on the 24th of August, 1843, 
and has always made his home in this count} 7 , with his parents, and 
assisted in their business. In June, 1861, he enlisted in the 25th 111. 
Reg. Inf., and served three years and three months. He was in the 
battles of Pea Ridge, Missouri; Stone River, Perry ville, Atlanta 
campaign, etc. On his return from the army he engaged with his 
father in the harness business. On the 15th of October, 1873, he mar- 
ried Miss Olive Ashby. She was born in Clark county, Illinois. His 
parents, Enos and Malinda (Harris) Cook, were natives of Union 
county, Indiana, and Hamilton county, Ohio, where they were born in 
1817 and 1820, respectively. They were married in Louisville, Henry 
county, Indiana, on the 3d of July, 1839, and came to Vermilion 
county, Illinois, in 1840, where he carried on farming. He also en- 
gaged in the harness business, locating in the country and also in 
35 



546 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Georgetown, and did an extensive trade in that line. On the 2d of 
April, 1808, he sold out his business and engaged in the hotel busi- 
ness, known as the "Cook House," and continued in the same until 
his death, on the 11th of September, 1877. He had a family of three 
children, two of whom are living: Benjamin F. and Sylvester J. 
The latter has conducted the business since the death of his father. 
Mrs. Cook is living here with her son. 

Matthias Sheets, Georgetown, farmer, was born at Kyger's mill, 
Yermilion county, Illinois, on the 24th of November, 1843, and lived 
there about ten years, when, with his parents, he moved to his present 
place, and has lived here since. On the 20th of December, 1866, he 
married Miss Melvina J. Buchanan. She was born in Yermilion 
county, Indiana. They have four children : Hortense E., Frederick 
B., Mahala G. and Jessie M. In 1869 Mr. Sheets moved to his 
present residence, and engaged in farming on his own account, farm- 
ing part of his father's farm. 

Dr. Geo. T. Richardson, Georgetown, farmer, was born in New 
Hampshire on the 27th of January, 1827, and lived there until 1831. 
He then went to Eugene, Indiana, and in 1841 attended Ashbury Uni- 
versity at Green Castle, and read medicine under Dr. Allen for two 
years and a half. He then graduated from the Syracuse, New York, 
Medical College, and came to this neighborhood and practiced medi- 
cine. He then went to Catlin where he practiced seven } ? ears. He 
subsequently engaged in the drug business at Williamsport, Indiana, 
where he lived for eight years, and then moved to his present place. 
In 1847 he married Miss Moranda A. Town. She was born in Massa- 
chusetts and died here in 1857. They had four children, one of whom 
is living: Emma F. December, 1858, he married Miss Harriet F. 
Hall. She was born in Ohio and died in Indiana in 1870. They had 
three children, two of whom are living: Charles E. and Frank C. On 
the 25th of December, 1872, he married Miss Isabella Henthorn. She 
was born in this county. They had four children, three living: Will- 
iam, Maud and Harriet. Mr. Richardson has been justice of the 
peace twice in this county, and twice in Warren county, Indiana. He 
owns fifty acres in this county, three miles east of Georgetown. 

J. W. Lockett, Westville, general merchandise, was born in George- 
town township, Yermilion county, Illinois, on the 23d of June, 1844, 
on a farm, and lived there until 1862, when he enlisted in the 125th 
111. Inf. Reg., Co. D., and remained in service until the close of the 
war. He was in the battles of Perryville, Peach Tree Creek, Kene- 
saw Mountain and in the Atlanta campaign. On his return from the 
army he engaged in the Henderson mill, at Danville, where he re- 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 547 

mained three years. He then engaged in the bakery business. In 
1870 he sold out and engaged in farming for two years. He then en- 
gaged as superintendent of the Shield's distillery, and in 1877 engaged 
in his present business in its present location. On the 12th of Octo- 
ber, 1877, he was appointed postmaster. On the 5th of January, 
1870, he was married to Miss Hannah Trimble. She was born in 
Covington, Indiana. They have two children : Nellie H. and Oliver D. 

Pleasant West, Georgetown, hardware, is a native of Georgetown. 
He was born on the 10th of March, 1844, and lived there until June, 1861, 
when he enlisted in Co. A, 25th 111. Reg., and was in the service three 
years and three months. He was in the battles of Pea Ridge, Corinth, 
Perryville, Stone River and Chickamauga, where he was wounded, 
because of which he was confined in the hospital about eight months. 
He then went to Springfield, where he was discharged, after which he 
returned to Georgetown, and in the winter following went to Danville 
and attended school until 1866. He then returned to Georgetown, 
and on the 8th of November, of the same year, he was married to 
Miss Helen A. Yapp. She was born in Cuba, New York. They 
have two children: Deralle and Roy O. After his marriage, Mr. 
West engaged in farming, and continued until 1868, when he engaged 
in his present business. 

Gould Bouton, Perrysville, farmer and stock raiser, was born in 
Chenango county, New York, on the 19th of December, 1817, and 
lived there twenty years. He then went to Pennsylvania, and lived 
there one year, thence to Warren county, Ohio, via New York, and then 
to Eugene, Indiana. He went to New Orleans by flat-boat, then to 
West Tennessee ; from there to Eugene, and afterward went again to 
New Orleans, then to McHenry county, Illinois, and from thence to 
New York and return ; from there he came to his present place, ar- 
ranging to buy the same. He then went to New Orleans, returning 
via McHenry county, Illin&is, and has lived here since. He owns one 
hundred and ten acres, the result of his own labor and management. 
On the 28th of November, 1845, he was married, and is the father of 
seven children, six of whom are living : Esther E., James H., Mary E., 
Alice C, Emma J. and Flora B. Thomas T. enlisted in the 115th 
Ind., and was in the service six months. He died a few months after 
his discharge. 

W. B. Cowan, Georgetown, grocer, was born in Georgetown, 
Illinois, on the 21st of December, 1845, and lived there until 1856, 
when, with his parents, he moved three miles in the country and car- 
ried on a saw-mill business for three years. He then attended school 
in Georgetown. In May, 1862, he enlisted in the 73d 111. Reg., Co C, 



548 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

as drummer-boy, and remained in service until the close of the war. 
After the war he returned to Georgetown, and continued his schooling 
one year. He then clerked in a store in Danville, and after this 
returned to Georgetown, and on the 7th of November, 1867, he mar- 
ried Miss Emily Newlin. She was born in Georgetown. They had 
five children, four living: Jessie, Charles, Ralph and Bertha. Mr. 
Cowan has been identified in the harness and boot and shoe business 
for a number of years. In 1878 he engaged in his present business, 
buying out Mr. J. G. Red m on. 

John Sprouls, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native of 
Vermilion county, Illinois. He was born on his present place on the 
26th of February, 1845, and has always lived on the same place. The 
old homestead consists of three hundred and twenty acres, and is owned 
by him and his brother George. It is located four miles and a half east 
of Georgetown. On the 26th of May, 1S71, he married Miss Sarah 
Hurst. She was born in Indiana. They have three children : Margaret, 
Amos B. and Louina A. His parents were James and Mary (Hatha- 
way) Sprouls. They were natives of, probably, Pennsylvania and 
Virginia. He was born on the 24th of December, 1799. They were 
married in Ohio, and came to Vermilion county, Illinois, about 1830. 
They settled in the present place in 1837. On the 11th of March, 1845, 
he came to his death by an accident caused by a runaway horse. She is 
now about seventy-eight years of age, and is living on the old homestead. 

W. C. Cowan, Georgetown, druggist, was born in Edinburgh, John- 
son county, Indiana, on the 9th of November, 1829, where he lived 
about three years, when, with his parents, he moved to Bloomfield, 
Edgar county, Illinois, and lived there until 1846. He was principally 
engaged in farming and conducting a carding-machine. They then 
came to Georgetown and engaged in wool-carding. He lived here with 
his parents until the spring of 1857, during which time he finished the 
wagon-making trade. He then went to Northwest Missouri, where he 
had a carding-machine and worked at carpentering. In the fall of 
1859 he returned to Georgetown and followed the carpentering busi- 
ness until 1862, when he engaged in his present business. He was 
connected with the 125th 111. Reg. for about three months, as sutler. 
He married Miss Sarah M. Tucker, a native of Crawford county, 
Indiana. They had six children, five living: Carrie L., Eva L., Minnie 
B., William A. and Arthur H. His parents, P. and Lurenah Wilson 
Cowan, were natives of Pennsylvania and Virginia. He died on the 
4th of September, 1873. She is living here with her daughter. 

William V. Jones, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born 
on his present place, on the 25th of October, 1846, and has always lived 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 549 

on the same place. On the 1st of February, 1877, he married Miss 
Ettie Richards. She was born in Indiana. The parents of Mr. Jones 
were Parrish N. and Polly (Long) Jones. They were natives of 
Nicholas county, Kentucky, and were married there on the 27th of 
May, 1830. They came to Vermilion county, Illinois, in the same 
year, and engaged in tanning. He died here on the 22d of May, 1850. 
Mrs. Jones is living with her son on the old homestead, which contains 
one hundred and seventy acres, and is located about two miles and a 
half northwest of Georgetown. 

James B. Cook, Westville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born on his 
present place on the 24th of November, 1847, and has always lived on 
the same place. At the age of fifteen he took the management of the 
farm, and for the first few years paid a light rent. In 1875 he came 
into full possession. On the 6th of July, 1865, he married Miss Annie 
L. Black ; she was born in Kentucky. They have four children : John 
E., Oliver A., Clara A. and Kate. Mr. Cook owns one hundred and 
six acres of land in this county. His parents, James W. and Nancy 
(Bowen) Cook, were natives of Indiana and Kentucky ; they were 
married on the present place, and were the parents of one child : J. B. 
Mr. Allen Cook came to this county about 1845, and engaged in teach- 
ing school. He died in Fountain county, Indiana, in 1847. Mrs. Cook 
married Mr. Ellis Dukes, and died in Kansas about 1877. Mrs. Cook's 
parents, John and Susan Leseure (Black) Cook, were natives of Ken- 
tucky, and came to this county in 1852. She died in 1868, and he lives 
in Indiana. 

A. J. Richardson, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born 
near Boston, Massachusetts, on the 26th of June, 1805, and lived there 
seven years. He then, with his parents, moved to New Hampshire, and 
lived there until 1831. He then brought his parents west, to Eugene, 
Indiana, and lived there until the spring of 1848, when he came to his 
present place. While in New Hampshire he learned the shoe-making 
trade in his father's shop, and took charge of the same in 1824, and 
managed the business from that time on, there and at Eugene. On 
the 27th of September, 1825, he married Miss Moriah Taylor. She was 
born in New Hampshire. They had nine children, five of whom are 
living: George T., Martha A., Sarah E., Ferona A. and Francis A. 
While in Indiana, he served fifteen years as justice of the peace. He 
owns two hundred and eighty acres in this county, located three miles 
east of Georgetown. About 1834 he made his first trip to Chicago by 
team from Eugene. His parents, Sceva and Esther Hickson Rich- 
ardson, were natives of Massachusetts. He died on the 11th of May, 
1841, at Eugene, and she on the 22d of February, 1848. 



550 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

R. W. Cowan, Georgetown, druggist, is a native of Warren county, 
Ohio. He was born on the 20th of March, 1821. When one year of 
age his parents moved to Johnson county, and thence, in 1830, to Ver- 
milion county, Indiana. Two years later they moved to Edgar county, 
Illinois. In 1849 he came to Georgetown, and farmed one year; he 
then engaged in carpentering and building. From 1857 to 1858 he 
managed a carding machine in Missouri, but, returning to Georgetown, 
he worked at carpentering until 1862. He then enlisted in the 73d 
111. Reg. and was in the service six months, taking part in the battle 
of Perryville. He received his discharge owing to ill health, and 
returned to Georgetown, and engaged in the grocery business. He 
has since been identified with the drug, boot and shoe business. 
On the 26th of April, 1879, he engaged in his present business, the 
firm being, " R. Wilson Cowan & Co., druggists." On the 14th of 
March, 1841, he married Miss Louisa W. Camerer. She was born in 
Ohio. 

Yalentine J. Buchanan, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was 
born in Lawrence county, Illinois, on the 3d of September, 1826, and 
lived there fifteen years; he then went to Ohio, and from there to 
Perrysville, Indiana, and attended school, making his home with Mr. 
H. C. Benson, present editor of the "California Christian Advocate." 
He lived there five years. On the 8th of July, 1848, he married Miss 
Sarah Craig; she was born in Ohio. In 1850 he came to Illinois, and 
settled on his present place. He owns four hundred and twenty acres 
in this county, which is the result of his own labor and management. 
Of his seven children, five are living: Melvina, Sarah K., George, 
Mahala and Melvina S. In 1843 he joined the Methodist church. He 
was licensed to exhort by H. C. Benson in 1846; ordained by Bishop 
Scott in 1863, and licensed to preach by Hiram Buck, of the Illinois 
Conference, in 1852. He now acts as local minister. His parents, 
John and Mahala (daughter of Col. Spencer Buchanan) were natives 
of Ohio. They were married in Illinois. They died in 1852 and 1834, 
in Crawford and Lawrence counties respectively. His grandfather, 
John Buchanan, was a cousin of ex-President Buchanan, deceased. 

A. Leseure, Georgetown, grocer, was born in Nancy, France, on the 
31st of August, 1816, where he lived until the fall of 1831, when, with 
his parents, he came to the United States and settled in Kentucky, 
near Cincinnati ; then went to Clark county, Indiana, and in 1847 came 
to Illinois and settled in Shelb} T county. In 1851 he came to George- 
town and engaged in the dry-goods and groceiy business, the firm 
being Leseure & Probst. They continued in business two years, when 
Mr. Probst sold out to Mr. Leseure, who continued the business until 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 551 

1861, when, on the 10th of August, he enlisted in the 7th 111. Cav., 
and was in service until the close of the war. Hew r as second-lieutenant 
of Co. M, and was in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Mobile, and the 
other battles of his regiment. On the 24th of April, 1844, he married 
Miss Sarah Brightwell, a native of Maryland. They have had six 
children, four living: Desiree, Victor, Susan and Hattie. 

William Hess, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser. The birth- 
place of this gentleman was in Coshocton county, Ohio. He was born 
on his father's farm on the 10th of February, 1837, and lived there 
until he vras fourteen years of age ; with his parents he then moved to 
Clay county, Indiana, and lived there one year. In 1852 they came 
to Illinois and settled at Brooks' Point, Vermilion county. He lived 
with his parents until the death of his mother, on the 4th of August, 
1854, after which he worked about on the farm for four years, and 
then went to Champaign county and engaged in farming on his own 
account, and lived there three years. On the 1st of September, 1861, 
he married Miss Jane Clifton, who was born in this county. He left 
Champaign county and settled on his present place of eighty-eight 
acres in this township. His family contains three children : Albert 
J., Emma R. and Alman. 

Amos Bockoven, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Morris county, New Jersey, on the 3d of February, 1810, where he 
lived twenty-two years. He then, after spending a few months in Penn- 
sylvania, went to Clermont county, Ohio, and lived there three years. 
He then moved to Vermilion county, Indiana, where he lived until 1852, 
when he came to his present place and has lived here since. He owns 
one hundred and sixty acres in this township, which he has earned by 
his own labor and management. On the 28th of March, 1844, he 
married Miss Margaret Sigler, a native of Ohio. They have no 
children. 

Z. Morris, Georgetown, grain dealer and farmer, was born in Wayne 
county, North Carolina, on the 5th of December, 1824, and lived there 
three years, when, with his parents, he moved to Parke county, Indiana, 
and lived there until he was of age. He then came to Illinois and 
settled in Georgetown. In 1849 he engaged in general merchandise 
business at Montezuma, Indiana ; he then returned to Georgetown 
and engaged in general merchandise business with the firm of B. Cana- 
day & Co., and was identified with this business for twenty years; he 
then sold his interest and bought a stock-farm two and one-half miles 
northeast of Georgetown, and has owned the same since. In August, 
of 1878, he engaged in the grain business, at this point, with the firm 
of Richie, Thompson & Co. On the 12th of November, 1850, he mar- 



552 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

ried Miss Mary H. Canaday. She was born in Georgetown, and died on 
the 15th of September, 1869. On the 23d of February, 1871, he mar- 
ried Miss Elizabeth E. Partlow. She was born in Vermilion county, 
Illinois. They had four children. Two are now living: Fannie P. 
and Wright E. 

John Cage, Westville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born on a farm in 
Northumberland county,- Pennsylvania, on the 7th of December, 1829; 
and in 1830 his parents moved to Athens county, Ohio, and farmed until 
he was twelve years old. He then went to Muskingum county ; from 
there, the next year, he went to Shelbyville, Indiana, and the next 
year to a farm near by, where he lived until he was twenty-one. He 
then worked at millwrighting and chair-making about two and one- 
half years. He then came to Vermilion county, Illinois, and engaged 
in running the Denmark Mills. On the 12th of October, 1868, he 
married Miss Lncinda Keck. She was born in Shelby county, Indiana. 
He next engaged in farming in Georgetown township, renting the Mc- 
Carty farm for two years. He then bought his present place. He 
owns one hundred and eighty-four acres in this county, besides prop- 
erty in Danville, all of which he has earned by his own labor and 
management. 

Benjamin Haworth, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, is a na- 
tive of Rush county, Indiana. He was born on his father's farm, on 
the 11th of April, 1828, and lived there eight years; then, with his 
parents, he moved to Wayne county, Indiana, and lived there until 
January of 1853, farming and learning the brick-making trade. In 
1853 he came to Illinois and settled in Vermilion county, renting the 
Benjamin Canaday farm for twelve years. He then went to George- 
town and engaged in the stock business. He then bought a farm, and 
farmed some five years, when he sold out and moved to Hendricks 
county, Indiana. He lived there one year, and then bought his pres- 
ent place and has lived there since. On the 25th of December, 1849, 
he married Miss Rebecca Ann Colton. She was born in Wayne coun- 
ty, Indiana. They had eleven children, nine of whom are living: 
Letha Ann, Marietta, Ella, Louisa J., Allen W., Edwin, Horace T., 
Dillon and Vida G. He owns one hundred and eighty-five acres in 
this county, which he has earned by his own labor and management. 

Joseph Thompson, Georgetown, general merchandise, was born in 
Salem, New Jersey, on the 4th of August, 1848, and lived there 
until the spring of 1853. He then, with his parents, came to Illinois, 
and settled near Georgetown, where they lived two years. His father 
was then appointed postmaster, and they moved to the village of 
Georgetown, and he has lived here since. In May, 1864, he engaged 



GEOKGETOWST TOWNSHIP. 553 

as clerk in the general merchandise business of B. Canaday & Co., and 
clerked in the business until the 1st of January, 1871, when Mr. Can- 
aday retired, and the firm of Richie & Thompson was formed and has 
continued since. He has held the office of township treasurer and vil- 
lage trustee, of which body he is now president. On the 6th of Sep- 
tember, 1870, he married Miss Lillie O. Canaday. She is a native of 
Georgetown, Illinois, born on the 29th of July, 1853. They have two 
children : Chas. E. and John A. 

James Armour, Eugene, Indiana, farmer and stock-raiser, was 
born in County Antrim, Ireland, on the 11th of February, 1800, and 
lived there three years, when, with his mother, he came to the United 
States, and settled in Pennsylvania, where his father had previously 
moved, and who died a few weeks after their arrival. In 1816 Mrs. 
Armour died, and James continued his residence there until 1822. He 
then moved to Indiana, and helped to build the Groomback mill, and 
he also helped to build the first house of the present village of Eugene, 
in 1823. In 1821 he went back to Pennsylvania. While there, on 
the 10th of August* 1826, he married Miss Elizabeth Deardurff, a na- 
tive of that state. They had twelve children; six are living: George 
J., Van Buren, Charles, Franklin P., Francis E. and Annie M. In 
1828 Mr. Armour moved to Eugene, Indiana, with his family, and 
engaged in boating to New Orleans and boat-building. In 1832 he 
engaged in the steam flour and saw mill at Eugene, and was burned 
out in the winter of 1S34. He then established a boat-yard, and built 
boats until 1854, when he came to his present place. While at Eu- 
gene he served as postmaster and justice of the peace for twenty years. 
He owns one hundred and forty acres in this county. All his children 
are married, and live in this neighborhood, except George J., who 
resides in Kansas. 

Jacob Yapp, Georgetown, hardware, was born in Alleghany county, 
New York, on the 12th of June, 1822, and lived there until 1854. In 
the fall of 1840 he apprenticed to the harness trade, and after serving 
three years traveled a year, and then engaged in the business on his 
own account at Cuba, New York, for two years. He then engaged as 
foreman of a harness and trunk factory, and followed the same for seven 
years. He then, with J. R. Mclvee, opened a harness and trunk fac- 
tory under the firm name of Yapp tfe McKee, and continued until May, 
1854, when they removed the business from Cuba to Georgetown, Illi- 
nois, taking Mr. Thomas Briggs in as partner, and forming the firm of 
Yapp & Co., which continued one 3 7 ear, when Mr. Yapp bought out 
the business and formed a partnership w T ith James Jackson, which con- 
tinued until the death of Mr. Jackson, after which he conducted the 



554 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

business alone until 1861. He then engaged in the hotel business 
which he had opened in 1858, and continued in this until 1865. He 
also conducted the hack line between Danville & Paris, which included 
the mail route. In 1864 he was elected justice of the peace. In 1868 
he engaged in his present business. On the 4th of March, 1844, he 
married Miss Ambrosia C. Sheldon. She was born in Cuba, New- 
York, and died on tne 12th of February, 1848. They had one child: 
Helen A. On the 13th of February, 1851, he married Miss Adelia E. 
Palmer. She was born in Warsaw, New York. 

Solomon Haworth, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born 
in Rush county, Indiana, on the 28th of August, 1829, and lived there 
six years. He then moved to Wayne county, where he lived until 
1855, wdien he came to Illinois and settled in Yermilion county, and 
engaged in farming in Georgetown towmship. In March, 1879, he 
moved to the village, and farms a place on the Wabash in Indiana, near 
Eugene. On the 22d of September, 1850, he married Miss Kezia 
Mendenhall. She was born in Wayne county, Indiana. They had 
three children, one of whom is living: Alice. Mr. Haworth lived with 
his parents until he was twenty-one, when he began farming for him- 
self, and this he has followed since. He has served as road commis- 
sioner for five years in this township, and has also served as school 
director and trustee. 

Phillip C. Jeffers, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Gallia county, Ohio, on the 12th of April, 1833, and lived there until 
1855, when he came to Illinois and settled in Yermilion county. On 
the 19th of March, 1858, he married Miss Elvira Dye. She was born 
in Gallia county, Ohio. They have five children: Florence P., Sarah 
E., William I., Charles G. and Arthur H. He is no office-seeker, and 
has held no offices except those connected with the school and road. 
He owns one hundred and thirty-seven acres of land in this county, 
located two and a half miles northeast of Georgetown. His wife w^as 
the daughter of Robert and Priscilla (Sheets) Dye. They were natives 
of Washington county, Ohio, where they were married. They came 
to this county in the spring of 1856, and settled on their present place. 
He died on the 25th of April of the same year. She is living here with 
her daughter. 

Robert Boyd, Perrysville, Indiana, farmer and stock-raiser, was 
born in Alleghany county, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of June, 1827, 
and lived there five years. He then, w r ith his parents, moved to Yer- 
milion county, Indiana, and in 1855 came to his present place. At the 
age of twenty-one he began farming on his own account. On the 27th 
of February, 1854, he married Miss Margaret Hughes. She was born 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 555 

in Mason county, Virginia, and moved to Vermilion county, Indiana, 
when young. They have four children : John C, Mary E., Melvin M. 
and James T. Mr. Boyd owns one hundred and thirty acres of land 
in this county, which he has earned by his own labor and management. 
His parents, John and Sarah (Stewart) Boyd, were natives of Ireland 
and Pennsylvania. They came here as stated, and died March, 1853, 
and December, 1869, respectively. 

William H. Alexander, Georgetown, retired, was born in Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of July, 1807, and lived there about 
thirty-one years, during which time he learned the wagon-maker's 
trade. He then moved to Eugene, Indiana, and lived there seventeen 
years, carrying on wagon manufacturing and blacksmithing. He then 
came to Vermilion county, Illinois, and engaged in farming. In 1874 
he came to Georgetown, and has lived here since. On the 29th of 
June, 1831, he married Miss Hester Henry. She was born in Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. They had nine children, seven living: Mar- 
garett, Harvey, William, Ann, Thomas P., Jane and Daniel. His son 
William H. Alexander, was born in Eugene, Indiana, on the 23d of 
June, 1S50. On the 1st of August, 1876, he began in the grocery 
business in Georgetown. The business was very small, and located 
near where the post-office is now. On the 29th of January, 1877, he 
bought of W. O. Mendenhall the stock of goods formerly owned by 
E. L. Carter, and moved his business to the northwest corner of the 
public square, where he enjoys his full share of the patronage of the 
place. 

J. P. Cloyd, Georgetown, physician, is a native of Washington 
county, Tennessee. He was born on the farm, on the 28th of June, 
1838, where he lived eighteen years. He then came to Illinois and 
settled in Vermilion county, teaching until 1862, when he began read- 
ing medicine with Dr. J. C. Cook, near Newport, and read with him 
about two years. He then attended a course of lectures at Rush Med- 
ical College, Chicago. After this he practiced medicine in the eastern 
part of this county until the fall of 1868, when he again attended lec- 
tures at the Rush Medical College. He graduated from this institution 
on the 3d of February, 1869, and moved to Georgetown on the 1st of 
May following. He has practiced here since. On the 28th of October, 
1859, he married Miss Hannah Golden. She was born in this county, 
near Georgetown. They had six children, four living: Richard A., 
Frazier ~N., Belle and Darlie. 

John Bennett, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born on his 
father's farm, in Mason county, Kentucky, on the 5th of August, 1828, 
and lived there seventeen years. He then apprenticed to the black- 



556 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

smith's trade, in Maysville, to Mr. Atherton, for three years, losing but 
three and a half days during that time. He then took charge of a shop 
on his father's farm. On the 24th of April, 1849, he married Miss 
Julia A. Bayless. She was born in Mason county, Kentucky. He 
continued in the shop until 1857, when he came to Illinois and settled 
on his present place. Here he carried on farming and blacksmithing. 
In 18T6 he opened a carriage and wagon factory at Indianola, but sold 
the same in 1878. He also had a saw-mill in operation on his farm 
from 1876 to 1878. Of late he has confined himself to his farm, located 
a mile and a half northwest of Georgetown, which consists of four hun- 
dred acres. He also owns land in Edgar county. He is the father of 
four children, three living: William, Laura Ann and Samuel. 

W. O'Neall Mendenhall, Georgetown, physician, is a native of 
Montgomery county, Indiana. - He was born on the 28th of April, 
1834, and lived there fourteen years, when, with his parents, he moved 
to Tippecanoe county, and lived there until 1857, when he came to 
Georgetown and engaged in teaching, following the same for two years 
in Vermilion Seminary, one term at Ridge Farm and two terms at 
Georgetown. In 1864 he moved to Iroquois county, Illinois, and im- 
proved a farm of wild land. In 1866 he taught in the seminary at 
Watseka. From the time he was eighteen he read more or less medi- 
cine, and while at Watseka he read one year under Drs. Jewett and 
Alter. He then attended Ann Arbor, Michigan, for six months, and 
began practice in Iroquois county, Illinois. In 1870 he graduated from 
the Rush Medical College. In 1872 he came to Georgetown, and has 
practiced here since. He was also identified with the drug trade a part 
of the time. On the 15th of September, 1859, he married Miss Lydia 
J. Haworth. She was born in this county. They have had five chil- 
dren, three of whom are living: Edwin, William and George W. 

J. D. Shepler, Georgetown, farmer and miller, was born in Fayette 
county, Indiana, on the 12th of December, 1828, where he lived until 
he was twenty-two. He then apprenticed to the milling trade in Shel- 
byville, Indiana. After learning his trade he followed the same at 
various places in Indiana, until 1859. He then came to Illinois, and 
settled in Vermilion county, at Myersville, where he took charge of 
Smith's mill. In the spring of 1860 lie came to Georgetown, and has 
lived here since. He has had charge of the mill here since he came, 
except two years. In 1864 he bought a farm south of Georgetown, 
and has carried on the same since. The present farm contains one 
hundred and sixty-six acres. On the 13th of September, 1859, he mar- 
ried Miss Mary E. Gaudy. She was born in Newman county, Indiana. 
They have three children : Alonzo L., Alma M., and Frank C. 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 557 

James Moore, Georgetown, fanner and stock-raiser, was born in 
Scioto county, Ohio, on the 12th of March, 1819, and lived there two 
years. Then, with his parents, he moved to Montgomery county, In- 
diana, and lived there forty-two years. In the fall of 1862 he came to 
Vermilion county, Illinois. He lias always followed farming. On the 
28th of January, 1S42, he married Miss Elizabeth Lee. She was born 
in Kentucky. They have three children: William J., Howard, and 
James A. The two former are married, and live in this county; the 
latter lives at home, and assists in the farming; he also buys stock. 
Mr. Moore has, by his own labor, earned his present farm, which con- 
sists of two hundred and twenty-two acres. His parents, William and 
Elizabeth Snook Moore, were natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio. They 
were married in Ohio, and moved to Indiana, as stated, where he died 
about 1870. She is living on the old homestead in Indiana. 

Moses Meeks, Georgetown, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Washington county, Ohio, on the 13th of August, 1820, and lived 
there until 1865. He lived with his parents twenty-seven years. On 
the 20th of April, 1817, he married Miss Susan Heekathorn. She was 
born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania. After the marriage he moved 
on his farm, and farmed same until he came west. In 1864 he came to 
Vermilion county, Illinois, and bought his present place, having sold 
out in Ohio previously, and settled on the same the year following. 
He acted as enrolling master for the fifteenth sub-district, in Washing- 
ton county, Ohio. He owns one hundred acres, which he has earned 
by his own labor and management. They had ten children, eight 
living: F. J., George W., Sarah E., Samuel L., Margaret E., Sarah J., 
Andrew J., and Ida V. William E. and Ann E. died in this county. 

Lorenzo Bennett, Georgetown, fanner and stock-raiser, is a native 
of Mason county, Kentucky. He was born on the 27th of December, 
1836, and lived there nineteen years. He then came to Illinois, and 
settled in Vermilion county, remaining two years. After this he went 
to Kentucky, and lived there six months, when he returned here, re- 
maining a few months. He again left for Kentucky, and lived there 
until 1866. He then came here, and in 1868 settled on his present 
place. He owns one hundred acres of land in this county. On the 
19th of May, 1863, he married Miss Mary Chandler. She was born in 
Kentucky, and died on the 5th of June. 1865. They had one child: 
John W. On the 16th of November, 1865, he married Miss Mary 
Sherer. She was born in this county. They have two children: Sallie 
J. and Lula F. 

Kinzer Rheuby, Eugene, Indiana, fanner, was born in Ver- 
milion county, Indiana, on the 18th of April, 1836, and lived there 



558 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

until 1867. He lived with his parents until he was twenty-two. On 
the 16th of October, 1859, he married Miss Mary C. Fultz. She was 
born in Vermilion county, Indiana. After his marriage he engaged in 
farming on his own account. In the spring of 1864 he enlisted in the 
34th Ind., and was in the service until the close of the war. Of his 
eight children, seven are living: Elizabeth E., Sarah J., William L., 
Rachel Ann, John K., Bell and Andrew J.; Lilly died. He owns 
one hundred and forty acres in this county, and twenty-five in Indiana, 
which he has principally earned by his own exertion. 

Pleasant W. Mendenhall, Georgetown, physician, was born in Mont- 
gomery county, Indiana, on the 21st of December, 1841, and lived 
there seven years, when, with his parents, he moved to Tippecanoe 
county, where they lived about seven years. They then moved to 
Kansas (now Miami) county, and lived there four years. This was 
during the squatters' sovereignty period. They then came to Vermilion 
county, Illinois, and engaged in fanning. They lived here until 1864, 
teaching part of the time ; thence to Iroquois county. In the spring 
of 1868 he began reading medicine with his brother, Dr. Win. O'Neall 
Mendenhall, and during the winter of 1869-70 he attended the Rush 
Medical College, of Chicago, and returned to Iroquois county and began 
practice at Crescent City. In the spring of 1872 he again attended the 
Rush Medical College, and graduated from the same in 1873, and re- 
newed his practice at Crescent City. On the 31st of May, 1874, he 
married Miss Annie L. Plowman. She was born in Maryland. They 
have one child, — Lillie, — born on the 1st of January, 1875. Mr. Men- 
denhall began practice in Georgetown. His parents, David and Mary 
Ann (Perkins) Mendenhall, were natives of North Carolina and Ohio. 
They were married in Ohio, on the 31st of October, 1837. They came 
here as stated, and are now living in Georgetown. 

James 1ST. Mitchell, Gessie, Indiana, farmer and stock-raiser, was 
born in Montgomery county, Indiana, on the 7th of April, 1830, where 
he lived until he was nineteen. He then moved to Parke county, Indi- 
ana ; thence to Peoria county, Illinois, in 1851. In 1858 he returned 
to Montgomery county, and lived there until 1861 ; thence to Parke 
county, and in 1866 he moved to Vermilion county, Indiana, and in 
1873 came to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled on his present 
place. He has held no office except those connected with the schools 
and roads. He owns one hundred and seventy acres of land in this 
county, which he has earned by his own labor and management. On 
the 14th of January, 1850, he married Miss Sarah E. Harlan. She was 
born in Parke county, Indiana, and died in the spring of 1865. They 
had seven children, four living: Bathsheba R., George H., John F. 



GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP. 559 

and James D. On the 28th of September, 1869, he married Mrs. 
Mary Falls, formerly Miss Ritchie. She was born in Parke county, 
Indiana. They have four children : Sarah E., Martha J., Cassius L. 
and Josephine PI. 

Jumps Bros., Danville, care Boone's box, general merchandise. B. 
F. Jumps was born in this township, and has always lived in this 
county, with the exception of one year in Champaign. In 1876 he 
engaged in the general merchandise business in Westville, buying out 
J. Dukes, and forming a partnership with W. J. Boone. They then 
carried on the business there six months, when Mr. Perry Jumps 
bought out Mr. Boone's interests, and the business was moved to the 
present location, known as Hawbuck, or Boonesville. Mr. Perry 
Jumps married Miss Nora Williams, on the 22d of May, 1879. She 
was born in this county. These gentlemen have a full line of goods, 
and are prepared to attend to any wants in their line. They also 
accommodate the surrounding public by delivering their mail to store 
twice a week. Their parents, Jacob and Annie (Davis) Jumps, were 
natives of Ohio and Indiana. They were married in this county, of 
which place they were early settlers. Mrs. Jumps settled here in 
1824. 

Win. F. Henderson, Georgetown, cashier Citizens' Bank, was born 
in Vermilion county, Indiana, on the 21st of March, 1847, where he 
lived until he was twenty-three years of age, during which time he was 
engaged on the farm, and served as county surveyor four years. He 
then moved to Edgar county, Illinois, and engaged in the farming and 
nursery business, in company with his brother. The nursery was 
known as the Prairie View Nursery. In June of 1876 his brother 
died, and the following year he closed out the business, and in Novem- 
ber, 1877, came to Georgetown. In July, 1878, he engaged in the 
banking business with the firm of E. Henderson & Co., and has held 
the position of cashier since. On the 9th of September, 1867, he mar- 
ried Miss Elizabeth Newman. She was born in Hendricks county, 
Indiana, They have had four children, two of whom are living: Alice 
B. and Lenora. 



560 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 

Elwood township occupies the territory in the southeastern corner 
of the county, having Georgetown for its northern, Indiana for its 
eastern, Edgar county for its southern, and Carroll township for its 
western boundaries. It comprises all of town 17, range 11 west, of 
the 2d principal meridian, a fraction of range 10, and two tiers of sec- 
tions off the east side of range 12, making a trifle less than a township 
and a half. The high ridge which runs along the southern boundary 
of the county extends partially along the southern boundary of this 
township also, until it is lost in the valley of the Vermilion River. 
The Little Vermilion runs across its northwest corner for two miles, 
and then runs into Georgetown for about a mile, when it turns south- 
erly again, and runs across the northeast corner. Originally, nearly 
one third of it was covered with timber, the timber land being along 
its northern and eastern boundary. It has, as if stuck to it, a small 
fraction of the triangular piece of land known as Harrison's Purchase. 
It is very difficult to describe this singular appendage, or southern 
extension. It would seem as though it really belonged to Edgar 
county, and had been driven up into Elwood like a wedge which was 
so blunt that it could not all be forced in with the amount of power 
applied. This portion of Harrison's Purchase includes nearly two 
sections of land. The land of Elwood township, which was covered 
with timber, is like all other which is thus covered in its nature, and 
the prairie very similar to other prairie lands, deep and rich, and 
sufficiently rolling to make it easy to cultivate and drain. Indeed, the 
farmers of Elwood are very fortunate in the general quality of their 
lands, and few are found who can reasonably complain. All along its 
northern and eastern border the early settlers found the necessary con- 
ditions for their pioneer homes, and soon spread over all that portion ; 
but it was twenty-five years before the splendid farms along the ridge 
came into cultivation. To the resident of the present day, that which 
has been so often repeated in these pages as to have become common- 
place, that people did not believe these prairies would ever be settled 
up, must ever be incomprehensible; but the truth of it cannot be 
doubted in the face of so many witnesses. Abraham Smith was 
thought to be wild when he determined to go out to the Ridge farm 
to live, and the wisdom of such a decision was so generally condemned 
that he himself doubted his judgment. 

EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 

The points of earty settlement were, Vermilion Grove, Elwood, 
Yankee Point and Bethel, or Quaker Point. Pilot Grove was later. 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 561 

and Ridge Farm still later. These points, or settlements, embrace the 
entire circuit of the township, except perhaps the two places or settle- 
ments known as Johnson's neighborhood, in the extreme northwestern 
corner, and that around Liberty Church, in the northeastern. The 
names given to these different points of early settlement were, in the 
absence of any villages, a matter of convenience or necessity. Some 
of them took their^names from the first settler; others from the little 
log churches or meeting-houses, and they from some association con- 
nected with them. Vermilion was natural, and later came to be called 
Vermilion Grove, from the fact that a station farther south on the rail- 
road was named Vermilion before a station and post-office was estab- 
lished here. Elwood derived its name from Thomas Elwood, an honored 
name in the Society of Friends and a distinguished writer in England, 
whose worthy life was commemorated by admiring friends in the nam- 
ing of their little log meeting-house. Yankee Point derived its name 
from Mr. Squires, who was the only eastern man in "this neck of 
timber," and who came here very early. Bethel and Liberty are from 
favorite names of the churches there. Pilot Grove, if unrecorded 
rumor and unwritten history is to be credited, is from its high ground, 
when compared with the surrounding timber, and acted unconsciously 
in directing the party here who came to make the survey of Harrison's 
Purchase, the two lines of which run through it. At another place in 
this sketch the writer has given the story of Pilot Grove as understood 
and related by those living here, without claiming exact historical 
accuracy, and which may be, as the colored preacher said about another 
story which had gained credence, "all a false mistake." Ridge Farm 
was the name given by Mr. Smith to his farm when he commenced to 
bring it into cultivation in 1849, from its natural position, and was the 
name of the locality long before a village was thought of there. 

John Haworth is believed to have been the first permanent settler, 
although Henry Can aday came about the same time. There were others 
in here before either of them. John Malsby built a cabin near where 
Vermilion now is, in 1820, but did not remain here, going back to 
Richmond, Indiana. Mr. Haworth left Tennessee with his young 
family in 1818, to get away from the institutions which he did not 
admire. Fie went first to Union county, Indiana, and came here in 
1821, and wintered in the cabin Malsby had built. He bought the 
claim of George Bocke, a son-in-law of Achilles Morgan, who, with 
his family, seems to have made his first settlement here before going 
to Brooks' Point, although one account credits him with living a 
season at Butler's Point. John Haworth was a cousin of James, who 
settled soon after at Georgetown. He did not bring stock with him, 
36 



562 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

but soon made an effort to utilize his new possessions by raising farm 
stock. Among his early "neighbors" were Johnson and Starr, off a 
few miles northwest ; Squires and Thomas Curtis, of Yankee Point, 
three miles east ; John Mills, Dickson, and Simon Cox to the west, 
and Henry Canaday nearer by. 

Daniel W. Beckwith came to Mr. Haworth's residence during the 
time of high water in the spring of 1822, and remained all night. The 
rain had fallen in torrents during the night, and when he undertook 
to resume his journey in the morning he got into the stream, falling 
in all over. He was dressed in buckskin pants, or breeches; a round- 
about, and wolf-skin cap. He was not to be deterred from going on 
his journey by one ducking, however, and went on as if nothing 
had happened. 

Mr. Haworth entered several hundred acres of land, but did not hold 
it to speculate on. Whenever a newcomer arrived whom he thought 
was a desirable neighbor, he sold land to him cheap, and on time if 
required. He exercised the same christian forbearance in his dealings 
with men as in his daily walk. George Haworth, an uncle of John, a 
strong-minded and robust man, soon joined the neighborhood, and with 
the Canadays established the first meeting, and soon built a house for 
that purpose. John had a family of eight children, of whom Mr. 
Elvin Haworth, now living on the place, is probably the best known, 
coming here at a time when, by his age, he was peculiarly susceptible 
of the impressions which circumstances would make. He grew up 
under such influences as his father was able to throw around him, fully 
appreciating the good effects of the institutions of religion and of learn- 
ing, which, meagre as they were, were far superior to any in other por- 
tions of the county at that time. He attended the first school taught 
in the county, and assisted by his counsel, though young in years, by 
a maturity of judgment beyond his age, to establish the first seminary 
of learning in this part of the state. With that clear perception of 
duty which no cloud shades, and sound judgment which no circum- 
stance wavers, he is accorded justly a high position in council and a 
strong place in the esteem of his townsmen. For a long time he rep- 
resented the township in the board of supervisors ; and he was the 
early friend of the Vermilion Academy, which, under his fostering care, 
is making steady progress in the work of higher education. 

Henry Canaday came from Tennessee to the Wabash in 1821 ; his 
boys, Benjamin, Frederick, William and John coming here in the 
winter and making a cabin three hundred yards west of where William 
has so long resided. They brought a few hogs with them, but when 
spring came they sickened of the enterprise, and Benjamin went back 






ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 563 

to Tennessee and bought a farm there, and all moved back. In the 
fall they regretted the move and came back here to live. Satisfied 
with their roving, they settled down to business and remained here. 
The hogs they brought first had become wild by the time they got 
back here, and for years they and their progeny furnished hunting in 
connection with the other "game" here. On their return they brought 
a few cattle with them, and hunted in a few hogs to give them a start. 
When they returned here to live, Mr. Morgan, Mr. Bocke and the 
Hoskins children had come, none of whom remained here, and John 
Mills was farther west. The land-office was at Palestine, and when 
land came into market Mr. Canaday entered about two sections, and 
made it his practice to sell to new-comers at congress price with 
interest. 

Eli Henderson came in soon after, in 1824, and settled east of Mr. 
Canaday's, and died there in 1833, leaving three sons and three daugh- 
ters. His son Elam soon after this went to Georgetown, where he still 
resides, one of the most successful and active business men of that 
place. John Newlin and Richard Golden came to Yankee Point 
about the same time ; the latter going to Iowa. Mr. Anderson re- 
mained here a few years and then moved away. He was successful 
and enterprising, though always moving. 

There was at this time, and until Dr. Heywood came, no doctor 
nearer than the Wabash, and no mill nearer than that. There was 
abundance of meat, corn and wheat, and farmers all kept a few sheep, 
being careful to put them in a close pen at night. The farming oper- 
ations were tedious, when all the land had to be marked out with a 
bar-shear plow, corn dropped by hand by the children and covered 
with a hoe. 

Benjamin Canaday had a small house near by, and during the win- 
ter of the deep snow, the snow so nearly covered it that one could not 
see the house till he got right to it. That winter the deer, and pretty 
much all the game, were destroyed by the snow. He was a tinner by 
trade, and made up a stock of tinware and traded it at Louisville for 
goods, which he brought back here and put into a building which he 
built for a store, on his farm just west of Vermilion on the Hickory 
Grove road. This accidental trade made a merchant of him. He sold 
goods here several years before going to Georgetown. He became the 
largest merchant there, and for many years the most successful one. 

John Canaday, another son of Henry's, lived on the farm on the 
State road, between Vermilion and Georgetown. He had a good farm 
and attended to it thoroughly. He had five sons and two daughters. 
Of these, Henry lives on the old homestead, Calvin went to Kansas, 



564 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Benjamin lives in Champaign, John lives here, and William in the 
western part of the state. Mrs. Mahaley lives near Ash Grove, in Iro- 
quois county. 

Frederick and William Can ad ay still live on the farms which they 
made when they came to the state, — the former just north and the 
other west of Vermilion station. His four sons, William, Henry, Isaac 
and John, live around him, worthy and honored men, who esteem it 
an honor to be able to cheer the declining years of him who led them 
in their youth in the line of an honorable life. Of his daughters, Mrs. 
Lawrence resides in Kansas, Mrs. Patterson in Bethel, and Mrs. Ank- 
rura near where her father lives. William had four sons, three of whom 
reside in Champaign. His daughters, Mrs. Herrill and Mrs. Brown, 
live here, and Mrs. Dr. Morris in Iiockville, Indiana. When young he 
had learned the saddler's trade. His father was a tanner and a black- 
smith, and as soon as he could after coming here they got these vari- 
ous branches of business going. William for some years carried on 
harness-making and saddlery, but as soon as he could he gave it up to 
give better attention to his farm. He continues to carry on his large 
farm, but does not stick so close to the plow, as he did when a few 
years younger. He keeps a hundred or more head of cattle. Looking 
back over the time which has elapsed since the first white man settled 
here, he can see the changes which have taken place, from the wilder- 
ness to the present condition of wealth and prosperity. Few people 
have it given them to see what William Canaday has seen. Fifty-seven 
years upon the same farm ! There is the patent for his land direct from 
the President of the United States, with no transfers to note, — not even 
the modern decoration of a mortgage to cover it. An abstract of that 
title could be written up in " short meter." His life here spans the 
history of the county with " two laps." Two families, which have been 
important factors in the history of this county, settled here in this cor- 
ner of the township at a very early day, — those of Achilles Morgan 
and Henry Martin. The name of the former has repeatedly appeared 
in this history, and as his stay here was short, the record of his life 
perhaps does not properly belong here. He belonged to a family 
which had made a name in Virginia as Indian fighters, — a quality 
which was not wholly wanting in the branch of it which settled here. 
He went from here to Brooks' Point, and thence to Danville. Two 
sons went to Texas. One daughter married Mr. Henslee. One mar- 
ried George Bocke, who took up the claim which was purchased by 
Mr. Haworth. After Mr. Bocke's death she became Mrs. Coburn. 
Another married Mr. Underwood, whose children still live in the east- 
ern part of Georgetown township. Another married Henry Martin, 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 565 

who was among the first to settle in Elwood, taking up a claim on sec- 
tion 6, where Mrs. Spicer now lives. She is said to have been a woman 
of many good qualities, and during her long and eventful life strongly 
impressed her character on the community. Her life was devoted to 
her children, in whose success she never failed to take a great interest. 
Rawley became an elder of the Christian denomination, and devoted 
his time and services to preaching and organizing churches in the sur- 
rounding country. Most of the churches of that name in the northern 
part of the county were the fruits of his zeal, organizing skill and de- 
voted life. At the outbreak of armed rebellion he felt called on to 
preach patriotism as he never had before. He labored with the same 
single-hearted zeal, wherever his influence would be felt, to arouse the 
spirit of patriotism among the people. In consideration of his self- 
denying labors in the desk and on the platform, he was elected county 
treasurer, a position which he filled with so much credit that those who 
elected him had no cause to regret it. His death soon after deprived 
the county of one of her most worthy and useful citizens. Achilles 
Martin is one of the prominent business men of Danville. Henry also 
lives in Danville, and John at Decatur. Mrs. Spicer lives on the old 
homestead in Elwood, Mrs. Dillon lives in Danville, Mrs. Graves just 
north of Georgetown, and Mrs. Underwood near McKendry church. 
After the death of Mr. Martin, Mrs. M. became Mrs. Parish, and died 
only about a year ago, strong in. the love of her best gift to the world — 
her children. Few women of the present day have had greater reason 
to feel more satisfied than she, with the part she bore in the stern reali- 
ties of pioneer life; and the children and grandchildren, so many of 
whom still live in this county, will, during their lives, continue to hold 
the good mother in kindly remembrance. Andrew Patterson came 
from east Tennessee in 1827, and settled at Yankee Point, one mile 
east of where his son William now resides. Mr. Cook then lived near 
here, and Mr. Henderson, Mr. Haworth and Mr. Johnson. Isaac Cook 
came here very early, but the date is not now remembered. He owned 
several different farms. The first place he sold to James Thompson. 
A son lives on section 13, and another, Milton, lives farther east near 
the Little Vermilion. Nathaniel Henderson made an early home here, 
and remained until 1853, when he removed to Clark county. His sons 
Eli and George died here. Mr. Haworth, who lived in this neighbor- 
hood, sold early to Mr. Wall, and moved to Indiana. Mr. Wall came 
from Ohio in 1832, and died here in 1872. He had four sons and one 
daughter, who are all gone. Two grandchildren, Mrs. Hilyard and 
Mrs. Adam Mills, reside here. Thomas Durham came here about 



566 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

1825. He sold to Mr. Thompson and went to Kankakee and settled 
among the French. 

¥m. Golden settled on section 25, near Quaker Point, about 1825. 
He got up a splendid house for the times, one story high and painted 
red, and permitted it to be used as a school-house a portion of the time. 
He was a man of strong native abilities, — a natural leader among men. 
He died here and left six children : two sons, Jacob and Richard, and 
four daughters, — Mrs. Elam Henderson, Mrs. Nathaniel Henderson, 
Mrs. Andrew Patterson and Mrs. J. C. Dicken. Richard sold out and 
went to Iowa, where his family reside. Jacob had ten children, four 
of whom live in Iowa; Elam and Mrs. Wm. Thompson live here, and 
Mrs. Dr. Cloyd and Mrs. James Dubre live in Georgetown. When 
Andrew Patterson came here, in 1827, he remained the first season 
with his father-in-law, and then put up a hewed log house on sec- 
tion 23, a little north of the old gentleman's. It required all the 
men in the country, from Vermilion Grove to Quaker Point, to raise 
it. He was an industrious and careful man, and soon acquired a com- 
petency. Always alive to the interests of family and neighborhood, he 
gave an intelligent attention to whatever seemed in the line of duty. 
He owned six hundred acres of land in this township. He died in 
1847, leaving six children. William, the oldest, lives on a farm which 
he purchased of James Thompson in 1863, on section 22, a mile from 
where his father made his home fifty-one years ago. Of the other 
children of Andrew Patterson, Thomas, Golden and Mrs. Elizabeth 
Campbell live in this township, and Mrs. Sarah Campbell near by in 
Georgetown. 

Jerre Falen and Levi Babb came early into the same neighborhood. 
Mr. Babb had a farm on section 26, where his son still lives. A daugh- 
ter resides in the neighborhood. Benjamin Galladay, Thomas Past- 
gate, Simeon Ballard and Benjamin Flehart all settled early in the 
same neighborhood. They are dead and their families gone. 

Mr. Packer, who settled early on section 24, was a singular man, 
and many a queer story is told of him. He was a well-digger, and 
seemed never so happy as when in the full practice of his art. James 
Sidwell entered a large amount of land in this vicinity, but never came 
here to live. The Ashmore Grove farm was first settled by James 
Lawrence, who sold it to Andrew Wagoman, who moved there from 
near Georgetown. He in turn sold it to Abner Frazier. Rev. James 
Ashmore bought it, and for many years lived there while preaching to 
the various churches in the township. He built the large house on it. 
A few years since he moved to Fairmount to live. 

John Pugh came from Ohio in 1830, and entered eighty acres east 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 567 

of Joseph Baird's, in Carroll, where he lived five years. He sold to 
James Grear, and went to Elwood. The next year he removed to the 
Bethel neighborhood. The land upon which he went to live had been 
entered by James Haworth, and sold by him to Mercer Brown, who 
also owned a considerable tract of land in Edgar county. Mr. Pugh 
died here in 1847, and his widow still resides with her children. She 
came from Maryland, and is believed to be the only woman in town 
who never saw a railroad or a train of cars. She is abundantly able to 
go to town, — indeed could walk the distance, — but will not. Her son, 
Granville, lives on the place, and owns four hundred and fifteen acres 
of land there. He has often been called on to administer the affairs of 
the township, having held several offices, and has shown an abilitv in 
the performance of the duties which speaks well of him as a citizen and 
an intelligent man. 

James B. Long lived, as early as 1835, on the farm just east of 
Brown's land, next to the state line. He had a large family of chil- 
dren. His son Levi still lives on the land, and three other children 
live in the neighborhood. 

Isaac Wright and his son, John P. Wright, lived just north of 
Brown's as early as 1823. He owned the north part of section 36 
until 1842. He built a horse grist-mill on the place. The stones were 
cut out of boulders, and the bolting chest, which was about ten feet 
long, was run by hand. He used to shovel up the ground mass and 
put it up on a shelf, and while he turned the chest with a crank his 
children would push it into the mouth of the bolt as fast as it would 
work well. The mill was the first one built in the town, and did 
pretty good work, till he sold it in 1842 to parties who took it to 
Indiana. Wright sold the farm to Branson, and he to Mr. Pugh, in 
1864. Mr. McMurdock, who came here with Mr. Wright, is here still. 
He is an old stand-by — one of those wise-heads who know enough to 
stay where they are well off. John Howard, a son-in-law of Wright's, 
lived here a while, and then went to Indiana, from there to Iowa, and 
then back here, where he still resides. 

Joseph Allison lived on section 25 in 1830. The first Methodist 
meetings were held at his house, and he continued an earnest and 
active friend of the church. 

Garrett Dillon was one of the first to settle in Pilot Grove, and was 
interested in the work of religion and education. He did much to 
build up society here. He died while he was on his way home from 
attending the yearly meeting of the Friends in Iowa. He was a most 
excellent man, and his loss by death was deeply felt in the community. 
His daughter, Mrs. Fletcher, still lives at Pilot Grove ; his son, Will- 



568 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

iam, died at Georgetown ; John was killed in Missouri by a falling 
tree; Mrs. Harrold, another daughter, died here, five of her eight chil- 
dren surviving her. Marion has long been one of the leading business 
men at Ridge Farm; John is also in business there; "W". P. is on a 
farm, and Mrs. Dice and Mrs. Fellows reside there. 

Nathaniel Henderson built the first shanty in Harrison's purchase, 
and Wiley Henderson built a house there. Amos Bogue had a farm 
there. This point of land became known as the "lost lands," because 
of its sections being numbered different from the lands about it. Set- 
tlers squatted on it and were anxious to get titles. Finally a sale was 
ordered, and most of those who lived on the lands secured them by 
purchase. 

The land lying between the timber and Ridge Farm was called the 
" Texas country," because for a long time it was so wild. It began to 
till up about 1845, and now embraces some of the finest farms in the 
township. 

Charles Brady walked from Centerville, Indiana, in 1831, and took 
up a piece of land about three miles south of Yankee Point. He got 
forty acres, with Jackson's signature to the title deed, and built a slab 
house on it. He died there, and his son Enoch lives at Ridge Farm, 
where he is engaged in running the grist-mill. 

John Fletcher came from Ohio in 1836, and lived near Vermilion 
Grove. He came to Pilot Grove in 1839, where he now lives. He 
worked around for a while, wherever he could find work — mauling 
rails and making brick — until he had earned enough to buy a piece of 
land. His father had entered eighty acres in Pilot Grove in 1828. 
He is, and long has been, a leading man in the township, and in the 
society of Friends, of which he is a member. For many years he has 
been on grand juries in the courts of the county, and is recognized as 
a man in whom the utmost confidence can be placed. He has raised 
seven children, some of whom still live near the old homestead. John 
Haworth, who now lives in Watseka, had a farm here when Mr. 
Fletcher came here to live. His present wife, who was Mrs. Haworth, 
has three children, who live in Thorntown, Indiana, one of whom is a 
preacher. His farm lies along the west side of Harrison's Purchase, 
and, from the understanding which is current as unwritten history in 
regard to that matter, the writer has derived the following: When 
General Harrison was down on the Wabash some Indians stole nine- 
teen horses from his camp, and a half-breed offered, for a suitable com- 
pensation, to pilot a party of soldiers to where the stolen horses were 
concealed. This is the highest timber-land anywhere in this vicinity, 
and can be seen a great distance. The pilot led this way; but whether 



KMV0OD TOWNSHIP. 569 

the Indians were detected here and the property restored is not stated. 
Harrison, in the course of negotiations with the red man, purchased a 
piece of land which may be described as triangular at its northern end, 
blit having the Wabash river for its. third side. The apex of this tri- 
angle is a rock which was out on the prairie a mile north of the grove, 
the northeast side being a line run from tbat'rock toward the sun at ten 
o'clock on a certain da} r of the year, and reaching the Wabash river a 
few miles north of where it becomes the boundary line of the state. 
The western line is a line run from the rock directly through a huge 
elm tree which did stand and now lies in the fence a few rods from 
John Fletcher's house, extending south through Edgar and Clark 
counties, and terminating in the northern part of Crawford, thence east 
to the Wabash River. At the time of the earliest settlement here there 
was an old shanty, very dilapidated by time, near the old elm tree, 
which rumor says had been r used at the time negotiations were going 
on here. 

Asa Folger came from Indiana in 1829, and commenced tanning 
near Elwood. This business was then of considerable importance, and 
the habit of farmers then was to get their leather from the tannery and 
make their own shoes, or take the leather to a shoe-maker to get it 
made up. No farmer thought he could afford to buy shoes. Elam 
Henderson relates that by the time he was ten years old his father set 
him to work to make his shoes, over home-made lasts, out of home- 
made leather. After civilization had progressed far enough westward 
so that tanyards were within reach, the hides were taken there and 
marked and put into the vats. In due time the leather was ready to 
be made up. He was a leading member of the Society of Friends, and 
his children grew up worthy members of that faith. After a few years 
he sold, and bought a farm of John Thompson, in the southern part of 
the township, where Mrs. Folger now resides. He had ten children, 
all of whom are living. Three'are in Kansas ; one in Missouri; John 
lives on a farm in Harrison's Purchase; Uriah near Ridge Farm ; Mrs. 
Reynolds and Mrs. Mills live near Elwood meeting-house, where the}' 
have large families growing up around them. Mrs. Dubre and Mrs. 
Ellis live near Pilot Grove. John is a recorded preacher of the Friends 
society, and spends a portion of each year in visitations. Uriah is also 
a preacher. 

The earlier settlers at and 'near Elwood were Mercer Brown, Exum 
Morris, David Newlin, Nathan Thornton, Elisha Mills, Isaac Smith, 
Wright Cook and Zimri Lewis. They organized and maintained the 
Friends meeting there, and were honored and esteemed citizens. Els- 
bery Gennett took up a farm near Pilot Grove early. He patented a 



570 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

glass moth-protector for bee-hives, and made a great success of it finan- 
cially. He was a queer old man. His oddities were long the subject 
of remark. 

There were many early settlements along the Little Vermilion, in 
the northeast part of the township. Thomas Whitlock came here from 
Tennessee in 1828. He had united with the Baptist church when a 
boy, and all through life retained a lively interest in the cause of re- 
ligion, and was a strong promoter of the church of his choice. He was 
a man of intelligence, of firm convictions, and of great force of charac- 
ter. For more than twenty years he was a justice of the peace, and 
was almost annually on the juries of the county. He was always in- 
terested in politics. The first vote he cast was while he was in the 
military service, voting for his old leader, Andrew Jackson. He was 
engaged in teaming over the mountain roads in Tennessee, and when 
he came to this state emigrated in one of those old-fashioned "prairie 
schooners," whose prow and keel rise on a curve, to prevent the con- 
tents from rolling out when going up and down hill. He acquired 
about seven hundred acres of land. He had thirteen children, four of 
whom are living. He died in 1878, aged eighty-two years. His was 
an active, busy, useful life. Thoroughly conscientious in all his deal- 
ings, undertaking whatever work he had to do with christian fortitude, 
training his children in the way he loved, he lived a devoted life and 
sleeps in an honored grave. His son James lives in Vigo county, Indi- 
ana, and has five children. Isaac lives in a neat farm-house close by 
the church which his father had done so much to organize and build 
up, and has four children. John lives at Eugene, Indiana, and Benja- 
min on the old homestead. Alfred Parks, who was another early pro- 
moter of the Baptist church here, and long a deacon, lives north of 
Georgetown with his son-in-law, Elwood Bales. 

Though not one of the earty settlers, space must be allotted here for 
a notice of Mr. Thomas Millholland, who came here from Edgar county 
in 1856. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church here, and was 
devoted to the cause of religion. He was the father of thirteen chil- 
dren, only one of whom died in infancy. He had been a militia officer 
in his younger days, and when rebellion arose, though sixty years 
old, he was intensely interested in the cause of the Union. Colonel 
Jacques and Lieut. Davies were addressing a war meeting at George- 
town, calling for volunteers to fill the depleted ranks of the grand 
army of the Union; but the volunteers were not forthcoming. The 
old man was present, and stepped forward and enlisted ; others soon 
followed his example. He went out to battle, but soon came home to 
die; the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. Nine of his chil- 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 571 

dren and their mother survive, of whom Amos and Mrs. Martha Hen- 
derson reside here. 

Enos Campbell came here in 1834 from Tennessee, and a large 
family live in the vicinity yet. Alexander Campbell came here at the 
same time, and settled just across the line in Georgetown. He is now 
eighty-three years old, and still attends to his large farming interests. 
He has eight sons and four daughters. Hogan and Abraham live here 
in Elwood ; Robert and Mrs. Patty in Missouri ; Mrs. Whitlock in 
Homer, and Mrs. Day in Penfield. 

John Whitlock came here in 1830, and lived on the south side of 
the creek for three years, when he removed to the north side. He was 
an early friend of the Cumberland church here, and he and his family 
did much to build it up. Three of his sons became ministers of the 
Gospel, and two still live to preach the Word. Another son, William, 
lives in Georgetown ; Jacob, in Indiana, and Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. 
Cook, here. Now a feeble old man, the days of his labor passed, he 
will long live in the memory of his children as a faithful, consistent 
father. William Thompson, Golden Thompson, James Graham and 
Abraham Brown settled along the Salt Works road here in an early day. 
Abraham Brown, jun., lived a mile farther west. He is dead, but 
several of his children reside near. Foster Elliott also came here 
early; his son, Gosberry, lives near Liberty Church. William Rees 
came to Yankee Point with his father in 1838. A. J. Ramey came 
from Indiana in 1850. At that^time, Wright Cook lived where Rees 
does. He lived there fifty years. He was one of the organizers 
and was a preacher of the Friends meeting at Elwood. He died a 
year ago. His widow and children, Thomas, Asa, Kesiah and Rachel, 
live in this vicinity. He was a worthy and much respected man. 
Zimri Lewis, another of the old guard who upheld the cause of re- 
ligion, and a most estimable man, died near here in 1875. He was the 
father of fourteen children, all of whom died before him. Two of his 
grandchildren still live here. 

Eli Patty lived at Patty's Ford, northeast of Elwood meeting-house. 
He came here about 1818. He was an elder in the Presbyterian 
church. His son William gave up his life for his country ; he was a 
worthy and upright young man. One daughter, Mrs. Wm. Patterson, 
resides in the township, and her mother resides with her. 

John Rayburn was a minister of the Baptist denomination. He 
lived near the site of the old Baptist church. He is dead, and his 
son lives near Danville. 

Eli Thornton was here at a very early day. He was a good car- 
penter and a good Quaker. He had a water-mill on the Little Yer- 



572 ' HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

milioi) at the Wright Cook Ford. He built it the year after the frost 
killed the trees in June (probably 1837). The frost which appeared in 
that month was severe enough to kill the leaves, which had the effect 
to kill the trees themselves in many localities. The mill was both a 
saw-mill and grist-mill. He run it until 1857, when the frame was sold 
to James Frazier for a barn. The stones lie there yet. Mr. Thornton 
went to Sadorus Grove. The Hall mill, on the state road south of 
Georgetown, has been long gone. Jonathan Haworth built a mill 
about half a mile from where Henry Mills now lives, at Cook's Ford, 
about 1830. He was a brother of James Haworth ; he died at the mill. 
Isaac Cook bought it and sold to Eli Patty. The water dried up with 
the advancing civilization, and the mill went down. 

Zackeus Parhum, a good and beloved man of the Friends, and one 
who attended to his own affairs, lived near the Elwood Church early. 
He died in 1857. He had four daughters and one son. Mrs. Shires 
still lives here. 

Joseph Ramey came here about 1850, following his sons, Asa and 
Jonathan, and lives in Georgetown, aged seventy-two years. He had 
ten children, of whom three are now living: Asa, on the farm in 
Elwood, Jonathan, in Georgetown, and Mrs. Wesley Cook, in Elwood. 
Nathaniel Cook, the father of Wesle} r , was an industrious and pious 
man, a good citizen and good neighbor. He resided on the farm which 
Ramey now owns. He died and left three sons and two daughters, 
who live in this township. Asa Ramey has eight children, two in 
Missouri, and the others at home. 

Samuel Graham came from East Tennessee in 1828 to Yankee Point, 
where the widow Whitlock now resides. Jonathan Haworth had made 
an improvement there, and Mr. Graham bought it. He lived there 
two years, and then bought on section 6 (range 10). He preempted 
the northwest corner of the section, cut the saplings and made a cabin, 
and died there in 1S33. His wife died in 1857. They were industrious 
and religious people. At their house the first Methodist meetings in 
this part of the township were held, and continued to be so held until 
a school-house was built. Their daughter married Mr. French, the 
first Methodist minister, and their son James continued to live on the 
place until 1873, when he moved to Georgetown. Mr. Walton im- 
proved the farm next west of Graham's, and moved to Indiana. 

.James Hepburn came to Eugene in 1833, and the next year came to 
section 2 and entered eighty acres of land, made a cabin, and improved 
the farm his son Thomas now resides on. He died in 1850. He had 
eleven children; rive are now living: Thomas lives on the old home- 






ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 573 

stead, Israel in Ohio, one in Missouri, one in Iowa, and Mrs. Lashley in 
this county ; one grandson, Thomas, lives in Georgetown. 

Mr. Denio, who lived in this neighborhood, had in his cabin one of 
those odd old fire-places which were a curiosity even in those times. It 
commenced half way up the wall, and had room under it for half a cord 
of wood. They are believed to have gone out of date in Elwood. 

Abraham Smith was the first to make a farm out on the Ridge. 
The prairie land north and west of Pilot Grove was the last to be 
brought into general cultivation. For twenty years after good farms 
existed along the "Points" and the groves this beautiful prairie lay 
open, being entirely destitute of cultivation. When Abraham Smith 
and his brother William concluded to sell their farm at Vermilion 
Grove and bring the Ridge farm into cultivation, they were cautioned 
against the folly of going there to live. They were told that no one 
yet was ever known to live out on the prairie; that he would never 
have any neighbors, and could not expect to have meetings or schools. 
He thought, however, that the land was better for farming purposes 
than that in the timber, and that he could better afford to haul his rails 
and wood out to his prairie home than to try to bring the timber land 
into cultivation. His wife, who is a sister of the Canadays, and who 
still lives on the place, says things did look pretty rough when she 
came here to live on Christmas day, 1839. They had moved from 
East Tennessee, and lived a few years near her brother's at Vermilion 
Grove. Mr. Smith commenced improving this farm in 1839, and built 
a house on the east side of the state road, which they moved into in 
the winter. Four years later he sold this to Ori Ashton, and built the 
house on the west side of the road where his widow still resides. When 
he came the stage route from Danville to Paris was already established, 
and the next spring four-horse coaches were put on the route, and soon 
a post-office was established, though it was some time before neighbors 
began to settle near. He was obliged to "keep tavern," and entertain 
any who came along, as there was no one to send them to. The 
coaches made a trip a day, going from Danville one day and return- 
ing the next. The wolves were so troublesome that they would chase 
the chickens into the yard. 

Thomas Haworth was the first to join Mr. Smith in moving here 
and making a farm, in 1841, just north of where Mr. Smith lived. Uri 
Ashton, who was next, only remained a few years and sold to Mr. 
James Thompson, who is also gone. It soon became evident to the 
active mind of Mr. Smith that there would be a business center here 
soon ; he built a blacksmith and wagon-shop, and soon after, about 
1850, a store. About 1855 he, with some others, built the large three 



574 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

story steam mill, which cost about $10,000, and did very good work 
until it burned in 1863. The shop and store stood south of his house, 
and it was not until the town was laid out that the buildings were put 
up where the village now is. Mr. Smith was an honored member of 
the Society of Friends ; in political principles a radical abolitionist of 
the most pronounced type, and was an energetic and active business 
man. He died in 1863. He had seven children, live of whom are 
living: One son lives in Iowa, one in Kansas; Mrs. Clark lives in 
Paris; Mrs. Pierce lives with her mother on the old homestead, and 
Mrs. Haney near by. His brother, Dr. Isaac Smith, lived early east of 
where Gibson's store now stands, at "Vermilion Station, and his brother 
Jesse lived southeast of the Vermilion meeting-house, where his son 
George now lives. The other farms around Ridge Farm were slowly 
brought into cultivation after these pioneer ones, and gradually became 
one of the finest farming tracts in the county, thereby justifying the 
radical judgment of Mr. Smith, who seems never to have doubted its 
great value. One marked feature of farm-life in Elwood is that there 
are no large farms like those we find in the other townships on this south- 
ern tier. The men seem to have been moderate in their desires, and 
none of them attempted to hold great bodies of land, or to buy up all 
the farms adjoining them. 

RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND CHURCHES. 

From the very first the interests of this township, in its religious, 
moral, educational and political matters, were largely in the hands of 
the Friends. They were among the very earliest here ; their decided 
views, their homely ways and the influence of their godly lives have 
moulded the manners and the welfare of the town. For all time to 
come this influence will be felt ; no one can estimate or weigh it, but 
every one knows and feels it. John Haworth and Henry Oanaday 
and their children, and George Haworth, whose age and faithful chris- 
tian life made him from the first a leader in society, and the one to 
advise in all such matters, within the first or second year of their life 
in the new country at- Vermilion Grove, in the year 1823, commenced 
meeting together in what is called "indulged meetings," in a cabin 
which stood about one hundred yards north of where v Haworth's saw- 
mill stands. George Haworth was the principal speaker, or preacher; 
it is not thought that he assumed the title, but he was looked up to as 
such. The indulged meetings were regularly kept up according to 
the custom of the society, two days in a week. In 1824 a meeting-house 
was built right where the Vermilion meeting-house now stands. It 
was built of hewn logs, larger and nicer than any of the houses in the 






ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 575 

neighborhood. By this time the little Society of Friends had increased 
somewhat in numbers, and from that time, now fifty-five years, the 
fires on the altars at Vermilion have never been permitted to go out. 
They have, like all other denominations, often found their religious 
zeal moderating, but there has been no time when they have permitted 
their meetings to be discontinued. There is a very general knowledge 
on the part of all in regard to the religious belief and methods of the 
Friends, but no very clear conception of their church government and 
system. The central idea of their system is the separation from all 
form and ceremony. All their action is based upon individual consent 
of the members. The " meeting " is " set up " where " two or three 
assemble together, 1 ' if they desire an organization ; no ecclesiastical 
authority being asked for or permitted. The organization is the act of 
the united members of the society, but when done must be done in 
accordance with the rules of the society. A time-keeper is selected, 
and a secretary and treasurer chosen. ISTo one makes a motion ; no 
question is put to vote, the custom, — perhaps it ought not to be called 
the form of action, — is this: Some member suggests a certain proposi- 
tion, as, the name of a proper person to act as secretary, or the name 
of a suitable person to act on a committee. If the member has in his 
mind reasons for making the suggestion, he may state them. Time is 
given for others to state whether or not they agree with the suggestion, 
or whether they " have unison " with the proposition. If during this 
waiting time no one signifies a want of unison, the matter is taken as 
having been decided in the affirmative, and that decision is announced 
by the clerk, not as having been " carried " ; but he states that he has 
entered the following minute, which he reads, giving an opportunity 
again for general assent to the minute. If, as very rarely occurs, oppo- 
sition is offered, and such negative view seems well founded, or well 
fixed, the clerk would not deem himself authorized to enter the minute. 
This system of conducting business is the method adopted in all the 
society meetings from the lowest to the highest, or yearly meetings. 
No voting by ballot ever occurs; an agreement is obtained and the 
fact of that agreement recorded. 

Any member who thinks the business has been transacted, instead 
of moving an adjournment, says: "I think we might now have the 
final minute read." After time is given for others to signify their 
unison with the view expressed, the clerk writes in his record the 
minute of adjournment, or the close of the meeting. This is in busi- 
ness meetings, of course. In the regular religious meetings all this 
is dispensed with. There is no opening or closing exercise, benedic- 
tion, or form of any kind. The person who is time-keeper, when the 



576 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

time arrives to begin the meeting, invites the elders present to a seat 
in the desk or bench which fronts the congregation ; two or three of 
them sitting in those usually occupied by the men, and as many of the 
women in their own desk, and anyone on either side of the house, 
either in the desk or in the benches, that desires to say anything, does 
so, or a hymn is sung, or a prayer offered. Usually, at this day, the 
men sit with tiheir heads uncovered, though this is governed merely 
by the convenience or desire of the individual. The women, a few of 
them still wear the bonnets which have long been the distinctive in- 
signia of the Friend, and some wear dresses of " Quaker drab," or 
brown. These items of dress have, however, largely disappeared from 
the assemblages at the meeting-house, and a broad-rimmed hat or shad- 
shaped coat is seldom seen in Elwood. After all have taken part in 
the meeting who choose to, the time-keeper leans forward and shakes 
hands with his next neighbor, — an act which is followed generally 
through the congregation, and the meeting is out, this hand-shaking 
being the only " benediction," and the only thing which amounts to a 
form. No sacrament is administered, neither baptism or the Lord's 
supper. Marriage, which in some churches is recognized as a sacra- 
ment, is of course recognized, and iriust be solemnized in due form, and 
while not deemed in any sense a sacrament, retains its position more 
nearly a ceremony. No form of ordination for the ministry is recog- 
nized, but provisions are made for an oversight of him who preaches, 
or who visits other congregations or meetings to labor with them. 
When one thinks he has a call to preach, a committee is appointed by 
the preparative meeting to which he or she belongs, who select over- 
seers, who ascertain what facts they can in regard to the daily life and 
religious character of the person, and report to the monthly meeting. 
Elders are selected by the monthly meeting, who inquire into his doc- 
trinal soundness, and if all, including his ability to preach the word 
and instruct, is found right, a certificate is given him. A preacher so 
accredited may ask of the monthly meeting authority to visit meetings 
in any part of the country, and if such authority is granted, as it always 
is unless some good reason is known for its refusal, a minute is given 
him by the clerk. With this as his credentials, he has the authority to 
visit all congregations covered by the minute, and call meetings, and 
labor with them as long as the spirit indicates that his labors are effect- 
ive. No salary is permitted to be paid to the preacher, but paying 
his traveling expenses when on these visits is not prohibited, — indeed, 
is encouraged and expected. No order of clergy, or title, is known 
among them. Their society is a standing protest against priests, bish- 
ops, livings and titles. 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 577 

i 

In discipline they are more nearly in accord with other denomina- 
tions. The children of parents who are members are considered as 
members until they arrive at years of discretion, when they may exer- 
cise their right to withdraw or remain. An erring brother or sister is 
visited and labored with, and the committee thus visiting reports to the 
meeting. In aggravated cases, where repentance does not follow, ex- 
pulsion might; but in ordinary cases, if the person disciplined desires 
his "right," — desires to withdraw from the meeting, — that right 
would be granted, and is not deemed expulsion. Conversion is recog- 
nized as essential to uniting with the body of believers. When the 
offer to unite comes from a candidate, he is asked his reasons for want- 
ing to become a member at the preparative meeting. The reasons are 
received, and the case is carried by a committee to the monthly meet- 
ing, where a committee is appointed to examine the candidate, and if 
that committee is satisfied of his conversion, he is received upon their 
report. Getting into debt without reasonable expectation of being 
able to pay is considered good grounds for discipline, but in seasons of 
great depression due allowance is made for unexpected shrinkage of 
values. JSTo member can appeal to the law until all other means are 
exhausted, and then only by permission of the meeting. In all the 
deliberations of the society in its meetings, the poorest or humblest has 
the same opportunity to be heard, and has just as much influence as 
the richest or most active. The amount of money required to carry on 
the church work is inconsiderable, but small as it is, it must be raised 
in regular ways. The yearly meeting apportions to each the amount 
expected, through the quarterly and monthly meetings. A committee 
is then appointed to assess the amount according to the wealth of the 
members. Ministers can change their relation from one monthly meet- 
ing to another on certificate, but elders cannot as such. Two or more 
preparative meetings constitute a monthly meeting, several of which 
constitute a quarterly meeting, an indefinite number of which are 
within the jurisdiction of the yearly meeting. Eight preparatives 
belong to the quarterly meeting at Vermilion Grove, namel} 7 : Ver- 
milion, Elwood, Pilot Grove, Georgetown, Hopewell, Ridge Farm, 
Fairfield and Champaign. The yearly meeting is located at Plainfield, 
Indiana, and embraces twelve quarterly meetings. For a long time it 
was the custom to build the meeting-houses with partitions in them 
for separate meeting-rooms for the men and women. Just what the 
necessity was for the separation of the two is not now very evident, 
but it has been the custom till a very late day to build the houses in 
that form, and to conduct the business meetings separately. These 
meeting-houses in Elwood are built in that way, having very narrow 
37 



578 HISTORY OE VERMILION COUNTY. 

folding-doors between the rooms, and openings in the partitions which 
are closed by boards, which hang upon ropes run over pulleys, so that 
as the upper one is pulled down the lower is raised, thus closing the 
aperture. The yearly meeting is the highest authority in the society, 
and has jurisdiction over all matters which come up from the quarterly 
meetings, and has the work of missions and of the Bible cause in charge. 
In the book of discipline certain questions are found which must be 
asked by the clerk of every monthly meeting, and answers in writing 
must be sent up. Among these questions are such as pertain to the 
religious condition of the membership. One of these questions is: 
Have the Friends consistently protested against slavery, against visiting 
circus shows and kindred things, and against paying salaries to preachers ? 

There are in Elwood five preparative meetings of the society: Ver- 
milion, Elwood, Hopewell, Pilot Grove and Ridge Farm, which have 
been "set up" in point of time in that order. Vermilion, which was 
first, very soon became the monthly meeting, and in 1863 the quarterly. 
The meeting at Elwood, which is about two or three miles east of Ver- 
milion, followed soon after, and was named from a leading man in the 
society, which in turn gave name to the township. That at Hopewell 
is in the extreme southeastern part of the county. Around these three 
centers the Friends who settled here early collected, taking up land, 
making farms, and holding their meetings with great punctuality two 
days of the week. Around the first the Haworths, the Canadays, the 
Mendenhalls and others settled ; around Elwood were the Folgers, 
Hendersons, Newlins, Zimri Lewis, Wright Cook, and many others. 

The first log meeting-house at Elwood was built about 1830. It 
had in it a fire-place built on legs, so arranged as to burn charcoal. 
This would be an oddity as an appurtenance to a house of worship 
now, and would hardly answer the purpose. The present meeting- 
house was built in 1846. It is 30 x 55, frame, with stone foundation. 
It has the partition between the two apartments, like all the old houses 
of that denomination. The present meeting-house at Vermilion was 
built in 1850, and is very similar in construction to the others. In 
those early days George Haworth usually took part in the religious 
meetings, and they soon after had visiting preachers coming among 
them. Charles Osborne, who lived near Richmond, was the first, and 
after him John Folk, from Pennsylvania, spent some time with them. 
Elizabeth Robinson, from England, a most excellent lady, was here one 
winter. The meeting-house at Pilot Grove was built in 1848, and is 
about 30x48, and the one at Hopewell was built about the same time. 
The house at Ridge Farm is more modern. Sabbath-schools are main- 
tained at all of these meetings, the old and young alike joining in the 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. ">79 

service as they do at church. With the exception of a lack of formality 
in opening and closing, they are conducted in the same way the schools 
of other denominations are. 

Elijah Yager, who came from East Tennessee, a school-teacher 
in the employ of the families of Friends living around Vermilion 
Grove, was the first Methodist who held regular meetings of that de- 
nomination in this township. It is not known what conference he 
belonged to. The next regular preaching services of the Methodists 
were held at the house of Samuel Graham in 1828 or 1829. Mr. 
Graham lived then on the farm at Yankee Point, where Mrs. Whitlock 
now resides. The preaching was conducted by Rev. James McKain 
and Rev. John E. French, the former in charge of the Eugene circuit 
at that time, and the latter was his assistant. The circuit was a four- 
weeks circuit, the two preachers preaching every day, and thus getting 
around to each of their appointments once in two weeks. The circuit 
extended to Big Grove (Urbana). They preached at Georgetown and 
at Cassady's. A class was formed at Mr. Graham's house, consisting of 
Mr. and Mrs. Graham, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Shires, Mr. and Mrs. 
Thomas Standfield, and Miss Graham. Mr. Shires was the first class- 
leader. Mr. French was an Englishman, though French in name, and 
his preaching was of an effective nature, so much so as to convert Miss 
Graham into a Frenchwoman, for he married her while on this circuit. 

The amount of ministerial work which these early circuit-riders per- 
formed is almost incredible. Their appointments covered every day of 
the week, and were tilled with a regularity which was wonderful, con- 
sidering the difficulties of travel which were surmounted. Through all 
sorts of weather, and without roads or the conveniences of travel, they 
made the rounds of their circuit, seldom disappointing those who were 
anxious to hear the Word. Custom has much to do with what a man 
can accomplish, or with what he thinks he can accomplish. The rain, 
high streams without bridges, drifting snow, the intense heat of sum- 
mer, or the frigid cold of winter, sickness, and the discomfort of the 
pioneer home, were the continual trials which the Christian laborer of 
the present day knows nothing of, except, possibly, by report, and 
which many of them could illy endure. Their salary was meagre, and 
their wardrobes scanty. Few knew what it was to have, in these 
pioneer days, those comforts which are now deemed necessaries. They 
had no purses, and small need for such a contrivance; their pay was so 
meagre that it is a mystery how they lived, especially where they had 
families to support. 

Mr. French, after his appointment here ceased, preached at Newport, 
Cheney's Grove, and at other points west of here. He died at Clinton 



580 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

in 1841. His daughter, Mrs. Heed, lives now at Georgetown. Among 
the local preachers who kept up the work here were, Joseph Allison, 
Mr. Cassady, Patrick Cowan, Arthur Jackson and William Stowers; 
and of the traveling preachers, Mr. Bradshaw, Asa and John McMur- 
trie, Mr. Anderson and others are remembered. The Ridge Farm 
M. E. Church grew out of the class which was formed as early as 1849, 
about a mile south of the present location. In 1852 business began to 
assume such proportions at Ridge Farm that it seemed likely a village 
would be the result, and the appointment was moved to Ridge Farm 
and took that name permanently. At that time Rev. G. W. Fairbanks 
was presiding elder, Rev. R. C. Norton, preacher in charge, and J. J. 
Donovan, class-leader. Mr. Norton will be remembered as a man of 
earnest convictions and strong character. His notions of duty, both on 
the part of the preacher and of the flock, were old-fashioned, but posi- 
tive. He seemed to suppose that every Methodist who was "worthy 
of a name to live," or who had his name on the class-book, ought to 
attend class-meetings. Finding at the end of the quarter that only 
seventeen of the thirty-live whose names were on the book were in the 
habit of attending class-meeting, he set forward only the names of 
those seventeen, and entered this minute in the class-book: "I have 
only set forward the names of those members that have been to meet- 
ing; this is the best that I can do. N.B. — If any more of the members 
wish to be considered members they must show their wish by their 
coming forward and claiming their membership, and being Methodists. 
— Norton." Many a preacher has felt just as Brother Norton did, 
who did not have the pluck to lop off the cumberers. At this time 
Ridge Farm appointment belonged to Georgetown circuit. The first 
meetings were held in the school-house, which was familiarly known 
as " Hardscrabble," a name probably derived from the studious habits of 
those who there sought to travel " up the hill of science." Among the 
men who are now remembered for their devotion to the interests of 
the church were, David Ankrum, Israel Patton, Joseph Kuns, Thos. 
Robinson, William Foster, J. R. Green, Jesse Smith, David Little, 
Jonah Hole, Thomas Henderson and Cyrus Douglas. Old Father 
Robinson never failed to be on hand when it was meeting-time, and if 
there was no one else present he would go through with the service of 
prayer and song. Some of the boys used to pop beans at him through 
the knot-holes in the building. He was one of those good old men 
whom everyone likes to speak well of. He loved the service of the 
Lord's house, and loved to think of the home in glory which no doubt 
he is enjoying. 

The first church was built in 1856, at which time S. Elliott was 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 581 

presiding elder, and Sampson Shinn, preacher in charge. The building- 
was 35x55, and was a very comfortable house. In 1859 Levi C. 
Peters was presiding elder, and Rev. G. W. Fairbanks, preacher ; J. 
Hole and Thomas Henderson, class-leaders. In 1863 it became Ridge 
Farm circuit. At this date the church was burned, and the society 
purchased a store-building and fitted it up to serve temporarily for a 
house of worship. In 1872 the present neat edifice was erected. It is 
35x60, and cost $3,000. The following preachers have served since 
1860: Joseph Lane, Mr. Muirhead, Mr. McCastle, Mr. Groves, T. D. 
Warns, W. W. Curnutt, S. T. Kershner, J. P. Hillerby, James Miller, 
George Crays, R. Stephens and S. H. Whitlock. The present mem- 
bership is one hundred and thirty. The Sabbath-school numbers about 
one hundred; J. H. Southern is superintendent, George A. Dice, as- 
sistant. The church includes a large number of active and earnest 
workers, who are alive to the work which they have. It is now known 
as Georgetown and Ridge Farm appointment. A class was formed at 
the house of Joseph Allison, who lived on section 25, at "Quaker 
Point," as early as 1831 or 1832. The preachers of the Danville Cir- 
cuit preached here with considerable regularity, and from it the Bethel 
church sprung. A log church was built near by the state line in 1842 
by Mr. Allison, William Kendall & Sons, Ben Scars, Moses Crouser, 
Messrs. Moore & Long, and other neighbors. Mr. Galliday wanted to 
build it farther north, and had some logs hewn for that purpose. The 
Little Vermilion Baptist church was organized in 1831 by Presbytery, 
consisting of members of Wabash, Danville and Vermilion churches. 
The following members were received: John Stark, H. Stark, Henry 
Cavender, Ann Thompson, Benjamin Cavender, Daniel Shirk, Nicholas 
Baseley, John Caldwell. Joel Dicken, Robert Elliott, Alexander More- 
head, Silas Johnson, Benjamin Shaw and Thomas Whitlock. David 
Shirk was first pastor; Thomas Whitlock was clerk, and served until 
1870; David Shirk was moderator until 1861. John Rayburn was 
pastor for some years, and J. S. Whitlock is the present one ; I. C. 
Whitlock is clerk. The first church, a log one, was built north of the 
creek. The present neat church edifice standing near the residence 
of I. C. Whitlock, Esq., was built in 1868. It is 36x48, and cost 
fifteen hundred dollars. The deed for the land upon which the 
church stands (donated by the late Thomas Whitlock) provides that 
when the church shall change its articles of faith, or rules, or time of 
holding church meetings, the property shall revert. Alfred Parks has 
been a deacon for many years, and J. M. Handley is at present. The 
membership is eleven. 

The Cumberland Presbyterians, through the untiring efforts of that 



582 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

pioneer preacher, Rev. James Ash more, early occupied the ground 
here. Mr. Ashmore now lives in Fairmount, and the reader will find a 
more extended notice of his life and work under that head. After 
commencing his labors in this county he was invited to preach in the 
northeastern portion of Elwood, north of the Little Vermilion, and 
organized a church there in 1842, called Liberty Church. Foster Elli- 
ott and wife, Alexander Campbell and wife, Andrew Davis and wife, 
Mrs. Kiturah Whitloek, Mrs. Baldwin and James Walls, were among 
the first members. Messrs. Elliott, Campbell and Davis were the first 
elders. The old log meeting-house was built on Foster Elliott's land 
in 1843, and stood about half a mile southwest of the present church. 
The present edifice 36 x42, was built in 1871, and cost twelve hundred 
and fifty dollars. The membership now numbers sixty-five. Robert 
Kilgore, Thomas Hepburn and Hogan Campbell are the present elders. 
The names of those who have served the church as pastor or stated 
supply are Rev. James Ashmore, Rev. A. Whitloek, Mr. Vandeventer, 
J. W. Jordan, James McFerren, H. Van Dyn, and again Mr. Ashmore. 
This church early contained many of those whose names are held in 
kind remembrance for their manly virtues and rugged characters; men 
and women who struggled to make this town a fit home for themselves 
and their children, and to make life a growth in grace. It was the pio- 
neer church of this denomination in this corner of the county, and as 
such has clustered around it many pleasant recollections and interesting 
remembrances. Few of those who here plighted their christian vows at 
that early day are left to enjoy the fruits on earth of well-spent lives, 
but such as they are, receive the honor and love of those who come 
after them. 

The Yankee Point Cumberland Church was organized by Father 
Ashmore on the 5th of November, 1853. In the words of the organ- 
izer: "The devil helped to build up this church." This expression, 
taken alone without explanation, would tend to throw discredit upon 
the church, or give undue importance to his Satanic Majesty in the 
missionary work. During a time of fervent religious feelings, Mr. 
Ashmore was holding his meetings in the school-house, and not to in- 
terrupt the school they were held during the noon hour. One of the 
directors, in the name of the state, forbade the continuance of the meet- 
ings, but whether at the instigation of the Evil One, this writer at this 
distance of time, and in the absence of a commission to take evidence 
as to his bodily presence upon that occasion, is not exactly prepared to 
state. The congregation and the evangelist "accepted the situation," 
and proceeded to the house of James Thompson, which was gladly 
thrown open to the cause, and the next day Mr. Ashmore had put into 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 583 

his hands a deed for a lot upon which to build a house of worship, and a 
subscription to build it. The people made quick work, both of organ- 
izing and building. William Shirk, William Golden, Arthur Patter- 
son and James Long were chosen elders, and Isaac McPherson and 
William Carmichael, deacons. The membership was fifty to commence 
with, and embraced many names of the Thompsons, Pattersons, Gold- 
ens, Longs, McClurgs, Hendersons, Walls, Hilyards and others. Of 
the members, five entered the ministry. Allen Whitlock and his two 
brothers (James and Thomas), Elam Golden and J. H. Millholland. 
James Ashmore and Allen Whitlock preached for this church twenty 
years, and were followed by Revs. W. O. Smith, L. P. Detheridge, 
Jonathan Cooley, Mr. Groves and G. W. Montgomery. The church 
numbers seventy. The present elders are, A. H. Thompson, Isaac 
Emory, John Shires and J. R. Baldwin. The sabbath school numbers 
thirty-five members and five teachers. Amos Millholland is superin- 
tendent. Of those who went into the minister from this church, Rev. 
Allen Whitlock, after a faithful service of more than twenty years, was 
called up higher; Rev. James Whitlock lives in Georgetown, and Rev. 
Thomas Whitlock in Homer — both engaged in the active work of the 
christian ministry. The church building stands on the south line of 
section 22, almost in the exact geographical center of the township. 

The old Gilead Church, of the same denomination, was organized 
by Father Ashmore soon after, — probably in 1854, — near the south- 
eastern corner of the township. A log meeting-house was built, and 
in 1872 the present neat edifice, 40 x 60, was built at a cost of $1,600. 
This is sometimes known as the Quaker Point Church. The uew 
church was built under the management of J. M. Kendall, Levi Long 
and J. Hunrichouse. Mr. James Long was one of the leading spirits 
in building up the early church, and with C. Tan Dyn and his son, 
and Thomas Thompson, was an elder. The church numbers about fifty, 
and has always been strong and active. Rev. Henry Van Dyn and 
Rev. H. H. Ashmore have, in addition to Rev. J. Ashmore, each min- 
istered to this church very acceptably during seven years each. 

The neat frame church on the state road, a mile north of Vermilion 
Grove station, was built by the Cumberland Presbyterians in 1872, 
while Rev. Allen Whitlock was pastor. It was organized in 1870, and 
called " Sharon Church." The church prospered greatly under Mr. 
Whitlock, who was a man of exemplary, earnest christian character, 
active in the work of his Master, and free from narrow sectarian- 
ism. Aaron Glycke, Henry Canaday and Benjamin Hester were active 
in building up the church. A friend iy christian spirit of unison has 
marked the feeling which has existed between the members and the 



584 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Friends, who frequently unite in the meetings and often occupy the 
building- for their services. A Sabbath-school has been maintained 
irregularly. 

In looking over the church history, the writer finds that due credit 
has not been given to the services of Father Hill, who was the first 
minister of the Cumberland Church here, and who preceded Rev. 
James Ashmore, and greatly assisted him in the work of organizing 
this field. His early services are remembered by the older settlers, 
and he is spoken of by all who remember him as a devoted and active 
christian worker. 

The Cumberland Church, at the village of Ridge Farm, was organ- 
ized by Rev. H. H. Ashmore in 1854. Jefferson Hilyard, Andrew 
Page, Samuel Stiles, Win, Canaday, John Clark and Owen Watson 
were active members in organizing and building the church, which 
was erected in 1856. The Whitlocks, Smith and the Ashmores have 
ministered to this church. It is not now in successful spiritual con- 
dition, and its church edifice looks as though its walls would soon 
need rebuilding. 

The Friends meeting at Ridge Farm was set up in 1873. They 
occupied the Cumberland Church for worship for a time, and built a 
neat and commodious brick meeting-house in 1874. 

In closing this sketch of the churches of Elwood, the reader who 
has followed it through must have been struck, as the writer was, with 
the wonderful religious zeal and christian enterprise which not only 
actuated the early, but has flown down through inhabitants of a later 
date. The township is spattered all over with churches, and so great 
is the unanimity of religious sentiment, so general the disposition to 
maintain the institutions of religion, that there are none too many. 
Twelve live churches in a single township, with their religious zeal 
well maintained, one would judge must have had an abiding influence 
for good which will last through all time. It will readily be believed that 
Elwood has not filled the jails or the poor-houses. It has been what 
those devoted old Quakers who first settled it hoped it would be, — a 
light set upon a hill. From the very earliest day it has been a bright 
spot, and no one is in any doubt wiry. 

SCHOOLS. 

The first school taught in this township, and indeed in the county, 
was taught by Reuben Black, who came here from Ohio, a lad of eigh- 
teen years, in the winter of 1824-5. It was in a log house one mile 
west of Vermilion station. John Mills sent three sons and one 
daughter: Ira, Milican, John and Rebecca; Joseph Jackson, an Eng- 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 585 

Irishman, sent two children : Nathan and Mary ; Ezekiel Hollings- 
worth sent four children : Jeremiah, Miles, Mahundry and John ; 
Henry Canaday sent one: William; John Haworth sent three: 
Thomas, David and Elvin ; fourteen in all. The branches taught were 
spelling, reading and writing, and some of the older ones were in 
arithmetic. The second school was taught by Elijah Yager, a Meth- 
odist minister from East Tennessee, two years later, in a cabin one mile 
northeast of Vermilion station. He introduced common arithmetic 
and declamation. He was a talented man for the times, and made very 
good use of his abilities. The third was taught by Henry Fletcher the 
following summer. Elisha Hobbs took the school in 1831, and gave a 
stimulus to education which never lost ground, through many years 
and their changes, up to 1849, when the citizens found themselves with 
a school-house sixteen feet square and six feet and a half between joints. 
The district got up a subscription to build a new house, but could not 
raise enough. In this juncture, William Canaday, David and Elvin 
Haworth, put their heads together, and, getting the subscription paper 
with their names on into their possession, destroyed it, and, with their 
purses and a will, with the generous help of some of the neighbors, 
they built, in the summer of 1850, the seminary building, 30x52, with 
two recitation rooms, and supplied with proper desks and furniture. 
They employed J. M. Davis as principal, and school opened with one 
hundred and ten students. The following branches were taught: 
geograph}', algebra, chemistry, geometry, surveying, history, miner- 
alogy, philosophy, reading, spelling, elocution, domestic economy and 
Latin. Mr. Davis continued as principal five years. He was a man of 
great energy and tact; it is rarely we find a better, even at this day. 
The standard of education was kept high, and a great work was done 
where it was most needed. Of the men who founded this school too 
much cannot be said. William Canaday had seven sons who were 
educated here; David Haworth had eight, seven of whom are active 
workers in the Christian Church ; so that they can feel that they got a 
rich return for the money they expended. The Vermilion Academy of 
to-day is really the continuation of the old seminary, which disappeared 
with the advent of free schools. It was established in 1873. A people's 
endowment of $10,000 was raised. William Rees, John Henderson, 
Richard Mendenhall, John Elliott, Jonah M. Davis and Elvin Haworth 
were constituted trustees. John Henderson was elected president of 
the board. A building was erected, 46x60, two stories, brick, at a 
cost of $8,000. It is the aim of the trustees to teach all the branches 
usually taught in any of the high schools of the country. It is a 
religious school in the sense of being under christian influences, but 



586 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

not sectarian. It will accommodate three hundred pupils. Prof. John 
Chauner has charge of the institution. He is a graduate of the Uni- 
versity of Michigan, and has made a very creditable record as an edu- 
cator in Indiana and Iowa. The academy presents a healthy, quiet 
home, free from the influences which are a snare to the feet of the 
young, as well as all the advantages of higher education, and is in 
charge of earnest men, who believe in education. 

Below is the record of annual town meetings and the election of the 
principal officers from the date of township organization : 

Date. Vote. Supervisor. Clerk. Assessor. Collector. 

1851 John Canaday. . . .J. W. Thompson. .E. Campbell. . . .William Price. 

1852 Abram Smith J. W. Thompson. .E. Campbell. . . .William Price. 

1853 D. Ankrum J. W. Thompson. .John Haworth. .William Price. 

1854 Granville Pugh J. W. Thompson. .J. S. Graham. . .E. Campbell. 

1855 Thomas Haworth. .J. W. Thompson. .Erasmus Taylor. William Price. 

1856. . .170. . . J. W. Parker Joel G. Dicken. . . .Erasmus Taylor. Erasmus Taylor. 

1857. ..101. . .J. W. Parker James Whitlock. ,J. Goodwin J. Goodwin. 

1858. . .248. . .J. W. Parker Samuel Weeks. . . .H. H. Ashmore.H. H. Ashmore. 

1859. . .277. ..H. H. Ashmore Samuel Weeks J. Goodwin J. Goodwin. 

1860. . .217. . .H. H. Ashmore John Hester J. Goodwin J. Goodwin. 

1861. . .259. . .Elvin Haworth . . . .F. B. Hilyard Samuel Weeks .. Samuel Weeks. 

1862. . .257. . .Elvin Haworth . . . .Samuel Weeks E. Campbell. . . .E. Campbell. 

1863. . .307. . .Elvin Haworth . . . T. J. Hilyard Allen Whitlock. Allen Whitlock. 

1864. . .174. . .Elvin Haworth J. W. Thompson . .Samuel Weeks. .Samuel Weeks. 

1865. . .245. . .R. H. Davis J. S. Graham H. H. Ashmore.H. H. Ashmore. 

1866. . .205. . .Elvin Haworth . . . .James Quinn Samuel Weeks. .Samuel Weeks. 

1867. . .205. . .Elvin Haworth . . . .James Quinn Samuel Weeks. .Samuel Weeks. 

1868. . .213. . .Elvin Haworth . . . .James Quinn Samuel Weeks. .Samuel Weeks. 

1869. . .162. . .Elvin Haworth . . . .D. S. Dicken W. R. Cook W. R. Cook. 

1870... 176... Elvin Haworth ....D. S. Dicken W. R. Cook W. R. Cook. 

1871... 212... R. H. Davis James Quinn W.R.Cook W. R. Cook. 

1872... 178... R.H. Davis James Quinn W. R. Cook W. R. Cook. 

1873... 241... John C. Pierce James Quinn W.R.Cook W. R. Cook. 

1874... 301... John C. Pierce W. C. Hollowell. . .W. R. Cook W. R. Cook. 

1875. . .306. . .John C. Pierce W. C. Hollowell. . .Allen Whitlock .W. R. Cook. 

1876... 348... John C. Pierce W. C. Hollowell. . .W. R. Cook W. R. Cook. 

1877... 382... R. H. Davis H. F. Dice W. R. Cook B. F. Leach. 

1878... 352... John C. Pierce H. F. Dice Levi Rees B. F. Leach. 

1879. . .576. . .R. H. Davis W. T. Stogsdill . .Levi Rees B. F. Leach. 

The justices of the peace elected were : J. G. Thompson, Abram 
Smith, J. C. Dicken, J. W. Thompson, William Alexander, Samuel 
Campbell, A. M. Campbell, L. Parker, Richard Henderson, Granville 
Pugh, H. V. Monett, L. T. Ellis, James Quinn, J. S. Whitlock, J. M. 
Mendenhall, J. C. Pierce. 

The following commissioners of highways have been elected : Gran- 
ville Pugh, Nelson Davis, T. N. Galyen, W. A. Thompson, James 
Rees, Allen Lewis, Isaac C. Madden, Ira Mills, Jesse Jones, J. B. Long, 



BLWOOD TOWNSHIP. 587 

John Fletcher, Elias JSTewlin, John Folger, W. S. Rice, J. C. Dicken, 
L. Reynolds, James Shires, Henry Canaday, J. G. Thompson, J. M. 
Kendall, Alexander Whinrey, Robert Hester, Moses Reed, F. C. Rees, 
John Hester, Thomas E. Cook, James Baldwin, Richard Mendenhall, 
I. G. Jones. 

In 1857 the vote for establishing Homer county, was 1 to 189 
against. In 1858 the vote for "Hog Law " was 18 to 142 against. In 
1863 the vote for " a system of bridges " was 3 to 300 against. In 1867 
a special town meeting was held to vote for or against levying a tax of 
3-| per centum in aid of building the Chicago, Danville & Vincennes 
railroad, at which 187 votes were cast for said levy to 26 against. In 
1870 the vote in favor of extending the time required for the comple- 
tion of the railroad stood 21 for to 8 against such extension. In 1878 
the vote in favor of requiring each township to support its own paupers 
stood 293 for, to 17 against said proposition. 

From the annual report of George A. Dice, township treasurer of 
schools, the following figures are taken, for township 17, 11, and frac- 
tion of 17, 10 : 

Number of school-houses brick, 2; frame, 9, 11 

Number of districts 11 

Number of children under 21 1 ,064 

Number of children between 6 and 21 703 

Number of children enrolled in school 631 

Number of teachers , 20 

Average number of months taught 6J^ 

Amount of school fund $5,000 

Amount paid teachers $2,925 

Gross amount paid out $4,101 

RIDGE FARM. 

The original town of Ridge Farm was platted for record on the 
10th of November, 1853, by Abraham Smith, and consisted of thirteen 
lots, beginning ten feet west of the west side of the state road, and 
eight feet south of the county road. The same year, Thomas Haworth 
laid out and recorded an addition west of the state road and north of 
the county road. On the 27th of February, 1856, Thomas Haworth 
laid out his second addition of seventeen lots. On the 1st of Decem- 
ber, 1854, J. W. Thompson laid out his first addition east of the state 
road and south of the county road, eight lots: and in August, 1856, 
his second addition, thirty-two lots. On the 11th of April, 1856, A. 
Smith platted his addition, six lots. On the 25th of March, 1857, T. 
Haworth his third and fourth additions. In November, 1872, A. B. 
Whinrey laid out an addition of two blocks at the railroad. On the 
5th of April, 1873, R. H. Davis platted his subdivision of section 



588 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

thirty. In April, 1872, J. H. Banta platted his addition of four blocks, 
east of the railroad ; and on the 15th of April, 1873, H. C. Smith 
platted an addition east of the state road. 

Soon after the town was laid out, Mr. Smith built a store near 
where the store of Mr. Darnall now stands, and Samuel Weeks put up 
a blacksmith-shop where Marion Harrold's store stands. Thomas 
Haworth built a store where Tuttle's tinshop is, and rented it. John 
Dicken built a tavern on the corner where Davis & Dice have a store. 
It was afterward moved back, and now stands there, being the rear of 
the store. James Frazier built the front part to it, and kept hotel a 
while, and then Josiah Smith kept it a while. I. M. Davis converted 
the building into a store. Ephraim Goodwin, in 1857, built a little 
store which he occupied as a confectioner}', on the east side of the 
street, and William Canaday continued the business for a while. 
Weeks & Price, about the same time, put up the building on the 
northwest corner for a drug store. 

There are none of the early business men now in business here. 
Robert Mills is the oldest resident, and A. B. Whinrey the oldest 
business man. He commenced here as a blacksmith in 1855. He 
u graduated with honor," and became a merchant. The same success 
followed him, and he has continued in business. He is now engaged 
in the grain trade. He has from almost the beginning of business here 
been identified with the business and growth of the place, and seems 
to have been more than ordinarily successful in his enterprises. He is 
a man of good judgment and excellent business habits. 

Mr. Geo. A. Dice, though still a young man, has been long in active 
business here. His mother, then a widow, with a family of small chil- 
dren dependent on her, lived in East Tennessee, the home of the hardy 
mountaineer Unionists, when rebellion lifted its hydra-headed form all 
over the fair south, except in this favored home of freedom. As soon 
as it was known that Tennessee had, contrary to the popular vote of 
her citizens, been forced into an attitude hostile to the Union, Mrs. 
Dice gathered what little she had movable, and, taking her children, 
fled from the home of her childhood and came here to live. She was 
nearly destitute of worldly goods, but, with a stout heart, she deter- 
mined to bring her two boys up under the old flag, come what would. 
She was soon appointed postmistress, and her oldest son, George, for 
some years managed the affairs of the office in an acceptable manner, 
showing the careful, accurate business traits which have since marked 
his business career. He afterward formed a business partnership with 
Mr. Davis, and manages the extensive business affairs of the firm. He 
is also townsjiip treasurer of schools, and is a systematic business man. 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 589 

With the building of the railroad in 1873-4 business increased, and 
some branches fonnd locations near the depot. The steam mill which 
is located there was built by the Davis Brothers at that time. It has 
three run of stone, and is a first-class mill in every respect. It was 
purchased by Banta & Coppock, and is now run by Banta & Darnall. 
Several stores and some other business operations are carried on there, 
but the principal mercantile houses are still on the original town at 
the crossing of the state road and county road. 

The following have been the postmasters of Ridge Farm: A. Smith, 
J. S. Rice, Samuel Weeks, Mrs. Dice and Jennie Smith. 

There are several good residences in the village. 

The school-house was erected in 1875, is a large and well-propor- 
tioned brick building, and is well arranged and neatly furnished. The 
school is graded, having four departments, with one teacher for each 
department. The high school is in charge of Mr. W. H. Chamberlin, 
who has for three years past successfully acted as principal. Miss 
Florence Newlin is in charge of the grammar department, Mrs. Mary 
H. Lane the intermediate, and Miss Whitlock the primary. The 
school is in charge of a board of directors consisting of R. H. Davis, 
president ; W. N. Barklay, and A. J. Darnall, Secretary. These gen- 
tlemen have performed the exacting duties consequent upon their offi- 
cial position in a way which has added to the efficiency of the school, 
and fulfilled an important public trust in a most acceptable manner. 
If the theory is correct that the school is, in a great measure, an indica- 
tion of our progressive civilization, the citizens of Ridge Farm may be 
congratulated on being in the advanced guard. 

INCORPORATION. 

A petition for the incorporation of the village under the general 
incorporation act, signed by Uriah Fladley and others, was filed in the 
county court on the 3d of March, 1874. The petition proposed the 
following limits to the village : The southwest quarter of section 30 
and the northwest quarter of section 31, town 17, range 11, and the 
southeast quarter of section 25, and the northeast quarter of section 36, 
town 17, range 12, embracing one mile square of territory ; and it set 
forth that there were within the said limits three hundred and fifty 
inhabitants. The court ordered an election to be held at the store of 
J. C. Pierce on the 21st of March, 1874, to vote upon the question of 
incorporation. George H. Dice, R. H. Davis and J. H. Banta were 
appointed judges of the election. At that election 51 votes were cast, 
49 for incorporation and 2 against it. The court ordered an election 
to be held on the 22d of April to vote for six trustees tO' serve until 



5!t0 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

the regular election in course under the law. At this election 58 votes 
were cast. J. H. Banta received 54 ; M. A. Harold, 32 ; T. C. Rees, 
31 ; A. J. Darnall, 45 ; A. B. Whinrey, 53 ; Moses Lewis and J. D. 
Harrold, each 25. There seemed to be no doubt of the election of the 
first five named above, but just who the sixth trustee was became an 
exciting question in the local politics of the Ridge. Returning boards 
and high-joint commissions, composed of a motley glomeration of su- 
preme courts and senates, had not then been invented. Neither one 
of the candidates would pay a nickel for a certificate even supposing 
the election board had been in the market ; there was no provision in 
the law for " drawing straws," and if a game of draw-poker had been 
eligible to decide it, neither of the contestants were adepts in that. 
The Ridge was in an agitated state of equanimity, of undeniable un- 
rest. Word reached Danville that the good people of the particular 
square mile of territory, in the throes of birth, had made a kind of a 
miscalculation, and that having voted to corporate they could not cor- 
porate until some one could be found to tell them " who was that sixth 
man." It was a knotty question, but Judge Hanford, the personifica- 
tion of blind justice, was at last able to cut the Gordian knot. He 
cited Moses and John before his court (sheriff's fees, five dollars, which 
were duly paid) to plead, answer or demur, and show cause why each 
one had conspired to block the wheels of incorporation at Ridge Farm, 
duty ordered by said court, in persisting to receive each an equal num- 
ber of votes. The court looked severe, and ordered the two recalci- 
trants to stand up and draw straws. Lewis got the long straw and 
was duly declared the victor, and the waiting village w r as ushered into 
corporate being. It is related that both parties paid their own ex- 
penses to Danville and back without grumbling, which speaks well of 
their good bearing under trying circumstances. 

On the 1st of May the Board of Trustees, now safely relieved from 
impending ruin, organized by electing A. J. Darnall, president, and 
T. C. Rees, clerk. They adopted a set of ordinances and fixed the 
compensation of officers: Trustees to have one dollar per meeting; 
treasurer, one per centum ; collector^ two per centum, and assessor one 
dollar and fifty cents per day. The offices of collector and assessor 
were afterward dispensed with. At the regular election in 1875, the 
•following were elected: M. A. Harrold, president; A. B. Whinrey, 
A. M. Mills, C. Lewis, S. Haworth and H. R. Craven, trustees; T. C. 
Rees, police magistrate; James Quinn, clerk; E. Goodwin, constable. 
In 1876: S. Haworth, president, and the other members of the Board 
the same as the preceding year; A. J. Darnall was elected treasurer. 
In 1877: A. M. Mills, president; W. N. Barklay, H. R. Craven, S. 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 591 

Ha worth, C. Pickard and T. C. Bradfield, trustees; W. H. Flood, 
clerk, and A. J. Darnall, treasurer. In 1878: R. H. Davis, president; 
H. R. Craven, M. A. Harrold, J. H. Southern, W. N". Barklay and 
George A. Dice, trustees; the clerk and treasurer remaining the same. 
In 1879: A. A. Sulcer, president; R. H. Davis, J. D. Henslee, J. C. 
Banm, H. R. Craven and W. N". Barklay, trustees; H. F. Dice, clerk; 
W. H. Flood, police magistrate. 

The Ridge Farm Lodge, No. 632, A.F. & A.M., was instituted on the 
2d of October, 1868, with the following officers and original members : 
Jonah Hole, W.M.; W. Harris, S.W.; M. A. Harrold, J.W.; Geo. F. 
Cutler, secretary; J. Larrance, treasurer; John Guffin, S.D.; C. C. 
Paxon, J.D.; J. D. Harrold, Tyler ; M.L. Larrance, George A. Dice, 
S. Haworth, J. W. McGee, J. B. Ensey, Johnson Ross and Wm. Gled- 
hill. The following have served the lodge as Masters: W. Harris, A. 
A. Sulcer and George A. Dice. The present officers are: George A. 
Dice, W.M.; Isaac Woodard, S.W.; James P. Fletcher, J.W.; W. N. 
Barklay, S.D.; J. D. Harrold, J.D.; W. C. Holloway, secretary; A. L. 
Ankrum, treasurer ; C. A. Foster and W. T. Watson, stewards. The 
lodge is in prosperous condition. It meets first and third Saturdays of 
each month. 

VERMILION GROVE. 

Vermilion Grove is an unincorporated village on the railroad, two 
miles north of Ridge Farm. It is located where the Haworths and 
Canadays made their first settlement, almost sixty years ago, where 
stands the successor of the first church or meeting-house built in the 
county, and the successor of the first school established in the county, 
accounts of both of which the reader will find under the appropriate 
headings. Many hallowed and precious memories cluster around this 
favored spot. Two only, it is believed, of the original settlers — both 
young then, of course — remain here now: Elvin Haworth and 
William Canaday, now honored and respected old men, of whom it 
may be said they have never permitted private interests to take pre- 
cedence of duty to God or their fellow men. In 1876, Elvin Haworth 
platted for record a subdivision of the southeast quarter of section 13, 
upon which the village is built. It was called Vermilion until the 
railroad was built. When the post-office was established in 1873 it 
was found necessary to change the name to Vermilion Grove, in con- 
sequence of there being a post-office named Vermilion, in the state. 
Jonathan Stafford commenced mercantile business here in 1873. He 
soon after sold to J. Gibson, who carried on business here for some 
time and sold to William Brown, and a year later repurchased the 
business and continues in trade. He is also engaged in the manufac- 



f>92 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

tare of tiles, employing five hands. He uses the Tecuinseh machine. 
Elmore Rees and Elvin Haworth have saw-mills, which manufacture 
considerable lumber. The Vermilion Academy is located here, and 
there are several very neat residences. 

The town of Munroe was laid out by Messrs. Mayrield and J. C. 
Haworth, in 1836, on section 36 (17-11). They made a sale of lots at 
that time and a few were disposed of, but it has "gone back," and the 
locality is now known by the name of Bethel. The union church of 
the Methodists and Presbyterians is located there. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

Frederick Canaday, Vermilion Grove, farmer, was born in Jefferson 
county, Tennessee, on the 27th of January, 1804, and was raised a 
farmer, which occupation he has followed successfully through life. 
He was one of the pioneers of the county, coming here in 1820, and 
sharing with the few settlers of that early da} 7 the hardships of a pio- 
neer life. Mr. Canaday is considered one of Vermilion county's best 
citizens. He has been very charitable in donating for benevolent pur- 
poses. He was married in Tennessee in 1828, to Charity Haworth, 
who also was born in Tennessee, and is now deceased. They are the 
parents of ten children, eight living : Jane, Matilda, William, Mary A., 
Henry, Isaac, Sarah and John. Mr. Canaday was then married to 
Anna Haworth, in 1849. There were but two settlers in this part of 
the county when he came here, and he was the oldest settler who 
attended the old settlers' meeting at Danville in the fall of 1878. 
He owns nine hundred and thirty acres of fine land. He is a republi- 
can, and belongs to the Friends church. 

Elvin Haworth, Vermilion Grove, farmer and stock-dealer, section 
13, was born in Jefferson county, Tennessee, on the 9th of April, 1815, 
and was raised to the occupation of a farmer. He came to this state 
with his father in the year 1822, and settled on section 13, near where 
he now lives. His father remained here until his death, in 1863, at 
which time he was eighty-five years old. His wife died five days pre- 
vious. The subject of this sketch had but little of this world's goods 
with which to commence life, but by industry, economy and perse- 
verance he has acquired a good property of two hundred and forty -five 
acres of land, which he has made mostly by handling cattle. He has been 
very liberal in his donations for benevolent purposes, giving five hun- 
dred dollars at one time for the Friends Academy at Vermilion Grove. 
He has held the office of supervisor of township nine years. Mr. 
Haworth was married in 1874 to Elmeda Stanly, who was born in Iro- 
quois county, Illinois, in 1840, and died in 1875. They had two 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 593 

infants, now deceased. He is a republican, and belongs to the Friends 
church. 

John Folger, Ridge Farm, farmer, and minister of the Friends church, 
section 25, was born in this county on the 19th of September, 1829, his 
father being one of the pioneers of this county, settling here in 1829, 
hence he shared the hardships of a pioneer life. He went to school in 
the winter, and afterward attended Vermilion Grove Academy one 
term, and then attended Bloomingdale two terms. He was married on 
the 14th of September, 1853. His wife was born in Parke county, 
Indiana, on the 18th of August, 1831. They are the parents of nine 
children, eight living: Alonzo, Julius Adelphus, Romania, Ida E., 
Rachel E., Clara T. and Lottie R. Mr. Folger has held the office of 
school treasurer for ten j^ears. His father was a native of North Caro- 
lina, and his mother was born on the island of Nantucket. Mr. Folger's 
wife is a member of Friends church. He is a republican in politics. 

M. L. Larrance, Ridge Farm, farmer, section 35, was born in Jeffer- 
son county, Tennessee, on the 9th of May, 1818, and was raised to the 
occupation of a farmer, at which he has had a life-long experience. He 
came with his father to this state in the fall of 1827, being among the 
early settlers of the county. The subject of this sketch was married in 
this state in 1840, to Nancy Mendenhall, who was born in Ohio in 
1819. They had by this union thirteen children, nine living:. John, 
William, Betsy, Emily, Richard, Charity J., David, Lydia B. and Far- 
ris. The deceased were Joseph and three infants. Mr. Larrance is a 
well-to-do farmer, well respected by all with whom he is acquainted. 
His parents were natives of North Carolina. His political vieM^s are 
republican, and he is a member of the Friends church. 

James Rees, Ridge Farm, farmer, section 24, was born in Greene 
county, Tennessee, and came to this state in 1830. He has followed 
the occupation of a farmer through life. He commenced the nur- 
sery business in 1854, which he continued to follow successfully for 
a number of years, furnishing a great many valuable trees, this proving 
to be a great advantage to the county. Mr. Rees has been twice mar- 
ried : first in 1838, to Elizabeth Dillen, who was born in Tennessee, and 
is now deceased. He was then married, in 1844, to Jemima Dillen, a 
sister of his former wife, also born in Tennessee. Mr. Rees has been 
the father of eight children, four living. He has taught school about 
ten years altogether, and is regarded as one of Vermilion's best citizens. 
He is a republican, and belongs to the Friends church. He owns one 
hundred and sixty acres, worth fifty dollars per acre. 

Granville Pugh, Long, farmer and stock-dealer, section 36, was born 
in Jefferson county, Ohio, on the 2d of February, 1824. and has been 
38 



594 HISTORY OF VE11MILION COUNTY. 






a practical tanner through lite. He came with his father to this state 
in 1830, settling on the Little Vermilion River. He moved, with his 
father, to the place where he now lives in 1836, and here he has re- 
sided since. Mr. Pngh has held the office of school director thirty 
years. He was elected justice of the peace one term, which office he 
honorably tilled. He was reelected, but would not serve. He was 
also supervisor of the township. He was' married on the 31st of 
May, 1856, to Lydia Thompson. She was born in Parke county. 
Indiana, on the 7th of March, 1835. The} 7 are the parents of nine 
children, eight living: John J., Isaac N., Ezra K., Harris J., Monroe, 
Howard, Jane E. and Lydia D. The deceased was an infant. Mr. 
Pugh's father was a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother, of Mary- 
land. His political views are republican, and he belongs to the Friends 
church. 

Thomas C. Pees, Ridge Farm, cabinet-maker, was born in this 
county on the 27th of July, 1833, and was raised on a farm until 
twenty years of age. He learned the wagon-maker's trade, which 
occupation he followed until 1878, since which time he has been work- 
ing at the cabinet trade. Mr. Rees has been three times married : first, 
on the 21st of April, 1856, to Sarah A. Bales, who was born on the 
3d of March, 1833, and died on the 14th of September, 1857. They 
had by this union one child, who is now deceased. He was then mar- 
ried on the 20th of March, 1860. This wife was born in this county 
on the 2d of September, 1834, and died on the 15th of March, 1867. 
They had by this union three children : Mary, born on the 10th of 
November, 1861; Ella, born on the 10th of May, 1864; Charles, born 
on the 10th of November, 1S66. Mr. Rees was then united to Charity 
Mendenhall on the 10th of November, 1871. She, too, was born in this 
county on the 4th of November, 1835. They are the parents of four 
children by this union : Marcus J., Marion A., Frances M., one infant 
deceased. Mr. Rees is a republican, and a member of the Friends 
church. 

Enoch Brady, Ridge Farm, miller, was born in Vermilion county, 
Illinois, on the 16th of December, 1834. He was brought up a 
farmer. He ran a threshing-machine for thirty years in succession, 
and at one time sheared one hundred head of sheep in twelve hours. 
Mr. Brady enlisted in the late war, and went forward to battle for the 
Union. He enlisted in 1862 as private in Co. A, 79th 111. Vol. Inf., 
and served one year; was discharged in consequence of disability in 
1863. He reenlisted in 1865 in Co. E, 150th 111. Vol. Inf., and served 
one year. He was promoted to corporal. Mr. Brady has held the 
office of constable twelve vears. He was married on the 22d of March, 






ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. ."><♦;'> 

1864, to Martha Dicken, who was born in this county on the 14th of 
December, 1848. They had by this union four children, one living: 
Charles; and the names of the deceased are Richard, Marion H. and 
Mary II. Mr. Brady's father was a native of South Carolina, and his 
mother, of Indiana. His political views are republican, and in his 
religious views he is liberal. 

Uriah Folger, Ridge Farm, fanner and minister, section 30, was 
born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 23d of April, 1834, and 
spent his early days on a farm. His father was a tanner by trade, and 
one of the pioneers of this county, having come here in 1829. Hence, 
he helped to change it from a wilderness to its present prosperous 
condition. The subject of this sketch was married on the 10th of De- 
cember, 1858, to Edith C. Dillen, who, too, was born in this county. 
He is a man well respected by all who know him. They are both 
members of the Friends church. His political views are republican. 

Johnathan Larrance, Ridge Farm, farmer, section 35, was born in 
this county on the 7th of June, 1834. His father died when he was 
but three years of age, and he was left to the care of his mother. Mr. 
Larrance was married on the 5th of December, 1862, to Hannah A. 
McGee, who was born in Ohio in 1837. They had seven children by 
this union, six living: Perry M., John C, Alice, Laura, Mark and 
Martha. The name of the deceased is Marion. Mr. Larrance had no 
property when he first married ; but, by good management and hard 
labor, he now owns two hundred and ninety-five acres of good land. 
He belongs to the Freemasons; is a republican, and a member of the 
Friends church. 

Adam M. Mills,- Ridge Farm, lumber dealer, was born in this county, 
on the 7th of December, 1834, and was raised on a farm until twenty- 
three years of age, at which time he commenced clerking in a store one 
year; then commenced buying and shipping cattle, which he continued 
at intervals until 1868, at which time he went into the mill business. 
This he continued until he went into the lumber trade, in 1873. His 
father was one of the pioneers of the county, coming here in an early 
day. Mr. Mills was married on the 22d of March, 1876, to Cynthelia 
Wall, who was born in this county in 1840. They have by this union 
one child: Frank, born on the 10th of August, 1877. Mr. Mills has 
held the office of village trustee. He is a republican, and a member of 
the Friends church. 

AVilliam F. Dubre, Ridge Farm, farmer, section 26, was born in 
Clark county, Illinois, on the 3d of March, 1836, and raised on a farm. 
He has followed that occupation through life. Mr. Dubre came to this 
county in 1854, and settled in Pilot Grove, where he has since resided. 



596 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

He was married in this state, on the 12th of September, 1861, to Sarah 
Folger, who was born in this county on the 19th of January, 1836. 
They are the parents of eight children, four of whom are living: 
Rosetta, Oscar, Allen and Hattie; deceased: Nelson R., Harry, Elisa- 
beth, and one infant. The parents of Mr. Dubre were natives of Ohio 
and Illinois, and those of his wife, of North Carolina and the island of 
Nantucket. He is a republican, and belongs to the Friends church. 

John Fletcher, Ridge Farm, farmer and stock-dealer, section 33, was 
born in Clinton county, Ohio, on the 20th of Ma} r , 1815, and was raised 
to the occupation of a farmer, which he has followed successfully 
through life. He moved with his father to this state in 1836, and set- 
tled near Vermilion Grove, where he remained until 1839, and then 
moved to Pilot Grove. Mr. Fletcher was one of the pioneers of this 
county, hence he knows something of the hardships of a pioneer life. 
He is considered one of the better citizens of Vermilion, is straight in 
all his dealings, and well respected by all. Mr. Fletcher has been 
twice married : first to Rachel Ruth, on the 19th of October, 1835, who 
was born in Ohio in 1815, and died on the 15th of September, 1862. 
They had by this union seven children, six of whom are living: Sarah, 
Henry, Mary A., J. W. F., Armanda, and James P. The deceased was 
William. He was then married, in 1864, to Lydia Haworth, who was 
born in Tennessee. Mr. Fletcher's father came to America in 1793, 
from Ireland. He had no property when he first moved, but by in- 
dustry, hard labor and economy has acquired a good property of two 
hundred and thirty acres of fine land. He has given considerable prop- 
erty to his children. He held at one time five hundred and forty acres 
of land. He is a republican, and belongs to the Friends church. 

Levi F. Long, Long, farmer, section 31, was born in this county, on 
the 6th of August, 1838. His father was one of the pioneers of this 
county, having come here in 1833. He cast his first vote for General 
Jackson, and his last for George B. McClellan. The subject of this 
sketch had but little with which to commence life, but, by industry, 
economy and hard labor, he has acquired a good property of three hun- 
dred and sixtjr-seven acres of land. He carries on farming quite exten- 
sively, and raises some horses, cattle and hogs. Mr. Long was married 
on the 7th of May, 1864:, to Martha Keen, who was born in Parke 
county, Indiana, on the 28th of August, 1810. They are the parents 
of nine children, seven of whom are living: James B., Sallie B., Will- 
iam F., John L., Mattie L., Eva M. and Josephus. The deceased were 
Flora E. and Gracy. Mr. Long has held the office of school director 
ten years, and overseer of roads five years. In politics he is a democrat, 
and a Presbyterian in religion. His parents were natives of Kentucky. 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 597 

Robert Mills, Ridge Farm, butcher and grocer, was born in England, 
in April, 1824. He left there when twelve years of age, and followed 
the sea thirteen years. He sailed on the Mediterranean sea six years, 
then went to China, and after a time returned to England. Afterward 
he took a trip to the Rio Grande, and then went to Constantinople, the 
capital of Turkey ; from there to Rasida, then to Liverpool, and then to 
Greenland, whale-fishing, for seven years. After this he went back to 
England, thence to the Spanish Main, thence to Scotland, and after- 
ward to Canada, where he stayed three years, working on a farm. He 
came to this county in 1838, and settled in Ridge Farm, where he has 
resided since, being one of its first settlers. He is the oldest settler now 
living in Ridge Farm. He was married in 1 858 to Rachel Nuckles, who 
was born in Indiana in 1833. They have had six children by this union, 
three of whom are living: Anna, now wife of J. Harrold, Mary and 
Linnie. The deceased were John and two infants. He enlisted in the 
late war, in 1865, in the^ 150th 111. Yol. Inf., Co. E, and served one 
year as private, and was mustered out at the close of the war. 

Henry F. Canaday, Ridge Farm, farmer, was born in this county on 
the 12th of December, 1839, and is a son of Frederick Canaday, one of 
the first settlers, and a man closely identified with the early history of 
this county, and one who has done much to promote the interest and 
welfare of the same. The subject of this sketch enlisted in the late 
war in Co. A, 25th 111. Vol. Inf., and was in the battles of Murfrees- 
boro, Mission Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Buzzard's Roost, and several 
other engagements. He served three years. On the 26th of Septem- 
ber, 1875, he was married to Maggie S. Canaday. Mr. Canaday is 
an industrious business man, well respected by all who know him. 
In politics he is republican. He owns 120 acres of land worth $50 
per acre. 

Jacob Kendall, Long, farmer and stock-dealer, section 35, was born 
in Greene county, Ohio, on the 17th of May, 1825, and was raised to 
the occupation of a farmer. He came to this state in 1839, settling in 
this township. He had but little property with which to commence 
life, but by industry, economy and fair dealing he has acquired a good 
property. Mr. Kendall has been twice married : first, on the 23d of 
January, 1848, to Elisabeth Hall, who was born in Pennsylvania, and 
died in 1852. They became by this marriage the parents of two chil- 
dren, now deceased. Mr. Kendall was then married, on the 21st of 
June, 1853, to Catharine Patterson, who was born in Tennessee in 
1829. They have six children by this union, four of whom are living. 
The names of the living are Enos, John, Joseph and Jacob ; of the 
deceased, Ivy and Jennie. Mr. Kendall has held the office of road 



598 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

commissioner one term, and he is considered one of the solid men of 
Vermilion. His political views are democratic. He is a Freemason 
and a Presbyterian. 

Adam Nier, Ridge Farm, inn-keeper, was born in Pickaway county, 
Ohio, on the 23d of November, 1826, and was raised on a farm. He 
was one of the early settlers of this county, coming here in 1840, and 
settling near Georgetown. He came one half mile north of Ridge 
Farm, and then to the Ridge in 1876, and engaged in his present busi- 
ness. Mr. Nier was married in 1852 to Mary Padget, who was born 
in Kentucky in 1830, and died in 1864. They had by this union six 
children, four of whom are living: Alfred, Lillie, William and Addie. 
He was then married to Nancy Morton in 1867. She was born in Ken- 
tucky in 1831. 

Richard Mills, Vermilion Grove, farmer and stock-dealer, is a native 
of this county, and was born on the 21st of November, 1841. His 
father was one of the early settlers of this county, having settled here 
in 1822 ; hence he learned some of the realities of pioneer life. He 
remained here until his death in 1852. The subject of this sketch 
being the oldest son, the responsibility rested upon him. He has 
engineered the farm well in partnership with his brother, W. H. They 
handle about one hundred head of cattle a year. They are young men 
of good business tact, well respected in the neighborhood in which they 
reside. Mr. Mills is a republican in politics and a member of the 
Friends church. 

A. H. Thompson, Ridge Farm, farmer, section 22, was born in this 
county on the 9th of Ma} 7 , 1842. He has been married four times: 
first, in I860, to Sarah M. French, who was born in Indiana on the 23d 
of July, 1841, and died in 1860. He was then married, in 1861, to 
Emily Wright, who was born on the 9th of October, 1839, and died 
on the 3d of August, 1867. They had by this marriage three children, 
two of whom are living: James A. and Sarah M. ; deceased, Charley. 
He was then married to Miss B. C. Underwood, in 1868. She was born 
in Vermilion county, this state, in 1843, and died in 1870. They had 
by this union one child : John A. Mr. Thompson was then, in 1871, 
united to Emma McMasters, who was born in Vermilion county, Indi- 
ana, in 1847. They have by this union two children, Nellie C. and 
Mary O. He is a republican, a member of the Presbyterian church, 
and also of the l.O.O.F. 

Samuel V. Long, Long, farmer, section 25, was born in Nicholas 
county, Kentucky, on the 11th of September, 1819, and was raised a 
farmer, and this occupation he has followed through life. Soon after 
becoming of age he drove a four-horse team to Missouri, and came to 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 599 

this state in 1843, settling where he now lives. Mr. Long had but 
forty acres of land when he first married, but by industry, economy 
and perseverance he has acquired a good property of one hundred and 
forty-nine acres. He has been twice married : first, on the 14th of 
October, 1845, to Margaret Kendall, who was born in Ohio. They 
had by this union eight children, four living: Jemima, -fames W., 
Charley and Jacob. The deceased were: Lacon, Mary J., Lena, and 
one infant. Mr. Long was then married, in May. 1869, to Barbara 
Prine, who was born in 1841. The)' have one child by this union : 
John C. Mr. Long's parents were natives of Maryland, and those of 
his wife, of Ohio. He is a republican and a Methodist. 

Milo H. Waterman, Georgetown, farmer and stock-dealer, section 
16, was born in Vermilion county, Indiana, on the 4th of March, 1844, 
and lived in Eugene, Indiana, until thirteen years of age, going to 
school most of the time. He enlisted in the late war, first in Co. E, 
115th Ind. Vol. Inf., and went forward to defend his country. He 
served six months, and reenlisted in 1865 in Co. E, 149th Ind. Inf., 
and served seven months as first surgeon. He was married in 1874 to 
Mary E. Case, who was born in Vermilion county, Indiana, on the 
22d of June, 1848. They have one child by this union, Jane C, born 
on the 7th of September, 1875. In politics he is a republican. He 
owns three hundred and thirty-seven acres, worth fifty dollars per acre. 

Jonah M. Davis, Ridge Farm, dealer in general merchandise, was 
born in North Carolina on the 2d of March, 1824. He attended board- 
ing-school at Gilford one year, and then went to the Bloomingdale 
Academy one year. He has taught about twenty-three schools. He 
came to this state in 1851, and settled near Vermilion Grove, taking 
charge of the new seminary of that place. He had charge of this for 
five years, and came to the Ridge, where he commenced the mercantile 
business in 1856, and now carries about six thousand dollars' worth of 
stock, and is doing a good business. Mr. Davis is one of the best 
citizens of Vermilion. He was married in 1875 to Ella Jenkins, who 
was born in Indiana on the 26th of March, 1848. Politically, Mr. 
Davis is a republican. His parents were natives of North Carolina. 
He belongs to the Friends church. 

Alexander B. Whinrey, Ridge Farm, grain dealer and general mer- 
chandise, was born in Tennessee on the 13th of September, 1829, and 
was raised to the occupation of a farmer until eighteen years of age, at 
which time he learned the blacksmith trade, which he followed for 
several years. ■ He came to this state in 1852, and settled in George- 
town, where he remained one year, and then came to Ridge Farm in 
1853, where he has resided since. Mr. Whinrey commenced general 



600 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

merchandising in 1863, and now carries a $5,000 stock of goods. He 
does a good business, and has been actively engaged in buying grain 
since 1873. Mr. Whinrey has been twice married in this county: first, 
in 1855, to Elisabeth Rice, who was born in this state, and died in 
1861. They had one child, now deceased. He was then married, in 
1863, to Emily P. Weeks, who, too, was born in this state. They had by 
this union six children, three living: James M., Ada A. and Henry J. 
Mr. Whinrey has held the office of road commissioner one term. He 
is a republican in politics, and a member of the Friends church. 

Henry J. Cole, Ridge Farm, farmer and stock-dealer, is a native of 
this county, and was born on the 3d of January, 1853, and is a son of 
John and Nancy Cole. His chances for an early education were good, 
having attended Hungerford College, New York, for six years, and 
was for a time a survej^or. His father was one of the pioneers of this 
county, having come to this state in 1833, settling on what is now 
known as the Draper farm, three miles south of Danville. He re- 
mained there till 1852, at which time he moved one mile west of Ridge 
Farm, where the subject of this sketch now lives. John Cole had but 
little property with which to begin life; but he accumulated until, at 
one time, he had $100,000 worth of property. The subject of this 
sketch learned the art of painting. He has given a good manifestation 
of his skill in that line by painting four fine large pictures, which 
adorn his parlor, a very beautiful one representing autumn in the 
Catskill mountains. Mr. Cole was married on the 7th of October, 
1875, to Anna A. Healy, who was born in New York on the 1st of 
October, 1853. They have one child, Florence, born on the 1st of 
August, 1877. Mr. Cole owns six hundred and fifty-eight acres of 
land in this county, and a dwelling which cost over $10,000. 

John P. Stokes, Long, farmer, section 24, was born in Ohio on the 
25th of January, 1823, and commenced in his younger days to learn 
the blacksmith trade, at which he worked three years, but quit on ac- 
count of sore eyes. He then learned the trade of a carpenter, and 
afterward clerked in store for three years. He came to state in 1855, 
settling four miles east of Ridge Farm. Of late years he has followed 
farming. He owns one hundred and twenty-four acres of land worth 
forty dollars per acre. Mr. Stokes was married to Nancy Long on the 
1st of August, 1857. She was born in this county on the 8th of July, 
1836. They are the parents of ten children, seven living: Sallie A., 
Jodie C, Charley B., Lewis H., Mary E., Mattie B. and Eddy. The 
deceased were James W., Samuel V. and Anna D. Mr. Stokes had 
but little property when he was married, but has, by hard labor, indus- 
try, economy and good management, got a good home. He is a man 






ELW00D TOWNSHIP. 601 

well respected by all who know him. His parents were natives of 
Pennsylvania. 

William Brown, Ridge Farm, farmer and stock-dealer, was born in 
Butler county, Ohio, on the 4th of January, 1813, and was raised to 
the occupation of farmer and handling stock. He moved with his 
father to Indiana when he was but twelve years of age, and came to 
this state in 1856, settling where he now resides, in Pilot Grove. He 
claims that he has made the most of his money by handling sheep, in 
which he has engaged quite extensively — he having at times as many 
as two thousand. Mr. Brown is regarded as one of the solid men of 
Vermilion county. He was married on the 20th of August, 1848, to 
Elyddia Lusk, who was born in Parke county, Indiana. They are the 
parents of eight children, six living: Solomon L., Commodore, John, 
William, Dick, Benjamin. The names of the deceased are Samuel and 
Adam. Commodore is practicing medicine in Walnut Grove, Edgar 
county. Mr. Brown's parents were natives of Pennsylvania. He is 
liberal, both in his political and religious views. He owns two thou- 
sand acres of land, — one thousand acres in the home place in Pilot 
Grove, three miles southeast of Ridge Farm. 

I. C. Mendenhall, Ridge Farm, farmer and minister of the gospel, 
section 35, was born in Green county, Ohio, on the 25th of April, 1834. 
He was raised a farmer, and this occupation has followed through life. 
He came to this state with father in 1857. The subject of this sketch 
was married in 1855 to Margaret Bond. She was born in Wayne 
county, Indiana, in 1831. They are the parents of eight children, seven 
living: Mary, Ward, Almeda, J., Charles, James, Maggie. The name 
of the deceased was Albert. Mr. Mendenhall is an ordained minister 
of the Christian or Newlight Church. He is well respected in his com- 
munity — practicing what he preaches. He has charge of the church 
at Georgetown, and also Church No. 11. He is Republican in politics. 
Mr. Mendenhall owns eighty acres worth $45 per acre. 

Jesse Gibson, Vermilion Grove, general merchandise and tile fac- 
tory, was born in Washington county, Tennessee, on the 9th of De- 
cember, 1835, and was brought up a farmer, which occupation he has 
followed through life until the last three years, since which time he has 
been engaged in general merchandising in Vermilion Grove. He car- 
ries three thousand dollars' worth of goods and does a good business. 
He owns five acres of ground with store-house and dwelling-house; 
also one and a half acres with tile factory. He carries on tile-making 
extensively, keeping a good stock of tiling constantly on hand. He 
has held the office of post-master at Vermilion Grove, three years ; 
commissioner of highways, two terms. Mr. Gibson was married in this 



602 HISTOEY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

state on the 12th of September, 1859, to Mary Brown, who was born 
in this county on the 27th of April, 1839. They are the parents of 
six children, five living: Clarenda, Allen, Sylvanus, Miles and Ada; 
deceased, Jnletta. He is a republican, and a member of the Friends 
church. 

M. A. Harrold, Ridge Farm, dealer in general merchandise, was 
born in Green county, Tennessee, on the 26th of April, 1836, and 
learned the blacksmith trade when young, under his father, who fol- 
lowed that trade. He followed smithing until four years ago, when he 
came to this place and commenced mercantile business, and now car- 
ries three thousand dollars' worth of stock and is doing a good business. 
He came to this state in 1861, and settled in Ridge Farm, where he car- 
ried on blacksmithing. Mr. Harrold is dealing in grain to some extent. 
He was married on the 15th of November, 1865, to Mary L. McFar- 
lane, who was born in Wayne county, Ohio. They are the parents of 
five children, two living: Charley and Franklin. The deceased were 
Mary, Harrison and James. Plis parents were natives of Tennessee. 

Rufus H. Davis, Ridge Farm, farmer and stock-dealer, was born 
in Carteret county, North Carolina, and moved with his parents to 
Indiana when five years of age, settling near Knightstown. He fol- 
lowed the occupation of a farmer at intervals through life. His chances 
for an education were good. He attended Earlham College two years, 
and at Greencastle, Indiana, for the same length of time. He 
attended the Quaker boarding-school at Richmond, Indiana, one year, 
and has taught school about ten years. Mr. Davis taught different 
languages and all the different branches. He has held the office of 
justice of the peace four years ; school trustee four years ; school 
director several years, and supervisor of township six years. He is not 
only a classical scholar, but is well known as one of the leading and 
prominent men of Elwoocl township. Mr. Davis was married in 
April, 1866, to Lydia Hornaday, who was born in Clinton, Ohio, on 
the 25th of December, 1835. They are the parents of seven children, 
four living: Sherman, John, Alice and Ella; the deceased were in- 
fants. Mr. Davis is a republican and belongs to the Friends church. 
He owns four hundred and thirty-five acres of good land adjoining 
Ridge Farm, one lot with store-house, and ten other lots in Ridge 
Farm. 

A. J. Darnall, Ridge Farm, dealer in general merchandise, a son of 
Aaron Darnall, of Edgar county, a Baptist minister of considerable 
note, was born in Edgar county, this state, on the 8th of November, 
1833, and was raised on a farm. He followed the occupation of a 
farmer until twenty-three years of age, at which time he commenced 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 6,03 

clerking in a store in Bloomfield, Edgar county. He followed this 
four years and bought his employer out, and continued there two 
years. He came to Ridge Farm in 1863 and opened a general mer- 
chandise store, which he still continues. He carries a stock of about 
ten thousand dollars' worth of goods, and by honesty and fair dealing 
he has established a reputation that has given him a large trade. He 
also owns two hundred acres of good land, a half interest in the flouring 
mill in Ridge Farm, one lot with a dwelling house, and a lot on which 
is a store. Mr. Darnall was married on the 4th of August, 1864, 
to Mary E. Fair. They are the parents of five children, three living: 
Minnie B., Harley and Manford. The deceased were Frank and one 
infant. Mr. Darnall is a democrat and his religious views are liberal. 
He belongs to the A.F. & A.M. 

J. C. Pierce, Ridge Farm, dealer in groceries and agricultural im- 
plements, was born in Vermilion county, Indiana, on the 1st of Janu- 
ary, 1840, and was raised on a farm. He enlisted in the late war in 
1861, in Co. A, 25th 111. Vol. Inf., as private, and was in the battles of 
Pea Ridge, Chickamauga, Atlanta and Peach tree Creek. He reen- 
listed on the 3d of February, 1865, in Co. E, 150th 111. Vol. Inf., as 
quartermaster. He served until the 1st of February, 1866, and then 
came to Ridge Farm and commenced the grocery business. He started 
with about eight hundred dollars' worth of groceries. He commenced 
selling agricultural implements in 1869. Mr. Pierce has held the office of 
supervisor of township four years, and justice of the peace, which office 
he still holds. He was married on the 1st of November, 1864, to 
Lydia B. Smith, who was born in this county. They are the parents 
of five children : Frank, Mark, Mary, Charley and Terrence. Mr. 
Pierce is a mason and a republican. His parents were natives of Penn- 
sylvania. 

John Guffin, Ridge Farm, practicing physician, was born in Indiana 
on the 5th of June, 1833, and was raised on a farm. When eighteen 
years of age he attended college at Antioch one year, the North- 
western University at Indianapolis two years, and the Rush Medical 
College one term, also the Medical College in Chicago one term, at the 
expiration of which he received a diploma for the practice of medicine. 
Mr. Gufrin first commenced practice in Claysville, Indiana, and there 
continued two years. He was assistant surgeon in the army of the 
late war. He came to Ridge Farm and commenced the practice of 
medicine in 1867, where he has been following his profession ever 
since, gaining quite an extensive practice. Mr. Guffin was married 
on the 26th of April, 1867, to Addie Ward, who was born in Fayette 
county, Indiana. They have no children. The doctor is a Mason. 



604 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

William Hilyard, Ridge Farm, farmer, section 21, was born in 
Greene county, Ohio, on the 24th of October, 1842. He was raised to 
the occupation of a farmer, which he has followed through life. Mr. 
Hilyard enlisted in the late war and went forward to battle for the 
Union. He enlisted first, in 1861, in Co. A, 25th 111. Yol. Inf., and 
was in the battles of Pea Ridge, Corinth, and many others. He served 
three years and four months. He enlisted, in 1865, in Co. E, 150th 111. 
Yol. Inf., as sergeant, and was soon after promoted to first-lieutenant. 
Mr. Hilyard was married on the 8th of December, 1868, to Mary E. 
Wall. She was born in this county in 1846. They are the parents of' 
four children : Joseph T. and Sam. The deceased are Rufus W. and 
one infant. His father was a native of Penns}dvania, and his mother, 
of Ohio. He is a republican. He and his wife both belong to the 
Cumberland church. He owns one hundred and sixty acres, worth 
sixty dollars per acre, fifty acres of which is timber. 

William P. Reynolds, Georgetown, farmer, section 3, was raised to 
the occupation of a farmer, and also learned the trade of a mechanic^ at 
which he has worked at intervals through life. He was married on the 
9th of April, 1868, to Angeline Holladay. They are the parents of 
two children: Addison, born on the 27th of February, 1-870, and Ma- 
nervie, born on the 28th of August, 1877. His parents were natives of 
North Carolina. Mrs. Reynolds' parents were natives of North Caro- 
lina and Tennessee. He owns one hundred and twenty-two acres of 
land, worth $50 per acre. 

Rev. S. H. Whitlock, Ridge Farm, minister of the gospel, of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, 
on the 27th of April, 1836, and at the age of eighteen learned the car- 
penter trade, at which he continued until 1863. He commenced pre- 
paring for the ministry, and became a member of the Illinois conference 
in 1868, since which time he has been constantly engaged in the min- 
istry, having charge of a circuit. Mr. Whitlock is a minister of no 
small degree of ability. He makes a good impression wherever he 
preaches. He has charge, at present, of the Ridge Farm circuit. Mr. 
Whitlock was married on the 20th of January, 1860, to Mariah J. Hor- 
ton, who was born in Miami county, Ohio, on the 25th of April, 1842. 
They have by this union three children : Minnie, born on the 29th of 
October, 1860; Ward B., born on the 18th of June, 1862, and Mabel, 
born on the 24th of August, 1869. Mr. Whitlock has two brothers 
who are ministers. His political views are republican. 

A. A. Sulcer, Ridge Farm, physician, was born in Butler county, 
Ohio, on the 28th of February, 1839, and remained on the farm until 
eighteen years of age, at which time he commenced the study of medi- 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 605 

cine. He attended Rush Medical College two terms, at the expiration 
of which time he received a diploma for the practice of medicine. He 
was assistant surgeon in the 113th 111. Yol. Inf. three years, where he 
had occasion frequently to perform amputations both of the upper and 
lower extremities. He came back from the army and practiced in 
Catlin a few months; then went to Danville and there practiced three 
years. He came to the Ridge in 1869, where he has been practicing 
since. Mr. Sulcer has had an extensive practice, attended with remark- 
able good success. He was married on the 12th of January, 1870, to 
Mary J. Duncan, who was born in this county. The Doctor is a repub- 
lican, and in his religious views he is a liberal. Mrs. Sulcer is a mem- 
ber of the Friends church. 

J. H. Banta, Ridge Farm, grain merchant, owns ten lots in Ridge 
Farm, four of which have good dwellings on ; also owns a half interest 
in the mill in Ridge Farm. He was born in Boone county, Kentucky, 
on the 14th of August, 1831, and spent his. early days on a farm. He 
came to this state in 1852, and settled in this county. He farmed until 
1869, at which time he came to Ridge Farm and opened a dry-goods 
store in connection with J. Darnall, for eighteen months. He con- 
tinued merchandising until the fall of 1872, when he commenced buy- 
ing grain, in which business he has been actively engaged since. In 
1872 he built the elevator. He is at present in partnership with A. B. 
Whinrey ; is a thorough business man. Mr. Banta has in his possession 
a very ancient relic, in shape of a shot-pouch, an article which his 
grandfather, who came from Prussia, carried. Mr. Banta was married 
in Kentucky, in 1851, to Mary J. Russell, who was born in this state 
in 1831. They have had eight children, seven living: James A., 
Nancy E., William F., Margaret E., Anna, Andrew J., and John H. 
The deceased was Sally. He is a charter member of the Masons. His 
political views are democratic, and in religion he is liberal. 

John Bolden, Ridge Farm, blacksmith, was born in Kentucky, on 
the 3d of March, 1836, and learned the blacksmith trade when young. 
He was married on the 6th of February, 1865. His wife was born in 
Montgomery county, Virginia, in 1846. They are the parents of seven 
children, four living: Laura A., Girdner C. G., Vinna A. and John 
H. W. The deceased were Manena J., Charley E. and Dealy. He 
came to this state in 1870, and settled in Ridge Farm. He has here 
established a good reputation as an honest workman and good citizen, 
and is well respected by all. He owns two town lots in Ridge Farm, 
on one of which is a dwelling, and also a half interest in a blacksmith 
shop and lot. This property he has earned by his hard labor, having 



606 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

been a slave until the Emancipation Proclamation, and worked all his 
early days for his master, under the unjust institution of slavery. 

Abraham Holaday, Ridge Farm, physician, was born in Parke county, 
Indiana, on the 2d of March, 1833, and followed the occupation of a 
farmer until twenty-six years of age. He attended the Academy at 
Bloomingdale under Professor Hobbs for four years, the Rush Medical 
College two sessions, and the Long Island College during regular 
course, when he received a diploma for the practice of medicine. He 
commenced the practice in 1862, and has followed his profession con- 
stantly ever since. He came to Ridge Farm, his present location, in 
1870. The Doctor has had a good practice, and it has been attended 
with excellent success. He has been twice married : first on the 21st 
of October, 1857, to Agatha Outland, who was born in 1839, and is 
now deceased. Mr. Holaday was then married, in 1862, to Martha 
Henderson, who was born in Vermilicn county, this state, February, 
1839. They had by this union nine children, seven living: Effie E., 
Mary A. Sarkie, Myrtilla M., Samuel A., Anna B., William and 
Thomas. The name of the deceased is Adaline. The Doctor is an Odd 
Fellow and a Freemason. He is a republican, and his religious views 
are liberal. 

G. R. Steele, Ridge Farm, practicing physician, was born in Put- 
nam county, Ohio, on the 1st of October, 1S4S, and came to this state 
in 1861. He settled in Edgar county, and for three years studied 
medicine under Dr. Miller, of Paris, Edgar county. He attended two 
courses of lectures at the Miami College, at the expiration of which 
time he received a diploma for the practice of medicine. Mr. Steele 
commenced the practice of medicine in Paris in the spring of 1875, and 
continued one year. He then practiced one year in Fairmount, after 
which he came to Ridge Farm. The Doctor has had quite an extensive 
practice attended with good success. He was married on the 21st of 
October, 1872. His wife was born in Edgar county, this state, on the 
17th of October, 1853. Mr. Steele is a member of the A.F. & A.M., 
and his political views are republican. 

John Q. Hoskins, Vermilion Grove, minister of the Friends church, 
was born in North Carolina in 1829, where he remained until fifteen 
years of age. He moved, with his parents, to the state of Indiana in 
1844, where he resided until 1872. He spent his early days farming, 
and was ordained a minister of the Friends church in 1868. He has 
been constantly engaged in the ministry since, and is quite an active 
laborer in the cause. He is a man of considerable ability as a minister. 
Mr. Hoskins has been twice married : first in October, 1852, to Serem 
Siler, now deceased. She was born in Parke county, Indiana, in 1834. 



ELWOOD TOWNSHIP. 607 

They had by this union four children, three living: Julia S., Ella, 
George. The name of the deceased is Laura. Mr. Hoskins was then 
married, in 1865, to Elizabeth Mendenhall, who was born in Henry 
county, Indiana, in 1839. They have three children by this union : 
Charley, Emma and Alice. Mr. Hoskins' parents were natives of 
North Carolina. He is a republican in politics. 

W. N. Barkley, Ridge Farm, telegraph operator and express and 
freight agent, was born in Edgar county, Illinois, on the 13th of Sep- 
tember, 1818. His father died when he was but twelve years of age, 
and he was then left to the care of his mother. He acquired a pretty 
good education by working on the farm in summer and attending school 
in the winter. He attended the high school at Westfield, Clark county, 
this state, for two years, and then the school at Bloomfield, Edgar 
county. He clerked in a store a short time, and afterward went in 
partnership with Mr. Boles in a drug store, where he remained two 
years. After this he went into the dry-goods business, and in eighteen 
months came to Ridge Farm. In 1872 he went in the lumber trade, 
starting the first lumber yard in the place. He continued this one 
year. While in the lumber trade Mr. Barkley learned telegraphy, 
and was soon after employed as operator at this place, which position 
he still holds. He is also employed as express and freight agent. Pie 
has been twice married : first, in 1870, to Sarah Porter, who was born 
in Edgar county in 1852. They had one child, deceased. Mr. 
Barkley was then married to Naomi E. Banta in 1874. She was born 
in this county in 1851. They have by this union two children: Harry 
C. and Ethel N. He has held the office of collector, town clerk, and 
is a Freemason, a democrat and a Methodist. 

A. P. Saunders, Ridge Farm, general merchandise and grain-dealer, 
was born in what was then Wirt county, Virginia, on the 7th of April, 
1S50, and, his father being a farmer, was raised to that occupation until 
the age of sixteen, at which time he commenced clerking in a store. 
Although he did not have a good chance to get an education, by 
occupying leisure hours in home study he managed to acquire sufficient 
to enable him to carry on business. He came to this state in 1871, and 
opened out his present general merchandise store in Ridge Farm, where he 
carries about fifteen hundred dollars' worth of stock. He is doing good 
business, and is also engaged in the grain trade. Mr. Saunders was 
married on the 25th of April, 1877, to Ada Lewis, who was born in 
this state in 1856. He belongs to the A.F. & A.M.. and his political 
views are democratic. 

A. W. Mendenhall, Ridge Farm, dentist, was born in Butler county, 
Ohio, on the 12th of November, 1834, and came to this state in 1877, 



608 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

settling in Ridge Farm. He received, while young, a good education, 
which he has applied in the way of school-teaching, commencing at the 
age of nineteen years. He has taught about fifteen terms of six months 
each. Mr. Mendenhall learned the trade of dentistry in 1868, which 
occupation he has successfully followed since. He is a good workman, 
as well as a straightforward, upright business man, well respected by 
all who know him. He has been twice married: first, [on the 22d of 
September, 1858, to Sarah Jay. She was born in 1834, and died in 
1873. The}' had by this union five children, one living: Eva L. The 
names of the deceased are : Mary, Emma, Alice E. and Anna C. He 
was then married on the 6th of July, 1876. His wife was born in 
Indiana on the 23d of February, 1844. They have by this union one 
child: William, born on the 10th of May, 1879. Mr. Mendenhall is a 
republican, and he and his wife both belong to the Friends church. 

W. R.Nash, Ridge Farm, physician, was born in Hendricks county, 
Indiana, on the 12th of May, 1841. His father died when he was but 
five years old, and his mother, when he was twelve years of age. He 
followed the occupation of a farmer until the war broke out, when he 
enlisted, on the 1st of June, 1861, in Co. D, 25th 111. Vol. Inf., as 
private, and served three years. He was in the battles of Pea Ridge, 
Corinth, Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, 
Nashville, and then the one steady fight from Chattanooga to Atlanta, 
he receiving in all these but a flesh-wound. Soon after the close of the 
war he commenced the study of medicine: first, under P. T. Cellers, 
for two years, and then he attended the Surgical Institute at Indian- 
apolis for two years, and afterward, several different courses of lectures 
at different colleges. He graduated on the 27th of February, 1877, 
received a diploma for practicing medicine, and came to the "Ridge" 
on the 1st of April, 1877, where he has been practicing since. Mr. 
Nash has been practicing at intervals for several years, meeting with 
quite an extensive practice. He was married on the 14th of May, 
1865, to Ruth J. Coy, who, too, was born in Hendricks county, Indi- 
ana. They have by this union one child : Effie E., born on the 8th of 
August, 1866. Both of their parents were natives of Kentucky. He 
is a republican ; in his religion he is liberal. 

Isaac T. Hunt, Long, general merchandise, was born in Parke 
county, Indiana, on the 30th of March, 1856, and was raised a farmer 
until the age of seventeen, at which time he commenced clerking in a 
store. He attended Waverly College for one term, and also the Bloom- 
ingdale Academy for a time. He is a young man of good habits and 
good business tact, and we may safely predict for him success in busi- 
ness. He came to this state in April, 1879, opening out a general 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 609 

merchandise store at Bethel, on the state line, in the southeast corner 
of Yermilion county. He has a good stock of goods, and is doing a 
good business. Mr. Hunt was married in Indiana on the 1st of June, 
1879, to Dora Towel! . She was born in Illinois on the 10th of October, 
1861. Mr. Hunt is a republican, and is deputy postmaster at Long. 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 

Catlin occupies the center of the southern half of the county, and 
is bounded on the north by Oakwood and Danville, on the east by 
Danville and Georgetown, on the south by Georgetown and Carroll, 
and on the west by Vance townships, and received its name from the 
station on the railroad, which was named from one of the officers of 
the road. It embraces all of the north half of town 18, range 12; six 
sections off the east side of the north half of town 18, range 13; all 
but section 19 of the south half of town 19, range 12; four sections 
out of the southeast corner of town 19, range 13, and a section and a 
half lying out by itself north of the salt works, which ought to be 
anchored somewhere, or it is liable to get lost one of these days ; 
making in all somewhat more than a full congressional township and 
a quarter. The Salt Fork runs along its northern border, having along 
its banks a belt of excellent timber, varying from a mile to a mile and 
a half in width. The "points" made by these elbows of timber ex- 
tending out into the prairie, chief among which was Butler's Point, 
were a principal attraction to the early settlers. The old salt works, 
(which is fully written up in its proper place) drew in the first settlers, 
which, though not really lying in its present territory, was so close by, 
that that portion of Catlin township was known first of any locality in 
the county, and long before Danville was dreamed of. Its first selec- 
tion by the authorized commission as the proper place for the county 
seat was not due so much as some suppose to its being the geograph- 
ical center of the county, for it was not. The county at that time 
extended to the lake, and its geographical center was not far from the 
thriving city of Kankakee. While the geographical center of the 
county, by its present limits, is exactly six miles north of the locality 
indicated (being on section 21, a little north of the original settlement 
of Mr. Blount, whose name was given to that township), its selection 
was made on account of its being central to the population then here, 
and those whom it was then believed would in future occupy the 
county. The state road, from Crawfordsville, Indiana, to Decatur, 
39 



61(1 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

runs through the town, keeping along where the prairie line broke 
away from the timber, midway between the railroad and the stream. 
Along this road on either side are situated some of the finest farms in 
the town, and which have few superiors in the county. These were of 
course the first to' be brought into cultivation, and it was many years 
after that those on the prairie south of the railroad w T ere settled. The 
township was laid off from Danville, Vance, Carroll and Georgetown 
in 1858. This was after the railroad was built, and after the station 
had been sometime known as Catlin. 

The railroad was one of the first chartered in the state. At the 
time the legislature thought, — an opinion which the people at large 
shared, — that all that was necessary to develop the state was to make 
a liberal shower of railroad charters, and a system of state improve- 
ments was inaugurated which, for extent, has never been equaled by 
any state in America. Of the lines which were chartered, this one, 
known as the " Northern Cross-road," was commenced and considera- 
ble work done on it before the crash of 1837 stopped all undertakings ' 
and burst every financial bubble in the country. This road was act- 
ually graded from Danville nearly or quite through this town ; the 
abutments were built and the timbers hewn to build the bridges before 
the company failed and left their contractors unpaid and laborers with- 
out a dollar. It was a serious time for the men who had undertaken 
to do this job. From the height of financial hopes in 1836, when it 
looked as though every one was going to get rich, and the country 
develop at once into a great agricultural and commercial empire, to 
the deep despondency of 1837, when all business stopped and no one 
could get pay for what he had done, or a hope for anything in the 
future, with what money there was next to worthless and the state 
itself bankrupt, was a step from the brightest day to the darkest night. 
Men who were supposed to be, and who really were, rich yesterday, 
were bankrupt to-day. The state of Illinois, while it never in fact 
repudiated its debt, could not provide the interest, and for nineteen 
years was in default ; yet the entire debt was less than the annual 
taxes now raised in the state. The Northern Cross railroad got no 
farther at this end of the route than the grading of a few miles of its 
road, but from Springfield to the Illinois River was finished, as rail-' 
road builders understood the matter in those days, and a kind of a 
locomotive was purchased that actually run on the old strap-rail track, 
drawing a few cars nearly as fast as a hen could run. It fell off into 
the ditch one day, and the officials seemed to lack the knowledge, or 
the wish, to put it on the track again and put on a pair of fleet-footed 
mules to do the locomotive work. The timbers which were hewn for 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 611 

bridges were carried off by men to build log houses, and nothing re- 
mained but a bank of earth and a load of debt. Later, when railroad- 
building was again revived, a company was formed which built the 
Great Western road on the same line, using this grade as far as it was 
made. 

Along the southern line of the township is a high elevation of land, 
which forms the "divide" between the Salt Fork and the Little Yer- 
milion. All the land of the town sheds toward the Salt Fork, except 
a small portion on the extreme southern edge. As early as 1850 all 
the portion north of the railroad had been brought into cultivation ; 
the Sandusky farm had been improved, and the large brick house at 
the mound south of the village of Catlin had been built. Following 
the building of the road, all the land along its line was taken up by 
eastern speculators, and settlers found it to their advantage to go 
farther south to get cheaper lands. By 1858 all this land southwest 
of the station was taken and made into farms. 

The point of timber running out into the prairie west of the present 
village of Catlin was the place of the first settlement, and is historic. 
It was called Butler's, from James Butler, who was the first settler, 
and in the course of time the whole settlement came to be known by 
that name, and continued to be so called until the railroad officials 
called the name of their station here Catlin. 

James Butler came from Vermont in 1820. Before the county was 
organized it was a part of Edgar county, and the people here at an 
early day found Paris the most convenient place for trade, and had to 
go there for their official business. Butler, Elliot, Whitcomb and 
Woodin were the first to live here, and all performed important parts 
in the early matters which transpired here. Mrs. Stansbury, who is 
now the oldest inhabitant of the township, and whose memory is good 
in regard to affairs here, has placed the writer under many obligations 
for valuable information. She says that in publications in regard to 
early matters, the names of prominent actors have been mixed up. 
The first county commissioners' courts were held at the house of James 
Butler, he being one of the commissioners. It was here that the com- 
mission -which had been appointed by the legislature to locate the 
county seat made its report to the county commissioners, wherein they 
reported in favor of locating it on the high bluff south of the salt 
works. Some persons, who thought the commissioners did not know 
their business, reported around that folks could never get water up 
there, and a new commission was appointed, which decided on Danville. 

Mrs. Stansbury gives the following circumstantial account of the 
first marriages which occurred in this county before it was organized, 



612 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

which differs considerably from the published account, but which she 
knows to be correct. Cyrus Douglas had made up his mind to marry 
Ruby Bloss, and she was willing, but a troublesome brother-in-law, 
Mr. Denio, objected. After the plan was well matured, Douglas went 
to Paris and got the license, and bought a pair of shoes for Ruby, for 
he objected to marrying her bare-footed, — not that he cared so much 
about shoes, but he thought a decent regard for public sentiment ought 
to be maintained, and he hated to have it said that the first girl mar- 
ried in this community had to go to her own wedding bare footed. He 
hid the shoes at Mr. Woodin's house, and she got away from her unsus- 
picious brother-in-law, came to Woodin's, put on her new shoes (her 
other necessary dry goods were on before coming there), which she de- 
clared were " a mile too big," and walked to 'Squire Treat's, where the 
ceremony was performed. They then went to Mr. Butler's house. 
Marcus Snow was married the same day to Annis Butler, and the two 
newly married couples met at Mr. Butler's that evening. Douglas was 
a hatter by trade, and went to Yankee Point and commenced business. 
He and Mr. Snow both bought farms there, and each raised quite a 
family of children. Mr. Snow and Mrs. Douglas dying a few years 
since, the relicts of each intermarried, and now live happily at Fairmount. 
Asa Elliott, who was the first justice of the peace in the county, 
came here to live at Butler's Point in 1822. He was a man of good 
business capacity, and a successful man. It was at his house that the 
first circuit court was held. The house was situated about one fourth 
of a mile from the west line of Catlin village. He had a log house, 
which is now used by Hon. J. H. Oakwood for a stable, and was build- 
ing a larger one when the court came in on him rather unexpectedly, 
before it was completed. It stood near where Betty Sandusky now 
lives. The floor had not yet been placed in, and the attendants on 
court sat on the floor timbers for seats; there being no cellar under the 
house, they made very comfortable seats. A story is told, which, it is 
well to say, lacks confirmation, that Abraham Lincoln, who a few years 
later than this date was in the habit of practicing in this court, came 
along to see how matters were going on, and found the court sitting on 
one of the sleepers, paring his toe-nails; while standing around (for 
his legs were too long for him to sit with any comfort on the floor 
timbers), the bailiff came in and reported to the court that he had got 
six of the grand jury securely chained, and the hounds were chasing 
the others through the adjoining timber. Mr. Lincoln, who had not 
yet got used to that way of serving processes, climbed up a tree near 
by, and sat a-straddle' of a safe limb until they called off the dogs. 
James Butler died here, and his sou afterward sold the farm to Mr. 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 613 

Sandusky and moved to Kansas. Mrs. Stansbnry, who at that time 
was plain Jane Woodin, came here to the salt works in 1824. Francis 
Whitcomb and John Yance were then carrying on the salt business. 
Mr. Woodin was a cooper, and was at work at his trade there. He 
worked there three years and then entered four hundred acres of land 
near Catlin, which is now owned by Charles Gones. At that time 
Paris was the place of trade and milling, but afterward they used to go 
to Eugene. The}' took their produce to Hubbard and other traders, 
and took their furs to Lafayette, where they could always get cash for 
them. Mr. Woodin kept boarders for $1.50 per week. At that time 
salt sold for $1.50 per bushel. Mrs. Stansbnry went to Danville once 
to a party. There was only one house on the road, at the head of the 
Froman hollow. Dan Beck with was keeping bachelor's hall at D., 
and was very attentive to the party which had done his new town the 
honor of a visit. 

The first school that was kept here was taught by Hiram Ticknor, 
just south of where Thomas Keeney now lives. The children from the 
salt works had to go three miles to this school. He was a good teacher, 
and put his fifteen scholars through readin', 'ritin' and 'rithmetic in a 
satisfactory way. 

The first meetings were held at the house of Asa Elliott. Father 
Kingsbury, who came here to preach to the Indians, occasionally 
preached for the people at the salt works. The first Sabbath-school in 
the county was established by the Methodists at Mr. Elliott's, probably 
about 1836. Mr. Woodin died here in 1837. Of ten children, only 
four are living. Mrs. Stansbury and Mrs. Price live in this county. 
When the first court was held at Elliott's, Mrs. Stanbury went over to 
help Mrs. Elliott to do the house-work. 

Francis Whitcomb was for several } T ears engaged in the salt works. 
He came there in 1821. He afterward took up the farm which Kich- 
ard Jones lived on. He worked this farm for several years, and sold 
it to Henry Jones, and went to McLean county, and lived on the 
Kickapoo, seven miles this side of Bloomington, where some of his 
family still reside. 

Amos Williams, from Pennsylvania, lived here at Butler's Point 
a short time. He was the first county clerk after the county was or- 
ganized, and had been a teacher and surveyor, and county clerk of 
Edgar county before. He was a man of most accurate habits. The 
records show more in his favor than any other pen can tell. He was 
circuit clerk, probate justice of the peace, poundmaster, postmaster at 
Danville, and may have held all the other offices too. He helped to 
survey out the town, and was almost the first to become interested in 



614 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

having good schools. He was a competent surveyor, a thorough 
teacher, a natural clerk. If he, could not do everything, it is evident 
that he did everything well which he undertook to do at all, which is 
better. He died in 1857, and his children still reside in Danville. 

John Payne, the father of a family that has since the very first his- 
tory of the county been an important factor in its affairs, came from 
Orange county, New York, to Indiana, and from there here, in 182T, 
and took up land where the Poor Farm now is, in section 24. His 
family all came with him, and for some time lived around him here. 
He was a man of great force of character, with strong will and energy, 
and he soon made himself felt in the affairs of the new county. Late 
in life he sold out here and went to Livingston county, where two of 
his sons resided, and died there about 1864. He left a family of nine 
children, who have long been known as among the most enterprising 
and public-spirited citizens. His son Peter went to California. William 
Milton was at one time sheriff of Vermilion county, and now resides 
in Danville. Captain Morgan L. Payne, another son, who has recently 
died in Livingston county, has left a record of which any man or fam- 
ily might well feel proud. He raised a company here for the Black- 
hawk war, and marched at its head to the relief of the beleaguered 
citizens on Fox River. He owned a farm here, and during the era of 
railroad building, in 1836, took a large contract of grading the North- 
ern Cross road through this township. By the failure of the company 
he was ruined and went to Texas, hoping to recover his fortunes. At 
the breaking out of the war with Mexico, he commanded a company, 
doing good service until the expiration of his term of enlistment, when 
he returned to his former home in Indiana to raise another company. 
%The close of hostilities occurring before he could accomplish his desire, 
he again engaged in farming and removed to Livingston county, in this 
state. At the breaking out of the rebellion he raised a company which 
did gallant service in defending the old flag. He again engaged in 
farming, and later, while keeping hotel in Pontiac, lost all by a tire, 
and when seventy years old served as constable and deputy sheriff to 
earn an honest living, until stricken with disease, which proved fatal. 
He was a man of most intense patriotism, and showed it by gallant 
heroism in three wars, and never lagged when duty called. An inci- 
dent which occurred is so characteristic of the two principal actors that 
it is recorded here : While engaged in grading the railroad in Catlin, a 
dispute arose with a Mr. Frazier in regard to his right to cross the 
latter's land, Mr. Frazier claiming that he was a trespasser in going on 
his land to grade the road. The result was a fight, in which the 
pluck and fighting qualities of both participants were pretty fully 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. tfl5 

tested. After a most fearful contest, in which the captain seemed to 
be the victor, a contest in the court followed, which created a good 
deal of interest. Mr. Lincoln was at Danville, attending court, and 
became much interested in the matter, and could not but admire the 
pluck of the captain, who contested his case as stoutly in court as he 
had on the field. While he was serving in the rebellion he was home 
on furlough, and not getting back on time was mustered out of 
service. This was not what he had gone to war for, and he set about 
getting the order mustering him out set aside. Procuring the names 
of all the officers to his petition, he sent it on to Washington, to his 
old friend Ward Hill Lamon, whom he rightfully supposed could get 
the ear of the President on all occasions. When the matter was 
brought to the attention of the President he looked it over, noticing the 
name. The old affair with Frazier at once came back to him. " See 
here, Hill," said he, " is this the Captain Payne who had the fight with 
Frazier about that railroad grading down in Danville?" Being told 
it was, he said : " Well, it's my opinion that he's just the kind of 
fighters we want down there," and at once wrote the order to reinstate 
him in his position. Squire L. Payne, another son, is an extensive 
farmer near Chenoa. John, Jr., was killed in a riot in Danville, in 
the summer of 1863. The affair was unfortunate in all its bearings. 
He left seven children, four of whom live in this county. Martin, 
another son, went to Oregon. Mrs. Miles lived near here. Mrs. Thomas 
Douglas, who lived near here, had a large family of children, several 
of whom still live here. Mrs. Thompson lived here on the farm until 
her husband died, and now resides in Danville. 

John Thompson came from Canada. He came here with his father- 
in-law, John Payne, and took up a farm in 1827 about one mile north- 
east of Catlin. He died there in 1864. One son is now a prominent 
citizen of Rossville. He was a good citizen, and a very worthy and 
successful farmer. Some of his children live here yet, and are among 
the well known citizens of Vermilion county. 

Charles Caraway entered land here in 1824. He lived in Virginia, 
and had an interest in the Sulphur Springs in Green Briar county. 
He entered about a section of land in all, and came here to live in 
1829, and made his home on section 33, where Hon. J. H. Oakwood 
now resides. He was a man of education and enterprise, and at once 
became thoroughly interested in the affairs of the new county. He 
died early in 1836, before his plans had become fully developed. He 
left one son and four daughters. His son Charles still lives in the 
township. One daughter, Mrs. Oakwood, lives on the farm her father 
made here. Mrs. Arrowsmith removed to Iowa, where she still re- 



616 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

sides; Mrs. Buoy went to Oregon, and died in California, and Mrs. G. 
W. Wolfe still lives here. The three brothers McCorkle, who were 
brothers of Mrs. Charles Caraway, came here from Virginia with the 
latter in 1829. J. S. McCorkle took up a farm northeast of Catlin in 
section 23, and was a very prosperous and successful farmer. He en- 
gaged in stock-raising and feeding, and acquired considerable property. 
He died in 1858, and his family are scattered, a portion of them still 
residing here. The other brothers engaged in teaching and other 
vocations for a time. Thomas H. McKeeney came here at the same 
time, and took up land in section 28, where he still resides, though 
bed-ridden for some years. He has four children residing here. 

Noah Guymon came from Ohio in 1830. He came on foot, bring- 
ing his wife — known all over this countiw as "Grandma" Guymon — 
on horseback, which conveyance also served to pack what earthly 
possession the two jointly and severally owned. He took a claim 
on section 29, and got up a little cabin, which served the double 
purpose of residence and a place of shelter for the faithful old mare, 
which had transported his plunder from Ohio. They proved an in- 
dustrious and economical couple, and soon prospered in their worldly 
affairs. Mrs. Guymon was a Connecticut Yankee, and, in the crowd 
of folks with whom she found herself here, whose ideas of a live 
Yankee were purely traditional — which traditions were strained 
through several generations of stories and theories, — she was fond of 
boasting of her pure New England nativity. It is needless to say that 
she was never called on to prove her identity, for, with the native 
shrewdness of a born Yankee of the typical kind, she made the most 
of the situation and surroundings. She almost at once commenced 
the practice of a profession, then, and since, in universal demand. 
Doctors were not numerous here in the early days, and for miles 
around, this patron saint of the " rising generation," went the darkest 
nights and in all sorts of weather to aid the cause of progressive 
humanity. The walls of her sitting-room are hung with the portraits 
of the great men, living and dead, of republican views. 

" By these insignia," said her visitor, " we are led to mistrust that 
you have been a republican in your sentiments?" 

"Yes," she replied, "a real abolitionist! and when the war was go- 
ing on it seemed as if 1 must read everything about it. I could count 
almost a regiment of my boys there, — that is, of those whom I had 
dressed the first time ; and I read so much that I almost destroyed my 
eyes. Oh ! it was awful to think of those brave men starving in rebel 
prison pens !" 

Now at the age of 86, though her eye is dimmed and her step feeble, 






CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 617 

her mind is as free, her voice as clear, and her laugh as hearty as it 
was fifty years ago, when she first set foot on the soil of Vermilion 
county. Her life has been an active one ; both she and her husband 
worked hard and managed frugally, have accumulated and saved. In 
the place of the old log-cabin of which they were joint occupants the 
first year of their life here, a tidy brick house was built. Few people 
who have lived in Catlin during the past fifty years will ever forget 
" Widow Guymon." 

Alexander Church came from Virginia in 1830, and farmed a part 
of Mr. Caraway's land for ten years, when he bought the land where 
he now is, in section 28. This was the school section which had been 
given in lieu of the Saline section 16. The law of congress gave all 
sections 16 to the state for school purposes, but another law reserved 
to the state all Saline lands. The Saline section had been taken pos- 
session of by the men who were making salt and living there ; hence 
this section was given in lieu of that. 

John Boggess took up land in sections 29 and 30, in 1830. He 
made a considerable farm, and continued to live there until 1875, when 
he died. His son resides on the farm. The old log house still stands 
there, which his father built nearly fifty years ago. Joseph Davis set- 
tled here on section 36 (19-13), in 1830. He was an energetic man, 
and acquired ownership of considerable land. He engaged in raising 
and feeding stock, and used to drive to Ohio frequently. He was a 
very successful farmer. His son Jesse still lives here. Frank Foley 
settled on section 36 in 1831. He was here when the soldiers were 
going to the Black Hawk war. He sold to J. Allen in 1835, and 
went to Stephenson county, where he entered land which has since be- 
come a portion of the city of Freeport. Jacob Hickman came in 1831 
and took up land in section 35 (19-13). He died there in 1842. He 
had ten children. His son R. C. Hickman still lives on the farm. One 
son, Hiram, kept hotel a long time in Georgetown, and was sheriff of 
the county about 1845. He had been very successful in business, but 
complications growing out of his office embarrassed him. William 
Youst came on a farm in the western part of the county in 1830. He 
lived there the winter of the deep snow, and then settled on section 36, 
where he died soon after. His wife died in 1872. His son, James T. 
Youst, lives on the farm still, and his daughter is the wife of Joel 
Acree. Ephraim Acree, and his son Joel, came here in 1830, and took 
up land where the latter lives now. There had been a short corn crop 
that year, and when the deep snow followed they were just able to 
hive up for the winter like the bees. At this time game of all kinds 
was plenty, but that winter made it very scarce. The snow was so 



618 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

deep that there was nothing for the game to live on. The wolves 
seemed to prosper. Joel Acree still lives on the farm which his father 
took up fifty years ago. "W. H. Butler was an old settler near Dan- 
ville ; he settled on section 35 (19-13) in 1834. G. W. Pate, whose 
name and whose life is so identified with the growth and progress of 
the Methodist church in this portion of the county, was born in Indi- 
ana in 1815, and came here to Butler's Point with his father, Adam 
Pate, about 1830. He was converted under the preaching of Father 
Anderson, and at once commenced his labors in the cause of religion. 
He was selected ,as class-leader, and soon commenced preaching. EJe 
lived in the house which stands opposite the fair grounds, where his 
widow still resides, and kept a country tavern there for many years. 
Very early preaching service was held at Elliott's house, at Adam 
Pate's, and later at the school-house. Rev. James McKain, Mr. Hall 
and Mr. French were among the first preachers. The circuit was a 
four weeks' one, and the intervening Sabbaths called for the services of 
Mr. Pate and other local preachers. He was ordained a deacon by 
Bishop Scott, in 1857. Most of his time was spent on the farm, of 
course, but he was often called away on various matters in which he 
took a deep interest. He was long a member of the Masonic order, 
and was held in high estimation by members of the craft for his faith- 
ful devotion to the principles of the order. He was a man of kind, 
conciliating disposition, and loved the peace and good of the church 
and the neighborhood. He died a few years since. His widow is still 
living, and his only daughter, whose husband, Thomas Keeney, was 
killed in the army. Two sons of the latter are left to honor the mem- 
ory of their father and grandfather. 

John Reynolds, a brother of Mrs. Pate, was a prominent promoter 
of the cause of religion. He was a man of no especial culture for the 
work, but was zealous and earnest. He preached all over this country, 
from Georgetown to Homer, for twenty years. It was never too stormy 
nor cold for him to go forth to fill an appointment, or to perform an 
act of kindness to the sick or suffering. In 1850 he went to Iowa. 

Mrs. Ray came here with her seven children, from Indiana, in 1842. 
Though not among the earliest settlers, she and her family took an im- 
portant part in strengthening the religious interests of the towm. She 
was a sincere christian mother, whose every thought, wish and desire 
was for the cause of religion and for her children's best interests. She 
died at the age of eighty-seven, in 1877, sincerely loved by the entire 
community. Her sons William and S. S. still reside here. 

Henry Oakwood came from Ohio in 1833, and took up a farm in 
what is now Oakwood township. He was a prominent and public- 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 619 

spirited man. His son, Hon. J. H. Oakwood, came to reside in Catlin, 
where he now lives, in 1851, on section 33. He has always been a 
leader in public matters; was one of the earliest and staunchest friends 
of the County Agricultural Society, and of every matter of permanent 
interest. He has been in past years largely engaged in farming and 
cattle-raising. Mr. Oakwood was elected to the legislature in 1872, 
and served during the protracted sessions of 1873 and 1874, at the time 
when the revision of the statutes was being passed upon. As the 
personal representative of a farming community, while he did not for- 
get his duties as a representative of other interests, he became strongly 
identified with every matter which had a bearing on the farm. Mr. 
Oakwood was again elected in 1876, and proved a very valuable and 
useful member. During this last term he was the colleague of Hon. 
Alvan Gilbert, one of Vermilion county's most honored and valuable 
citizens. 

Henry Jones came here from England in 1849. He had amassed 
a considerable fortune in the energetic prosecution of his trade, and, 
having a large family of boys, came here to make his home. He bought 
the Whitcomb farm, and entered and bought land all around it, until 
he had about three thousand acres. He provided himself with fourteen 
yoke of cattle to break prairie with, and stocked up pretty heavily with 
cattle. He was a very large man, weighing over three hundred pounds, 
and had all the traits of a hospitable, well educated ''English gentle- 
man ; one of the real old stock." He engaged in partnership with 
William Bently and William Hinds, in the tanning business, and did 
a pretty fair business; but they were never able to get enough bark, the 
people all being too busy with their farm work when bark-peeling was 
in its prime. Nothing is left of the old tan-yard but a fine spring of 
water. The eldest son, Richard, was the first station agent and first 
business man of Catlin ; was in trade a long time; was frequently elected 
supervisor, and was president of the town board. His tragic death — 
tragic in its surroundings — will never be forgotten by the citizens of 
Catlin. His sister, Mrs. Church, was entertaining her family and 
friends in honor of her fiftieth birthday. Dinner was served at six 
o'clock, and at the moment when joy and music were filling the man- 
sion of the hospitable lady, and everyone present was given over to 
gladness, three young ladies were invited to sing. They commenced 
to sing a sad, though favorite song, "Mother, I've come home to die," 
when Mr. Jones straightened back in his chair and expired in an 
instant. The sadness which shrouded that gay company when it was 
known that death had taken from their very midst the good man who, 
since the death of his father, had been looked up to by every member 



620 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

of the family as their head, was terrible to endure. The descent from 
unmixed joy and hilarity into the grief which surrounds death, was 
shocking, if not tragic. 

Soon after the railroad was in operation, and Catlin had begun to 
grow into a place of note, the people concluded to have an "old- 
fashioned Fourth of July celebration." It was one of Henry Jones' 
favorite desires to show these Yankees how they would celebrate such 
an occasion in England, if they had ever been so fortunate as to have 
such an affair there. He had been brought up under the " lion and 
the unicorn," and had never been accustomed to see a " Fourth of 
July," and had held to the traditions of his fathers, that " St. George 
was a bigger man than ever fourth of July was." But, on coming to 
America, he changed his mind, and became a thorough Yankee. To 
have the biggest celebration ever seen in the Wabash Valley was what 
the people of Catlin proposed, and preparations were made accord- 
ingly. Mr. Jones told them to go into his herd and slaughter all the 
fat steers they wanted. " If a dozen won't do 'em, take a hun'erd," said 
the earnest Jonathan ; " give 'em enough to eat, or they can't be 
'appy." He was unanimously chosen president of the day. The prep- 
arations went forward on the grandest scale. Twenty stalwart men 
were sent out, who spent a week soliciting provisions. Wagon trains 
were pressed into service to bring in of the abundance of the land. 
No such sight was ever seen until the commissary trains of the grand 
army of the Union took up the line of march into the sacred soil of 
Virginia. The best band in Indiana was engaged, and Daniel Voor- 
hees was^sent for, but previous engagements prevented his attendance, 
and Dan Beckwith came in his stead. The preparations which had 
been going on for weeks finally ushered in the glorious day. A whole 
flock of eagles could not have added to the patriotic enthusiasm of the 
occasion. Crowds of people came in from all the surrounding country, 
and father Jones was '"appy." Catlin had not as yet been captured by 
the Good Templars, and the boys did not forget to drink bumpers to 
the old Englishman who had been converted into a live Yankee. The 
fund of provisions was ample, and the baskets full of fragments which 
they took up were never counted, but there was enough to keep Jones' 
hogs for weeks, after having given away to all the poor they could 
find. Catlin can be depended on when her citizens get aroused. 

Below is a list of the township officers elected in Catlin since it was 
set off as a separate township in 1858: 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 



621 



Date. 

1858. 

1859. 

1860. 

1861. 

1862. 

1863. 

1864. 

1865. 

1866. 

1867., 

1868 , 

1869. 

1870. . 

1871.. 

1872. 

1873. 

1874. 

1875. 

1876. 

1877. 

1878. 

1879. 



Vote. 



.208. 
.153. 

.247. 
.274. 
.168. 
.190. 



.160. 
.221. 
.199. 
.211. 
.195. 
.239. 
.246. 



Supprvisor. Clerk. 

.Jesse Burroughs . . . J. M. Goss 

.Jesse Burroughs . . . W. R. Timmons. 

.Jesse Burroughs . . . J. Crosby 

.G. W. Pate J. Crosby 

.A. G. Olmstead J. Crosby 

.Jesse Burroughs . . .G. W. F. Church. 

. Richard Jones W. L. Hind 

. Richard Jones S. Calvert 

.A. G. Olmstead . . .A. A. Sulcer .... 

.J. A. Church C. L. Pate 

. Richard Jones P. Hains 

.G. W. Pate P. Hains 

. G. W. Wolfe J. H. Hartley . . . 

.G. W. Wolfe J. H. Oakwood . . 

.G. W. Wolfe Ed. Winter 

.G. W. Wolfe Ed. Winter ..... 

.G. W. Tilton W. R. Timmons . 

. Richard Jones F. Tarrant 

. Richard Jones Albert Church. . . 

.G. W. Wolfe Albert Church. . . 

.G. W. Wolfe Albert Church. . . 

. J. W. Newlon Albert Church. . . 



Assessor. 
Noah Guymon. 
C. L. Pate. 
J. Thompson . . 
J. Thompson . . 
N. C. Howard . 
N. C. Howard . 
H. J. Oakwood 
F. Allhands . . . 
R. Clearwater . 
E. P. Boggess . 
W. M. Ray.... 
W. M. Ray ... 
W. M. Ray. . . . 
W. M. Ray..-. 
W. M. Ray.... 
W. M. Ray.... 
J. W. Newlon . 
J. A. Church . . 
J. A. Church . . 
Wm. Jameson . 
Wm. Jameson . 
,Wm. Jameson . 



Collector. 



J. A. Church. 
G. W. Cook. 
G. W. Cook. 
J. A. Church. 
J. A. Church. 

F. Allhands. 
R. Clearwater. 
E. P. Boggess. 
W. M. Ray. 
J. W. Newlon. 
J. W. Newlon. 
S. W. Black. 
S. W. Black. 
W. F. Wolfe. 
W. F. Wolfe. 
Henry Lloyd. 
Henry Lloyd . 

G. W. Wolfe, jr. 
Albert Church. 
Albert Church. 



RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION. 

It is believed that Rev. James McKain, who was, as early as 1828 
or 1829, minister in charge of the Eugene circuit, was the first Meth- 
odist minister to preach in this part of the county. Mrs. Pate speaks 
of him and of Messrs. Hall, Anderson and French, as among the first 
preachers here, and says the earlier preaching services were held at 
Father Pate's, and at the house of Mr. Elliott. Her husband and her 
brother, Mr. Reynolds, are deserving of mention as among the early 
local preachers who in those times had much of the pastoral labors put 
on them. Father Kingsbury is the only minister of the Presbyterian 
denomination found mentioned at that early day, and the names of 
none of other denominations are found in any account, or in the mem- 
ory of any of the oldest inhabitants. About ten years later, Rev. James 
Ashmore, of the Cumberland Presbyterians, commenced preaching in 
the western part of this town. 

The first edifice erected by the Methodists was the small building 
now occupied by Mr. Tarrant at Catlin village. It was built a half 
mile north of its present location. Francis Whitcomb, David Fin ley, 
Adam Pate, Thomas Keeney and wife, John Finley and wife, Mrs. 
Ray and her children, were the leaders in getting up this house of 
worship. Rev. Mr. York was then pastor, and the charge belonged to 
the Danville circuit. The building was 20 x 30, and was built by Mr. 
Mills, probably in 1842. The charge was soon after this made a part 



622 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

of the Homer circuit. The present house was built in 1857, under the 
preaching of Rev. Peter Wallace. G. W. Pate, Thomas Williams, 
Thomas Keeney, the Rays, Isaac Wolf, Truman Williams and several 
others were active in the work of building this. It is 36x46, with a 
steeple, and is a comfortable house. It cost about $1,500. The num- 
ber of members is about forty. It afterward was changed to Fairmont 
circuit, and is now Catlin circuit. The Shiloh Methodist Society was 
organized in 1854. Hamilton Boggess was the first class-leader, and 
continued his faithful service in that position until he went to the 
army, where he remained faithful to every trust, as indeed he did 
everywhere, until, stricken down by disease, he was called up higher. 
He died in the hospital at Nashville, a sacrifice, like thousands of 
others, to the unity of this nation. Mr. and Mrs. H. Boggess, Miss 
Pritchard, John Aldrige, Martin Roof and wife, John Busby and wife, 
Peter Conrad and wife, M. B. Boggess and wife, Edwin Busby and 
wife, and William Busby and wife, were the members of this class 
which became the Shiloh charge. William Busby was another of this 
little band who gave his life to his country. Rev. George Fairbanks, 
who resided in Homer, first preached here once in four weeks. Rev. 
George Bates is the present preacher in charge. Services are held in 
the school-house. The charge has usually numbered about thirty-five. 
A union Sabbath-school is maintained in connection with the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian. W. Douglass is superintendent. 

The Fairview M. E. Church is on the line between Catlin and 
Georgetown. The Bethel M. E. Church was organized as a class in 
1869, with fifteen members. Under the preaching of Rev. John 
Helmic, who held a protracted meeting in the school-house here, a 
church of thirty-five members was organized. Preaching was held in 
the school-house until 1876, when the church was built. The building 
is 28x40, a neat and tasty edifice, with a steeple, well painted and 
comfortably seated. It cost $1,400. The Rays, Thomas Williams, 
E. P. Boggess and Clark Fetterplace were leading men in getting this 
work forwarded. The membership is about forty. A Sabbath-school, 
under the superintendency of William M. Ray, numbers about thirty- 
five. 

A Sabbath-school was first taught by G. W. Pate in the little cabin 
which was used for a school-house as early as 1838. Coffeen's Hand- 
book of Vermilion County says, p. 24: "The first Sunday-school in 
the county, as also probably the first M. E. Church, was organized at 
Asa Elliott's cabin." No dates are given, and no names; but it is 
probable that those pioneers of religious effort, the Pates (father and 
son), and Reynolds and Elliott, were the promoters of this school, and 






CATL1N TOWNSHIP. 623 

that the date was possibly anterior to the one given above on the 
authority of Mr. Ray. Jacob Wright, an elder of the Christian church, 
preached here irregularly for two years, commencing in 1865, and 
organized a church. The building was erected in 1873. It is 32 x 50, 
with steeple, and cost $1,800. Joel Acrec, Henry Foster and D. 
Runyon were the leading men in erecting the house. Elder John 
Myers is the present preacher. Preaching service is held every two 
weeks, and disciple school each alternate Sabbath. 

The Cumberland Presbyterian church, known as Mt. Vernon, was 
organized by Rev. James Ashmore, of Foster Presbytery, in 1840. 
Mr. Ashmore has been the pioneer preacher of that denomination for 
all this portion of the county, having labored here for nearly fifty 
years, and organized churches, preached the gospel, and labored faith- 
fully here during nearly all of his life. He now resides in Fairmount, 
under which heading the reader will find a more extended notice of 
this excellent man. Mr. Ashmore came here to preach in the Jordan 
school-house in June, 1840, and Mount Vernon church was organized 
in the fall of that year, with about twenty members. Mr. and Mrs. 
Oak wood, Mr. and Mrs. Buoy, Mr. and Mrs. Allen, Mr. Hardin and 
family, Mr. Davis and family, Mrs. McKinney and family, Mr. Martin 
and family, were the first members. The first elders were: John 
Allen, Laban Buoy, Jesse Burroughs and T. H. Morgan. For two 
years this church was in a constant state of revival, and Mr. Ashmore 
carried on the work with the assistance of Rev. Mr. Hill. At one 
time it numbered two hundred and fifty members. Its numbers were 
greatly reduced by death and removal. More than forty members 
went to Oregon, and not less than one hundred of them sleep in the 
little church-yard. The pastors of the Mount Vernon church who 
followed Father Ashmore were: Rev. Henry Woodward, who died in 
Kansas; Rev. David Vandeventer, who lives near Delevan ; Rev. 
Allen Whitlock, now dead ; Rev. Jesse Beals, at Mattoon ; then Father 
Ashmore again. At present, Rev. W. R. Hendrick is pastor. A Sab- 
bath-school numbering eighty, with Mr. Albert Voores superintendent, 
is kept up. 

COAL. 

They have abundance of good coal at Catlin, but the depression in 
the coal trade has been so great that the enterprises have proved finan- 
cial failures. The Hinds shaft was sunk in 1862 by William Hinds. 
It passed successively through the hands of Mr. Henderson, Isaac Wolf 
and Mr. Jenkins, since which it has been closed. John Faulds put 
down a shaft near the railroad, west of town, in 1863. He reached a 
six-foot vein one hundred and forty -seven feet below the surface. It 



624 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

was thought to be a great strike at that time, and men of figures 
showed by slate and pencil that the coal under each section of land 
would be worth about $12,000,000. The event was celebrated by a 
grand banquet in June, 1864, at which Capt. W. R. Timmons was 
called on to preside, and, amid feasting and good cheer, G. W. Tilton, 
the poet laureate of Catlin, sang an original song, displaying in stately 
numbers the beauties and utilities of this grand "Hole in the Ground." 
The occasion was one of delight, such as the wideawake citizens of 
Catlin are pleased to engage in. Mr. Faulds supplied it with all the 
necessary machinery," and run it until 1870. Messrs. MeNair and 
Sweany then worked it for a while, when it went into disuse. 

The Ohio shaft, one and one-half miles east of Catlin, was sunk by 
a company of men from Youngstown, Ohio, in 1865. They found coal 
at a depth of one hundred and twenty feet. This has changed hands 
often, and has proved a financial loss. Charles Gones, who purchased 
the old Woodin farm, put down a shaft one mile northwest of Catlin, 
near the stream. He struck a six-foot vein at the depth of seventy 
feet, and at an expense of about $1,500. It is now leased by James 
Payne, who is carrying it on successfully. 

CATLIN VILLAGE. 

When the Great Western railroad was built, a station was estab- 
lished on section 34, and in 1856, Guy Merrill and Josiah Hunt laid 
out the village of Catlin on that section. It consisted of twelve blocks 
north and south of the depot grounds. At the same time Harvey 
Sandusky laid out and platted an addition lying south of and running 
from the railroad west of the original town as far east as that plat did. 
On the 18th of March Josiah Sandusky platted an addition between 
this last and the railroad. April, 1858, Josiah platted and laid out his 
second addition west of the original town. In 1863 J. H. Oakwood 
laid out an addition of two blocks north of the original town, and in 
October, 1867, MeNair & Co. laid out and platted the Coal Shaft addi- 
tion along the railroad west, and west of Sanduskj^'s second addition. 
The place had been known so long as Butler's Point, that it at 
once became a place of considerable importance. Some of the most 
enterprising citizens of the county have done business here. 

Richard Jones was the first to begin business here after the railroad 
was built. He was station agent, bought grain and sold goods, and 
continued in active business here for several years. Capt. W. R. Tim- 
mons came here from Indiana in 1855, before the railroad was built, 
and commenced selling goods in a room which he rented of G. W. 
Pate, just west of town. The place was known then as Butler's Point. 






. 4 &^4^ c^e^ #& ^V*** 




CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 02.5 

It was on the old stage road between Crawfordsville, Indiana, and 
Springfield. Mr. Pate was postmaster. Titnmons had one room of the 
house, which at that time served for residence, store, post-office and 
country tavern. When the village was laid out he built the store now 
standing in the northern part of the village, and moved his store there, 
still keeping on the state road, and was appointed the first postmaster 
of Catlin. He continued in trade here for more than fifteen years. 
Harvey Sandusky was a partner while he remained in the store on the 
state road, and Mr. Wolf for ten years after. 

Capt. Timmons raised Co. A of the 25th Reg. 111. Vol., but was 
prevented by sickness from going with them. He raised Co. D of the 
35th Reg., and rendezvoused on the fair-ground. He marched with 
them and led them to victory for two years, when his health again 
giving out, he was obliged to return home. Fred Tarrant and John 
Swanell had a nice drug store, which was continued for some years. 
Henry Church commenced the grocery trade, and in 1857 S. Calvert 
commenced selling goods, and J. H. Oakwood and G. W. Pate opened 
a general retail store. Goss & Sandusky commenced trade about the 
same time, or soon after, and were succeeded by Goss & Lee. 

About the close of the war, G. W. and S. R. Tilton came here. 
They were enterprising and thoroughly educated young men, have 
continued in business till the present time, and have done their full 
share toward the advancement of Catlin. J. C. Clayton was the first 
blacksmith. He had a large establishment, and engaged in making 
mole-ditchers for B. Stockton, who had the right for several counties. 
Addison JSTeff also had a blacksmith shop. Crosby, Cook & Co. com- 
menced, in 1858, the manufacture of chairs, furniture, etc., a business 
which the} 7 continued for some years. They employed six or eight 
hands, and did a large, and for a time a very successful, business, but 
the changed condition of manufacture and the demands of the times 
have driven this line of business entirely out of the small villages, and 
now everybody has to go to the large cities for his chairs or a bedstead. 
Albert Heath came here in 1857, and erected the huge pile just south 
of the railroad known as " Heath's Folly." The building is 40 x 75, 
three stories high, with a large addition on the south side. It was 
built to contain three stores on the ground floor, a hotel in the second, 
and a ball-room in the third. It was the largest building of any kind 
in this part of the county, and far too large for Heath's purse or for 
the demands of the times. When he got it inclosed he failed and ran 
away. Six years later the citizens bought it and presented it to Mr. 
Jenkins, who put a steam grist-mill into it. Mr. Jenkins had had a 
considerable experience in milling, and did a good business. It had 
40 



626 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

two run of burrs, and was successful until Mr. Jenkins' death. The 
building was never occupied either as a store or hotel. Capt. Timmons 
was the first postmaster, and was followed by the following officials in 
turn: J. K. Turner, Thomas Church, Albert Church, Sam. R. Tilton, 
L. C. Kyger and Arthur Jones. 

INSTITUTIONS. 

The Catlin Brass Band was organized in 1866 by Frank Champion, 
and has been kept up ever since. 

The Catlin graded school is under the efficient management of the 
School Board, of which G. Wilse Tilton is president, and A. G. Payne, 
secretary. The school is under Principal W. J. Brinckley. The house 
is a large and roomy three-story brick building, about 45 x 60, the up- 
per story of which, however, belongs to the Masonic order, under a con- 
tract which was entered, into at the time of building. The school has 
always been well conducted, and is evidently in good hands. Pupils 
are carried through all the higher branches: rhetoric, botany, geome- 
try, zoology, higher arithmetic, physical geography and natural philoso- 
phy, preparing graduates for first grade certificates under the laws of 
this state. The school year is eight months with three vacations. 

The Vermilion County Agricultural and Mechanical Association 
was organized in 1850. The first fair was held at Danville where the 
Presbyterian church now stands. They elected officers, held the fair, 
declared premiums, all in one day. There was no gate fee charged, and 
only about forty dollars paid in premiums. It does not appear where 
the money to pay this princely sum came from, but probably from 
license fees charged to those who kept stands on the ground. The 
second fair was held down on the bottom near the Red Bridge. This 
was such a decided improvement on the first one, that the farmers be- 
gan to take heart. No fee was charged. People thought it was about 
all it was worth to come the distance they must to see a fair. Harvey 
Sodasky, Samuel Baum, Martin Moudy and P. S. Spencer showed fine 
cattle, and Ward H. Lamon, afterward President Lincoln's marshal and 
biographer, showed a fast horse and a monkey. Mr. J. H. Oakwood, Mr. 
Milligan and Mr. Catlett were appointed a committee to fix up a plan 
of organization. Nearly all the fine stock was then owned by the men 
living in this part of the county, and it was thought more convenient 
to locate it at Butler's Point, where suitable grounds could be got at 
very reasonable rental. Forty acres of ground was rented and fenced, 
a good track laid out, an amphitheatre, floral and mechanical halls 
erected, and good fairs have been held each year. Last year it was 
thought best to hold it at Danville. The present officers are G. W. 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 627 

Tilton, president; W. T. Sandusky, vice-president; W. S. McClenna- 
than, secretary ; D. Douglas, treasurer. The fairs have increased in 
general interest each year, and have generally proved financially suc- 
cessful. 

The Oakridge Cemetery was organized under the laws of the state 
in August, 1868. Two burying-grounds had been previously occupied 
for resting-places for the dead. The old ground is near the railroad, 
three-fourths of a mile from the village. 1 It was the first place for 
burial of the dead in this part of the county, and was never properly 
platted and mapped ; very many of the graves are not marked, and the 
surface indications have become obliterated, so that it was difficult to 
tell where new graves might be dug without breaking into old ones. 
Henry Jones laid out a family burying-ground on his own lands which 
has been used by some. 

The necessity was, therefore, apparent for a regular place to lay 
away the dead in their last resting-place in an orderly way. A beauti- 
ful spot was selected, two acres of ground purchased and properly 
platted. Hon. J. H. Oakwood is president ; G. W. Tilton, secretary ; 
G. W. Wolf, E. P. Boggess and W. M. Ray, directors. 

Catlin Lodge, No. 285, Free and Accepted Masons, was instituted 
October 7, 1858. The charter members were: Dr. Allen Lathram, 
W.M., J. H. Goss, Albert Heath. David M. Woolin, Henry Oarigan, 
William Kyle and W. R. Timmons. The latter is the only one left of 
the original charter members. This has been the parent lodge of 
Masonry in this portion of the county. One hundred and forty inter- 
mediate, Passed and Accepted Masons have been put through the 
course of instruction which entitles them to position in the order. 
Twelve were sent out from here to start the Fairmount lodge, and 
fifteen to Newtown, and some to others. No. 285 is everywhere recog- 
nized as one of the best lodges in this part of the state. It now num- 
bers sixty-five. Its successive masters in turn have been : Dr. Lathram, 
J. H. Oakwood, W. R. Timmons, J. H. Goss, A. G. Olmstead, J. A. 
Frazier, G. W. Tilton, J. C. Yance, Peter Wolf, J. H. Crosby and A. 
G. Payne. It practically owns the room which is the third story of 
the seminary building, having paid for it when it was built, and have 
a ninety-nine years lease. The present officers are : A. G. Payne, 
W.M.; D. Douglas, S.W. ; J. W. Newlon, J.W. ; Albert Church, 
secretary ; J. W. Crutchley, treasurer; S. McGregor, S.D. ; J. D. Culp, 
J.D. ; M. Lenon, T. Lodge meets second and fourth Saturdays in 
each month. 

Catlin Lodge, I.O.O.F., No. 538, was constituted October, 1874. 
Joseph Buckingham, N.G. ; Henry Martin, V.G.; J. C. Thorp, R.S. ; 



628 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Silas Clark, treasurer, and William Jameson, were charter members. 
Seven were initiated the first night, making twelve original members. 
The lodge has always been a prosperous one. The Noble Grands have 
each hung their portraits in the lodge-room. The present officers are: 
Silas Clark, N.G. ; F. F. Torpenning, Y.G. ; Thomas Dale, secretary; 
G. W. Tilton, treasurer. The lodge numbers thirty-three. 

The Catlin Grange, No. 4, Patrons of Husbandry, was, as its num- 
ber indicates, one of the first organized in the state. The charter 
members were Jesse Davis, H. M. Payne, Joseph Culp, J. C. Sandusky, 
J. H. Hartley, A. G. Payne and J. C. Yance. It was strong in men 
and firm in the faith, and probably did its share in increasing the crops, 
killing off the middle-men, and making the politicians dread the tillers 
of the soil. It maintained an efficient organization for five years. 

The Sons of Temperance organized in 1871 and the Good Templars 
in 1864. At the time of their organization there were four licensed 
saloons in Catlin. They lived and did good work in their respective 
orders until the last saloon was closed, and then disbanded. Catlin has 
been a temperance village since then. 

VILLAGE ORGANIZATION. 

March 24, 1863, an election was held to vote for or against incorpora- 
tion, Sanford Calvert presiding. Twelve votes were cast for, and none 
against incorporation. April 3 an election was held for five trustees. 
The result was: for S. Hodges, 11 ; S.Calvert, 9; J. C. Clayton, 10 ; G. 
W. F. Church, 8; Thos. Church, 8 ; A. C. Cord, K. Wilson, U. Winters, 
each 6. S. Calvert was chosen president ; G. W. F. Church, clerk, and 
Dr. Richardson was chosen trustee in place of J. C. Clayton, who de- 
clined to serve. Clayton is supposed to have been the first citizen of 
the town who declined official preferment, and some suppose him the 
last. The corporate limits were fixed as the west half of section 35 and 
east half of section 34. At an election for police magistrate, July 25, 
twenty-eight votes were cast, and S. Calvert was elected. The new 
board established a set of ordinances to govern the town. The present 
officers are: S. Hodges, president; J. F. Crosby, C. Gones, L. C. Kyger, 
A. G. Payne and S. W. Jones, trustees; D. H. Hazelrigg, police mag- 
istrate; Albert Church, clerk; D. H. Torpenning, street commissioner. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

D. B. Douglass, Catlin, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, on the 11th of October, 1827, and is the son of 
Cyrus and Ruby Douglass, who were natives of Virginia and Pennsyl- 
vania, and came to the county in an early day, and were the first 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 629 

couple married in the county. Mr. D. B. Douglass made a trip to 
California in 1853, and in 1861 went to the western territories, re- 
turning in 1866. He was married on the 5th of September, 1855, to 
Miss Ann Downing, a native of Kentucky, born on the 25th of De- 
cember, 1825. They have three sons and two daughters: Samuel, 
Eliza, Allen, Bell and George. Mr. Douglass has three hundred and 
twenty-six acres of land with good improvements, which are the fruits 
of his own management and attendance strictly to his own affairs. He 
has thus gained the good will of all his neighbors, and is respected 
by all who know him. 

Lura Guyman, Catlin, farmer, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, 
on the 20th of August, 1793, and was married to Noah Guyman, May, 
1812, who was a native of North Carolina and came to Vermilion 
county in 1829, and resided where Mrs. Guyman now lives until his 
death in 1861. He served in the Blackhawk war in 1832, under Col. 
Moore. She is the mother of one son and one daughter now living : 
Franklin N. and Mary H. Payne, who is the mother of three children : 
Milton N., Lura E., wife of George Trimmell, and Jessie L., wife of 
J. G. Redmon. Mrs. Guyman has been a practicing physician in the 
county for sixty years, and has been at the births of over one thousand 
children, always making her visits on horseback; consequently she has 
ridden more miles on horseback than any other woman in the state. 
She is now eighty-six years of age, and attends a garden of one-fourth 
of an acre, that would do credit to any man in the county. 

James T. Yount, Fairmount, farmer, was born in Gallion county, 
Kentucky, on the 30th of March, 1813, and came to Yermilion county 
with his parents in 1829, and first located eight miles west of where 
M. Yount now resides. One of Mr. Yount's brothers was in the Black- 
hawk war. Mr. Yount has been twice married. His former wife was 
Emaline Halden. They were married in 1857. She was born in 
Monroe county, Virginia, on the 23d of March, 1841, and died in 1864. 
His second marriage was to Eliza E. Worl, on the 22d of June, 1877. 
She was born in 1849. Mr. Yount has two children by his former 
wife : Mary E. and William G., and one by his present wife : Charles. 

Joel Acree, Catlin, farmer, with his father and family, arrived in 
this county in 1829, and located in Catlin township, coming from Ala- 
bama. His father bought one hundred and thirty acres of raw land 
and built a cabin, and the second year put in cultivation thirty acres 
and became one of the prominent farmers of the county. Milling was 
difficult on account, of the long distances and unbridged streams. 
When a boy, Mr. Acree has often taken a single sack of corn on horse- 
back as far as ten, and sometimes fifteen, miles in order to obtain a 



630 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

little meal for immediate family use. For a number of years after the 
death of his father (who died in 1835) Mr. Acree continued to reside 
with his mother and family, tilling, to the best of his ability, the posi- 
tion naturally devolving upon him as the eldest son. In 1848 he took 
to himself a wife, the object of his choice being Miss Eloessa Yount, 
daughter of William and Cathrine (Sacra) Yount, old settlers of the 
county. Mr. Acree remained on the old homestead and bought out 
the other heirs, and became sole proprietor. He has added to it until 
the farm now embraces four hundred and eighty-five acres of well- 
improved land. Mr. Acree is to be congratulated on his past success, 
and it is but just to add that in a large measure he has been assisted 
by a noble, self-denying wife who has not only saved her husband's hard 
earnings, but has materially added from time to time thereto. Two 
children only are spared to them as the fruits of their marriage: Mrs. 
Mary C. (Tho. A. Taylor) and Mattie, wife of L. McDonald. 

J. W. Acree, Fairmount, farmer, was born in Alabama on the 15th 
of October, 1825, and came with his parents to Vermilion county in 
1829. On the 4th of March, 1852, Mr. Acree took himself a life- 
partner, his choice being Miss Lydia Brady, daughter of John and 
Rosanna Brady, who were early settlers of this county. She was born 
in Brown county, Ohio, on the 6th of November, 1832. They have 
been blessed with a family of two sons and one daughter: Jerod 
Rosanna (now wife of E. C. Lee), and Wallace. Mr. and Mrs. Acree 
are both united with the C. P. Church. Mr. Acree owns a tine farm 
of two hundred and thirty-tive acres, which is the fruit of his own 
industry. 

John A. Church, Catlin, was born in Greenbrier county, in what is 
now West Virginia, on the 20th of August, 1827. In the fall of 1830 
his family moved to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled at Butler's 
Point. Mr. Church's father still resides on the place originally settled, 
and is now in the seventy-third year of his life. Mr. Church's mother, 
formerly Miss Ruth Caraway, died on the 14th of February, 1850, and 
was buried at Butler's Point. She was the mother of ten children, 
seven of whom were raised, and five are now living: John A., William, 
Sarah, Joseph and Charles, all of Catlin township. Mary, the wife of 
Frank Guyman, and Ruth, both died in the same township, the former 
in 1862, and the latter about 1854. Mr. Church was about three years of 
age on his arrival in this county, and has lived all his life within a mile 
of the place first settled. He was married to Miss Mary Lore on the 27th 
of September, 1849, at the house of the bride's parents in Catlin town- 
ship. He settled down immediately to farm-life, and taught school in 
the winter for some three years. By strict economy, and the simplest 






CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 631 

mode of living, enough money was saved up the first six years to make 
a payment of $500 on an improved forty acres of land, on which he 
immediately moved, and which was paid for in due time, and now 
forms a part of the present fine farm of one hundred and seventy 
acres, lying two miles northwest of Catlin, and on which the proprietor 
lived till the fall of 1874, when he settled in Catlin, where he has 
bought a handsome little property. As the fruits of their marriage, 
Mr. Church and lady have been blessed with two bright, interesting 
daughters: Miss Edwina and Miss Clara. Alexander, Mr. Church's 
father, was also raised and married in Virginia, in the county already 
mentioned, and is now one of the old and honored pioneers of Ver- 
milion county. Mrs. Church's ancestry, the Loves, are also of an old 
and well-known Virginia family, and were also settlers in that state 
when it was a British colony. Her father, William, was born in the 
same state in 1803. He married a Miss Elizabeth Gish, and immedi- 
ately moved to Highland county, Ohio, where they landed about 1826. 
They arrived in Danville, Illinois, in 1830, where they resided till 1839, 
when they moved to Catlin township, where they both died, he in the 
spring of 1868, and she in the spring of 1871. 

Thomas H. Keeney, Catlin, section 32, farmer, was born in what 
was then known as Greenbrier county, Virginia, on the 12th of March, 
1803, and came to Vermilion county, Illinois, in 1831. He is now 
living close to where he settled when he first came to the county. 
Mrs. Elizabeth Keeney, wife of Thomas H. Keeney, was a native of 
Greenbrier county, Virginia. She was born on the 31st of March, 
1810, and died on the 8th of August, 1868. Mr. Keeney is the father 
of six sons and three daughters by his first wife, of whom four are liv- 
ing : Hamilton F. ; Lucretia ; William F. ; and Amanda. The names 
of the deceased are: John A.; David; Mary E. ; James T. ; and 
Joseph S. Mr. Keeney has been a constant member of the M. E. 
church for thirty-five years. 

John Thompson, deceased, was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, 
on the 21st of May, 1797. He was a youth of spirit and adventure, 
and though only sixteen years of age, served as a courier in the war of 
1812. When the Americans crossed into Canada at Niagara, on the 
night of the 12th of October, 1812, and seized the heights of Queens, 
town, he volunteered to go with the assaulting column, and as the fruit 
of his daring, ever after bore on his left arm an ugly saber scar. He 
taught school, and traveled extensively in the United States, passing 
over thirteen of them and the upper British provinces before he was 
twenty-seven years old. About this time (1824) he was married to 
Ester Payne, in Dearborn county, Indiana, where he had located the 



632 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

year before. In the fall of 1831 he removed to Vermilion county, Illi- 
nois, and settled two miles north of Catlin, where he died, on the 13th 
September, 1861. He was an early assessor and county commissioner; 
farmed, taught school, and always in business, — a man of sound judg- 
ment, large experience and practical talents. His sons were Louis M., 
Sylvester D., Philander (dead), John P. (dead). Daughters: Melissa, 
wife of Sale S. Ray ; Martha J., wife of Maj. Wilson Burroughs ; Mary 
H., wife of Rev. Isaiah Yillars ; and Harriet, wife of Dr. John J. Mc- 
Elroy. 

Dennis Rouse, Catlin, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Scioto 
county, Ohio, on the 14th of February, 1828, and came to Vermilion 
county in 1832 with his parents, and first settled two and one-half 
miles east of Danville, his parents dying, when he was quite young. 
He started without anything, and at the present is the owner of a fine 
farm of seven hundred and twenty acres, within eight miles of Dan- 
ville, which is the result of his own labor. On the 29th of October, 
1850, Mr. Rouse was married to Miss Louisa Olehy, a native of Scioto 
county, Ohio, born on the 20th of December, 1834. By their marriage 
they have three children : Reazon, Lillie J. and Dennis A. One child 
died — Emma. 

Thomas Brady, farmer and stock-raiser, section 2, Catlin township, 
is the son of John and Rosanna Brady. He was born in what is now 
Catlin township, on the 8th of October, 1832. His father was a native 
of Virginia, but removed to Brown county, Ohio, as early as the year 
1825. In 1832 he again moved, this time locating in Vermilion coun- 
ty, Illinois. Being one of the early pioneers, he had the choice of loca- 
tion, and being from a timbered country, he located in the timber near 
where the county farm now is. Here he improved a large farm, and 
raised a family of fourteen children, five sons and nine daughters, of 
whom there are now only seven daughters and three sons living : Han- 
nah A., who has been an invalid since four years old. She resided in 
this county until 1876, and then moved to Kansas and began farming 
on her own account on quite an extensive scale. Sarah, wife of the 
deceased M. Oakwood ; Ailcy, wife of the deceased J. Burroughs, and 
now wife of J. Wherry.; Johnathan T. ; Lidy, wife of J. W. Acree ; 
Thomas, the subject of our sketch ; Marsala, formerly wife of Wm. 
McCoy, deceased, and now wife of H. Leonard ; Rosanah, wife of Wm. 
Finley during his life, and now wife of Wm. Gerling, who is exten- 
sively engaged in gold mining in California ; John, now on the old 
home farm ; Jane, wife of L. Burroughs till his death, and now wife of 
N. R. Mills. The names of the deceased are: Nancy, Joseph, Mary 
and Ennis. Thomas Brady, the subject of our sketch, was united in 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 633 

marriage to Miss America Finley, daughter of Maholon and Margaret 
Finley, on the 1st of March, 1855. She also is a native of Vermilion 
county, Illinois. She was born on the 4th of May, 1833, and is a 
woman seldom equaled in her taste of decorating and making a home 
pleasant. Until 1874 he had resided three miles west of Danville. 
He then removed to his present home in Catlin township, where he 
owns a fine farm of one hundred and sixty-five acres, beautifully lo- 
cated, within one mile of the village of Catlin, this being his home 
farm. He also owns one hundred and sixty acres where he formerly 
resided, west of Danville. This fine property has been the result of 
his own energy, industry and economy. 

B. C. Pate, Catlin, section 21, son of Adam and Elizabeth Pate, was 
born in Catlin, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 12th of July, 1832. 
His father was one of the early settlers of the county, coming in 1829, 
and settling where B. C. Pate now resides. He was a native of Mont- 
gomery county, Virginia, born on the 19th of December, 1791, and 
died on the 8th of February, 1867. His wife, Elizabeth, was a native 
of Virginia, born on the 12th of December, 1794, and died on the 8th 
of October, 1874. They both remained at the old homestead until 
their death. B. C. Pate was united in marriage on the 22d of Decem- 
ber, 1857, to Miss Rebecca Tanner. She was born in Vermilion county, 
Illinois, in 1839. They have been blessed with five children : Lafay- 
ette P., Horace M., Asa Clay, Oiver C. and George W. Mrs. P. is a 
member of the M. E. church. * Mr. P. is a member. of the A.F. & A.M., 
Catlin Lodge, No. 285. 

Reece Cook, Catlin, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Ripley 
county, Indiana, on the 25th of April, 1817, and came to Vermilion 
county in 1831. He first settled at Grape Creek, and in 1834 removed 
five miles southwest of Danville, where his mother now resides. His 
father died in 1846. On the 30th of January, 1845, Mr. Cook married 
Miss A. J. Hartley. She is a native of what was then Monongalia 
county, Virginia, and was born on the 19th of June, 1821. She came 
to Vermilion county in 1830. Mr. and Mrs. Cook are pioneers of this 
county, and are respected by the citizens of the county. They are 
members of the C. P. church. 

W. A. Church, Catlin, farmer, was born in Catlin township, Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, on the 13th of July, 1833, and has never been 
out of the county over a month at a time. He was married in 1853 to 
Miss Hester A. Douglass, who was born on the 7th of October, 1834, in 
A r ermilion county. They have three sons and two daughters : Sarah 
D., wife of J. Acree; William J., Laura A., wife of L. Busby; Thos. 
W. and Charles S. Mr. Church owns a fine farm of three hundred 



(j;34 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

and thirty -live acres, with good improvements, most of which he has 
made himself. 

Hon. Jacob H. Oakwood, Catlin, was born in Brown county, Ohio, 
on the 18th of November, 1828. In 1833 his parents and family 
arrived in Vermilion county, Illinois, and made a settlement in what 
is now Oakwood township, near the present little town of Oakwood, 
both named in memory of this family. Here Mr. Oakwood's father 
continued to reside till removed by death in 1855, and his remains now 
repose in the Mount Vernon Church cemetery, of Catlin township, a 
congregation that he was largely instrumental in building up, and of 
which he became a member about the time of its organization, and 
where he continued to worship up to the time of his decease. His 
wife, still living, now in the eighty-sixth year of her life, has also been 
for many years a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and 
is now one of the venerable pioneer ladies of the county. They raised 
a family of nine children, four of whom are yet living : Henry, Michael, 
a Methodist clergyman, and Mrs. Margaret (George A.) Fox, residents 
of Oakwood township, and Jacob, of Catlin. The others, Mrs. Amanda 
(Eev. Eli) Helmick, Samuel, Mrs. Matilda (Henry) Sallie, Martin K. 
and Morgan H., all died in this county, and near the old homestead. 
Those living are well-to-do in life, respected and well known through- 
out the county. Their opportunities of a literary character were rather 
limited, as was commonly the case in the first settlement of the country ; 
nevertheless, by a diligent use of the means afforded, they each became 
very fair scholars for the times, and five of the brothers became teachers, 
including the subject of this sketch, who commenced the business when 
only about twenty years old, and continued it some four years, during 
the winter seasons. On the 14th of February, 1851, he was united in 
marriage to Miss Mary I. Caraway, daughter of Charles and Elizabeth 
(McCorkle) Caraway, old settlers of this county and of Catlin town- 
ship. This marriage has been productive of eight children, four living: 
Charles H., George W., Miss Emma J. and Annie. Three died in 
infancy, and Mary E., the eldest, a bright, promising daughter. After 
his marriage Mr. Oakwood settled down upon a farm, and turned his 
attention to agriculture, and has given it that scientific consideration 
now regarded as essential to this all-important industry. In a short 
time his knowledge and proficiency became such that he was elected 
to the presidency of the Vermilion County Agricultural Society, which 
he has served, either in the capacity of president or secretary, excepting 
a few intervals, for the last twenty years. With other leading agricul- 
tural gentlemen of his county, he has used his best influences to secure 
the introduction of suitable and improved farming implements and 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 685 

thorough-bred stock, and has had the satisfaction of seeing a vast im- 
provement in the mechanical tillage of the soil, and in the quality of 
the different breeds of live-stock. He has not only been actively en- 
gaged in furthering the material developments of the country, but has 
given a large share of his attention to political questions and public 
measures. His first presidential vote was given for Gen. Winfield 
Scott, the last but unsuccessful whig nominee. Upon the dissolution 
of this organization, he went, with the great .majority of the whigs of 
the north, into the republican party, the organization of which was 
completed in 1856, and he has acted in conjunction with this party 
ever since. In 1872 he was elected to the state legislature, as one of 
the representatives on the republican ticket, for the thirty-first sena- 
torial district, including Vermilion and Edgar counties. While in the 
legislature he proved himself active, capable and efficient, and secured 
the passage of several important bills, among which are the present 
road law, the modification of the school law in such a manner as to 
grant certificates of second grade to teachers qualified in what is com- 
monly known as the seven branches, the original criterion of qualifica- 
tion ; and the cutting down of the homestead and exemption law to a 
definite sum, not exceeding fifteen hundred dollars — a thousand dollars 
of real estate, and five hundred, personal property. He served on the 
committees of public charities, civil service and retrenchment, and while 
engaged in these duties, visited the public charitable institutions of the 
state, in order to perfectly acquaint himself with their actual condition 
and wants, and to render himself better qualified to assist in necessary 
appropriations, without voting away the people's money in response to 
unnecessary demands, which are more or less made upon every legis- 
lature. During his entire incumbency his official action compares well 
with that of other capable gentlemen who have heretofore represented 
the people of his district, and as he is yet young, we confidently expect 
that his name will again appear in connection with some of the honor- 
able positions within the gift of the people. Mr. Oakwood's family are 
of German descent through both lines. His father, Henry, was born 
in East Tennessee; moved early to Kentucky, where he married Miss 
Margaret Remley, a native of Pennsylvania, whose parents were also 
early settlers of Kentucky, coming down the Ohio River in a flat-boat 
when hostile bands of savages menaced the emigrant from either shore. 
A short time after their marriage they moved to Brown county, Ohio, 
the native county of General Grant, with whose parents they were 
well acquainted and upon intimate terms of friendship. Mrs. Sarah 
Hickman, deceased, of Vermilion county, is the only sister of his father 
that Mr. Oakwood recollects, and the presumption is the family was 



636 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

composed of only the brother and sister. Owing to the loss of early- 
records, the origin of the family cannot be definitely traced in its more 
early settlement in this country farther than is already given in the 
preceding sketch. 

Jesse Davis, Catlin, farmer, section 36, was born in Pickaway 
county, Ohio, on the 24th of October, 1832. He came with his parents 
to Vermilion county in 1833, and settled where Mr. Davis now resides. 
His parents were natives of Virginia, and removed to Ohio in an early 
da} 7 ; thence to this county, where they remained until their death. 
Mr. Davis died in 1834, and Mrs. Davis in 1870. Jesse Davis was 
united in marriage to Miss M. E. Hyett, a native of Davis county, 
Kentucky, bornNm the 24th of November, 1838. They have two 
sons and two daughters: Clara J., Yan C, Scott G. and Minnie L. 
Mr. Davis is member of A.F. & A.M., Catlin Lodge, No. 285. 

Samuel Cook, Westville, farmer, Catlin, was born in Clermont 
county, Ohio, on the 4th of October, 1825. He came west and settled 
in Vermilion county, on the 4th of October, 1834. He remained with 
his parents in Georgetown township for some time. He has been 
twice married : first, to Amanda M. Graves. She was born in this 
county on the 18th of August, 1833, and departed this life on the 19th 
of August, 1866. The second time he married to Martha E. Citizen, 
on the 14th of April, 1870, a native of Warren county, Indiana, born 
on the 25th of July, 1839. He had six children by his former wife: 
Georg W., James P., Mary E. (now wife of J. A. Wherry), Charles, 
and two deceased: Margaret, Ellen. By his present wife he is the 
father of three children: Freddie, Bertie J. and John F. Mr. Cook 
owns a fine farm of two hundred and eighty acres, with good improve- 
ments. He has been an industrious and public-spirited man, and is 
respected by all who know him. 

G. W. Wolfe, Catlin, farmer and stock-raiser, section 33, is a son of 
Henry an Ann Wolfe, and was born in Sullivan county, Tennessee, on 
the 22d of February, 1832. At two and a half years of age he came, 
with his parents, to Illinois, and settled within four miles of where Mr. 
Wolfe now resides. They first located on what is now known as the 
J. H. Oakwood farm, where they remained until their death. G. W. 
Wolfe, who is the subject of our sketch, was united in marriage on the 
22d of October, 1854, to Miss Ann Caraway, a daughter of Charles and 
Elisabeth Caraway, who were among the early settlers of the county. 
They are blessed with a family of five children, three sons and two 
daughters: Charles H., John M., Abraham L., Martha B., Bertha. 
One child died in infancy. Mr. Wolfe has held the office of supervisor 
for seven years, and other local offices of the township. He is a member 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 637 

of the A.F. & A.M., of Catlin Lodge, No. 285, and politically is a 
staunch republican. He and his wife are regular members of the C. P. 
church. Mr. Wolfe owns a fine farm of one hundred and eighty acres, 
on which he has made most of the improvements. 

John W. Newlon, Catlin, section 12, is a son of Thomas B. and 
Angeline Newlon. She was the daughter of S. Griffith, who was one 
of the pioneers of the county, coming in 1822. Thomas B. Newlon, 
John W. Newlon's father, was a native of Virginia, and removed to 
Champaign county, Ohio, at an early day ; thence to Vermilion county 
in the fall of 1835. J. W. Newlon, the subject of our sketch, was 
born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 13th of June, 1840. He 
took an active part in the late rebellion. He enlisted in Co. I, 35th 
Reg. 111. Vol. Inf., on the 3d of July, 1861, and was at the battles of 
Pea Ridge, Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, and all the 
battles attending Sherman's campaign to Atlanta. He was at the 
siege of Atlanta, and was mustered out on the 19th of September, 
1864. He returned to Vermilion countv, and was united in marriage 
on the 19th of September, 1865, to Miss Elizabeth Taylor, who is the 
daughter of Thomas B. and Ivea Taylor. She was born in Tippecanoe 
count}', Indiana, on the 2d of February, 1845. They have five chil- 
dren — one son and four daughters: Tempie I., Norah, Mildred A., 
Evaline and Lowell T. Mr. Newlon is now township supervisor. He 
has served as assessor and township collector. He also is a member 
of the A.F. & A.M., Catlin Lodge, No. 285. 

Charles T. Caraway, Catlin, section 29, was born in Catlin town- 
ship, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 22d of October, 1838. His 
parents came to the county in 1829-30. His father was born in Green- 
brier county, Virginia, in 1787, and died in 1838. His mother was 
also a native of Virginia, and died in 1848. Mr. Caraway was united 
in marriage, in 1865, to Miss Jennie Dougherty, a native of Ohio 
county, Indiana. She was born on the 20th of October, 1844. They 
have three children : Warren E., Charles H., Nellie B. Mr. Caraway 
is a member of the A.F. & A.M., Catlin Lodge, 285. He served in the 
late rebellion, in Co. I, 35th Reg. 111. Vol. Inf., and was in the battles 
of Pea Ridge, Stone River, Perry ville, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, 
where he was wounded, and was at the siege of Corinth. 

A. G. Payne, Catlin, son of John and Verlitta Payne, was born in 
Danville township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 20th of May, 
1838. On the 2d of January, 1859, he was united in marriage to Miss 
Rhoda Green, a native of Jefferson county, Indiana, born on the 13th 
of January, 1840. By this union they have been blessed with five 
children, of whom three are living: Charles W., John H. and Udocia 



638 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

V. The names of the deceased are Margaret M. and Hettie H. Mr. 
Payne is a chapter member of the Masonic lodge, No. 82, Danville, 
and also a member of Catlin lodge, No. 285. Mr. Payne took an active 
part in the rebellion. He enlisted on the 14th of September, 1861, as 
private in Co. C, 5th 111. Cav. On the 21st of August, 1862, he was 
appointed corporal, and, on the 13th of March, 1863, sergeant. He 
reenlisted on the 1st of January, 1861, in the same regiment and in the 
same company, and was appointed quartermaster-sergeant on the 1st 
of September, 1864. On the 17th of February of that year he was 
made first sergeant, and first lieutenant on the 19th of May, 1865. He 
was promoted to brigade provost-marshal on the 25th of August, 1865 
and to captain of Co. D on the 4th of October, 1865. Mr. Payne was 
at the siege of Vicksburg and Champion Hill, Yazoo City, Jackson, 
Mississippi, Grand Gulf, and others. He was mustered out on the 
27th of October, 1865, and returned to Vermilion county, where he 
engaged in farming until 1871, and since then he has been in the mer- 
cantile business, the firm being now known as Payne & Crutchley. 

S. T. Ellsworth, Westville, farmer, was born in Shelby county, Ohio, 
on the 11th of October, 1817, and came to Vermilion county in 1838. 
He then went to Springfield, Illinois, and there remained for a while, 
and then returned to Ohio in 1839. He came back to this county in 
1840, and purchased his present farm in 1853, where he has been a 
prominent resident ever since. On the 17th of August, 1841, he was 
married to Miss A. Graves, a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky. 
She was born on the 15th of October, 1822, and came to this county in 
about 1828. They have had a family of seven children: Mary E., wife 
of I. Burroughs ; Margaret M., wife of W. W. Current during her life; 
Jacob P. ; Sarah M., wife of W. D. Parker; Evaline M., wife of G. H. 
Watson; Levi L. and Catharine. Mr. Ellsworth owns one hundred and 
sixty -five acres of land, on which he has made the improvements. His 
political views are republican. 

C. F. Pillars, Oakwood, farmer, section 25, son of Samuel and Icy 
Pillars, was born in Kosciusko county, Indiana, on the 16th of Decem- 
ber, 1836. He came to Vermilion county with his parents in 1842, and 
settled near Danville. Here he remained two years, and then went to 
Oakwood township, and from there to where he now resides. He served 
in the rebellion, in the 35th 111. Vol. Inf. He was married to Miss 
Ann E. Seymore, on the 14th of May, 1862. She is a native of Mont- 
gomery county, Indiana, and was born on the 23d of December, 1837. 
They are the parents of five children : Eva M., Alvina, Martha, Cor- 
nelia, and Emma, deceased. Mr. Pillars is a member of the I.O.O.F. 
lodge. He owns one hundred and ninety-six acres of land. 



CATLIX TOWNSHIP. 639 

John Parker, Catlin, farmer, was born in Bourbon county, Ken- 
tucky, on the 19th of March, 4819, and removed to Marion county, 
Indiana, in 1836, where his parents were among the early settlers. 
His father died in 1842. Mr. Parker came to Vermilion county in 
1844, and settled at Brooks Point, where he remained eight years. 
He then removed to where he now resides. He was married on the 23d 
of November, 1821, to Hannah Clark, and they have eleven children : 
Drusilla, Sarah, Mary E., William D., John M., Ann E., James W., 
Oscar F., George W., Henry P., and Clinton W. 

J. Col. Vance, Oakwood, section 20, was born in Vermilion county, 
Illinois, on the 2d of June, 1844. His father, John W., came to Ver- 
milion county in about 1823 or 1824, where he was one of the first set- 
tlers of the county. He was born in Champaign county, Ohio, on the 
18th of March, 1782, and died where his son now resides, on the 6th 
of May, 1857. He was elected representative two terms in an early 
day. His wife, Deziah Rathburn, was born in Meigs county, Ohio, 
on the 2d of September, 1813, and died on the 23d of November, 1865. 
Their family consisted of two sons and four daughters : Horace W. ; 
Helen, wife of J. Wilson, and Bridget A. ; J. Col., the subject of our 
sketch ; Lura G., wife of S. R. Tilton, and Josephine L., wife of L. 
Steele, and three deceased : Marion W., Mariah C. and Joseph C. J. 
Col. Vance took an active part in the rebellion. He enlisted in 1862, 
in Co. A, 71st 111. Vol. Inf., and served his time out, and enlisted in 
1864 in Co. F, 26th Reg. 111. Vol. Inf., and served until the close of 
the war. He was engaged in the battles of Resaca, Atlanta and others. 
He was with Sherman on the march to the sea ; at the battle of Savan- 
nah city, Columbia, South Carolina, Fayetteville, Goldsborough, and 
was at the general review at Washington, District of Columbia. He 
returned home in July, 1865, and was united in marriage on the 19th 
of November, 1868, to Miss Lydia E. Mathewman, born in Jefferson 
county, Iowa, on the 18th of July, 1851. By their union they have 
been blessed with four children : Alta D., John F., Alice A., Clara J., 
and one deceased, — Frank. Mr. Vance is a member of the A.F. & A. 
M., Catlin Lodge, No. 285. 

A. A. Taylor, Catlin, farmer, was born in Tippecanoe county, Indi- 
ana, on the 9th of December, 1832, and came to Vermilion county with 
his parents in 1845. Mr. Taylor served in the army, enlisting in Co. 
I, 35th 111. Vol. Inf., in 1861, and served three years. He was in the 
battles of Stone River and Chickamauga, — in which he was severely 
wounded, — Mission Ridge and Atlanta. Soon after the war he came 
home, and was married to Miss Anna Mevill. They have one son 
and one daughter: Jennie M. and George A. 



640 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

H. H. Catlett, Fairniount, farmer, was born in Albemarle county, Vir- 
ginia, on the 21st of October, 1823, and in 1828 went with his parents 
to Alabama. He went to Tennessee in 1830, and to Fayette county, 
Ohio, in 1835. In 1846 he came to Vermilion county, and soon after 
purchased the farm where his brother now resides. Mr. Catlett was 
united in marriage in 1858 to Miss Lucinda Roudebnsh, a native of 
Clermont county, Ohio, born in 1838. By this union they have four 
children : Nellie T., George R., Percy L., Corinne C. Mr. and Mrs. 
Catlett are members of the Baptist church, and Mr. C. is a member of 
A.F. & A.M. 

W. T. Sandusky, Fairmount, farmer and stock-raiser, is the son of 
William and Julia Sandusky, who were natives of Kentucky and Vir- 
ginia, and resided in Bourbon county, Kentucky, at the time of the 
birth of W. T. Sandusky, on the 11th of March, 1829, but removed, 
however, to Shelby county, Illinois, the same year, where his father 
died, 1830, and his mother in 1839, leaving Mr. Sandusky to act for 
himself. Mr. Sandusky came to Vermilion county having only a 
horse and sixteen dollars in money. He followed herding cattle and 
driving them to the eastern market, working live years for ten and 
thirteen dollars per month. In 1853 he went to California where he 
followed mining and superintending a farm. He then returned to this 
county in 1856, and hence to Putnam county, Indiana, where he en- 
gaged in the hotel business until 1866. He then again returned to Ver- 
milion county and purchased his present farm of live hundred acres, 
which is adapted to his business of stock-raising. On the 1st of De- 
cember, 1859, he was married to Miss Emily Clements, a native of 
Ohio, born in 1839. They have two daughters: Maggie and Katie. 

Frederick Jones, Catlin, dry-goods, was- born in London, England, 
on the 28th of May, 1844, and came with a colony of twenty-four per- 
sons to this county in 1849, and settled at Butler's Point. The family 
consisted of seven children : Arthur, Richard (now deceased), Sarah 
E., Eliza, Emily, Louisa and our subject. Mr. Jones was united in 
marriage on the 5th of December, 1866, to Miss Harriet A. Dickinson, 
who was born in England on the 28th of December, 1847. By this 
union they have seven children : James. Emma, Richard, Harriet A., 
Sarah, Frederick and Elizabeth. 

Arthur Jones, Catlin, merchant, was born in London, England, on 
the 14th of July, 184s, and came to this county in 1849, and located 
at Brooke's Point (now Catlin), where he has resided ever since. On 
the 22d of January, 1871, he married Miss Emma Dickinson, who was 
born in England on the 25th of December, 1852. They are the 
parents of four children, of whom only two are living: Edward A., 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 641 

William H. The names of the deceased are Cora M. and Nettie B. 
Jones Bros, are honest, energetic, and courteous to their many cus- 
tomers, and have gained a wide circle of friends. 

Thomas Church, Catlin, section 35, son of Henry and Sophia 
Church, was born in London, England, on the 7th of September, 1838. 
He came to America with his mother and two sisters: Jane, wife of F. 
Champion, and Sarah, wife of Henry Lloyde, in 1850. His father came 
in 1849, and settled three miles south of Catlin, where they resided 
until 1855, and then removed to Catlin, where they remained. His 
father died in 1859, and his mother in 1874. Thomas Church was 
united in marriage on the 6th of May, 1861, to Miss Louisa Jones, 
daughter of Henry and Sarah Jones, who were among the early set- 
tlers of the county. By this union they have four daughters and two 
sons: Sophia L., Herbert A., Ellen E., Ada E., Frederic H. and 
Sarah A. Mr. Church is a member of the A.F. & A.M., Catlin Lodge, 
No. 285, and he and his wife are members of the M. E. church. 

Thomas Williams, Catlin, farmer, section 28, was born in the county 
of Cornwall, England, on the 8th of February, 1804, and came 
with his parents, William and Loveday Williams, to Federal City, D.C., 
in 1820, where his mother died in September of 1821. His father 
and the family, consisting of nine children, came to Dearborn county, 
Indiana, in 1822, where they were among the early settlers. His father 
remained there until his death, 1849. Mr. Williams has been thrice 
married: his first wife was Miss Paulina Pate, married on the 19th of 
March, 1826 ; born in Dearborn county, Indiana, on the 17th of July, 
1808, and died on the 7th of November, 1850. His second wife was 
Mrs. Katharine Pate. They were married on the 14th of February, 
1851. She was born in North Carolina, on the 6th of April, 1799, and 
died on the 17th of June, 1862. His third marriage was to Mrs. Mar- 
garet Patterson (formerly Miss Fruits), on the 27th of October, 1862. 
She is a native of Indiana, born on the 8th of January, 1817. Mr. 
Williams has six daughters by his first wife : Jane, wife of S. Lewis ; 
Loveday, wife of W. S. Pate; Paulina, wife of J. Thomas; Catharine 
W., wife of deceased H. Ludington ; Mary E., wife of F. Burroughs ; 
Grace, wife of William Cole. There are six deceased : Rachel, Will- 
iam, Elizabeth, Phcebe A., George A., Emily. Mr. Williams came to 
Vermilion county in 1851, and settled where he now resides. He owns 
three hundred and fifty-one acres of land, of which he has improved 
two hundred acres. 

Frederic Tarrant, Catlin, groceries and provisions, was born in Berk- 
shire, England, on the 15th of May, 1824. He came to Catlin, Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, in 1853, and here has made his home ever since. 
4l" 



642 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

He was united in marriage to Mrs. Eliza Brown, formerly Miss Jones. 
By this union they have had nine children, six of whom are living: 
Sarah L., now Mrs. C. P. Williams; Miriam W., Arthur H:, Jessie B., 
Thomas A., Alice B. The names of the deceased are Frederic R., 
Helen E. and Elsie K. Mrs. Tarrant has one child by her former hus- 
band : Emily E., now Mrs. James E. White. Mr. T. is a member of 
the A.F. & A.M., of Catlin, No. 285, and he and his wife are members 
of the M. E. church. Came to Catlin as one of the first settlers. 

S. W. Barker, Fairmount, farmer, was born in what was then known 
as Hardy county, Virginia, on the 5th of January, 1816. His father 
died when he was two and a half years of age, when he and his mother 
moved to Fayette county, Ohio, and while there he married Amanda 
Ocultree, in 1840. She is a native of that, county, and was born in 
1822. He removed to Kosciusko county, Indiana, and remained seven 
years, and in 1853 came to Vermilion county, which has been his home 
ever since. He has a family of three children : Amos B., Luther L. 
and Mary. One of the children died : Orange B. Mr. Barker and his 
wife have been constant members of the M. E. church for many years. 

George Hoyles, Catlin, farmer, section 15, is the son of Jacob and 
Sarah Hoyles, who were natives of Pennsylvania. G. Hoyles was 
born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1830, and came to Ver- 
milion county in 1853. On the 22d of February, 1854, he married 
Mrs. Mary J. Guyman, daughter of Isaac Sandusky, who was an early 
settler of this county. She was born in the county on the 29th of 
February, 1829. Her parents brought the first "stove in the county. 
Mr. Hoyle lived in the house in which the first court ever convened in 
this county was held. Here he remained about twenty-three years, 
but at the present time he has a fine residence. He is a member of the 
A.F. & A.M., also a Royal Arch Mason of Vermilion Chapter, No. 82. 
He has one daughter, Agnes O., and three children deceased : Euphas 
J., Morning and George. Mr. H. has been hard Working and ener- 
getic, and at present owns eight hundred acres of fine farming land in 
the county. 

Charles Goiies, Catlin, farmer, son of Michael and Polly Gones, 
was born in what was then known as Hardy county, Virginia, on the 
8th of August, 1818. He went with his parents to Clark county, Ohio, 
in 1832, and then to Madison county, where he was united in marriage 
on the 22d of February, 1844, to Miss Elizabeth Price, daughter of 
John and Elizabeth Price. She was born in Ross county, Ohio, on the 
6th of April, 1825. By their union they have been blessed with six 
children : Mary J., the wife of Jacob Sandowsky, Thomas, John, Sa- 
rine, now Mrs. Bentley, Charles H. and Hannah, now Mrs. Hoges. 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 643 

Mr. Gones came to Vermilion county in 1854 and settled where he 
now resides. He is a member of the A.F. & A.M., Catlin Lodge, No. 
285. 

William McBroom, Fairmount, section 35, was born in Kentucky 
on the 22d of April, 1815. In 1827 he came with his parents to 
Crawfordsville, Indiana, where they were among the early settlers. 
They resided there four years, and then removed to New Richmond, 
in the same state, where they remained until his father's death in 1841. 
His mother went to Nebraska, where she remained until her death. 
Mr. McBroom has been thrice married. His first wife was Miss Rhoda 
A. Stover, and they were married in 1833 ; she died the same year. 
His second marriage was to Elizabeth Boyd, daughter of Joseph 
Hanks, in 1839 ; she was born in Ohio on the 16th of January, 1816, 
and died in 1849. Mr. McBroom married again in 1851, this time to 
Mrs. Emily Snyder, daughter of Judge Allen. She was born in Ken- 
tucky, in 1818. Mr. McBroom is the father of two children by his 
second wife : John and Joseph ; and by his present wife four : Alfred, 
Josephine, now wife of R. R. Shephard, William Jester and John. 
Mr. McBroom came to Vermilion county on the 28th of October, 1854, 
and settled where he now resides. 

John Harvey, Catlin, section 22, business at present, farming and 
stock-raising, was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, on the 21st of 
April, 1830, where he remained until he was nineteen years of age. 
He then came to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, where he was united 
in marriage, on the 22d of December, 1851, to Miss Margaret A. 
Taylor, daughter of Thomas A. and Ivea Taylor. She was born in 
Lafayette, Indiana, on the 7th of July, 1831. By this union they 
have been blessed with one daughter : Ellen T.; and by adoption 
they have one son : Frederick M. Mr. Harvey's father was in the 
war of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Harvev have been long' united with the 
C. P. church. 

W. S. Pate, Catlin, section 21, was born in Ripley county, Indi- 
ana, on the 24th of March, 1286. His parents were natives of Vir- 
ginia; they came to Dearborn county, Indiana, in an early day, and 
remained there until their death. His father, Jeremiah Pate, died 
on the 8th of July, 1852, and his mother, Martha A., died in 1836. 
Mr. Pate was united in marriage on the 14th of September, 1852, 
to Miss Loveday A. Williams, daughter of Thomas and Paulina 
Williams. She was born in Ripley county, Indiana, on the 11th of 
January, 1829. They have two sons and one daughter: Rebecca J., 
Thomas and George A. Four of their children are dead : Paulina E., 
Mary D., Ohioselestie and Martha A. Mr. Pate came to Vermilion 



644 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

county in 1855, and settled where he now resides. He served in the 
Mexican war two years, was at the battle of Cerro Gordo, National 
Bridge, Pueblo, and at the City of Mexico. He is a member of the 
I.O.O.F., Catlin Lodge, No. 538. His father served in the war of 1812. 
Mr. Pate and his wife are constant members of the M. E. church. 

W. R. Nesbitt, Catlin, farmer, was born in Washington county, 
Ohio, in 1830, and removed to Gallia county, Ohio, in 1837, where his 
mother, Mary, died. Mr. Nesbitt was married in 1853, to Miss Eliza- 
beth Dye, a native of Gallia county, Ohio. She was born in 1832. 
Mr. Nesbitt came to Vermilion county in 1855, and has been farming 
and dealing in stock. He came to the county without anything, and 
by his own industry owns two hundred and twenty acres of fine im- 
proved land, and has raised a family of six sons and one daughter: 
Daniel, Robert C, Areus F., Mary E., Charles E., John W. and Ed- 
ward A. 

Joseph Wherry, Catlin, farmer, was born in Mason county, Ken- 
tucky, on the 24th of February, 1819, and came to McLean county, 
Illinois, in 1853. He has been twice married. His former wife was 
Harriet Barclay, and they were married in 1838, and she died in 1861. 
His second marriage was to Alcy Burroughs, in 1863. He has two 
children by his former wife : William S. and John ; and by his present 
wife : Ida, Hannah, Mary J., wife of W. Cook, and Arminta, wife of 
P. Downing. Mr. and Mrs. Wherry are members of the C. P. church. 
She was born in Brown county, Ohio, on the 20th of May, 1829, and 
came to this county in 1833. 

Albert Voorhes, Fairmount, farmer, is a son of Andrew W. and 
Mary Yoorhes, and was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, on 
the 26th of December, 1833. He came to Edgar county, Illinois, in 
1856, where he remained about three years. He then removed to Ver- 
milion county, where he has made a permanent home. On the 2d of 
September, 1855, he was united in the bonds of matrimony with Miss 
Sarah J. Baker. She is a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, 
and was born on the 19th of December, 1839. The result of their 
union is a family of seven children living, and one dead. The living 
are : Samuel W., C. L., Linie I., Dillie J., Florence B., Henry, Kim- 
brough E. Mr. Voorhes came to this country without any means, and 
by industry has provided a good home for his family. He and wife 
are members of the C. P. church. 

W. J. Brinckley, Catlin, principal of school, was born in Sussex 
county, Delaware, on the 9th of March, 1835, where he received his 
early education, and followed teaching school for some time. In 1856 
he came to Vermilion county and located in Catlin, and has been 



CATLIJST TOWNSHIP. 645 

engaged as principal of the Catlin schools. Mr. Brinckley served three 
years in the rebellion, in Co. D, 125th 111. Vol. Inf., serving in that 
regiment eighteen months, then serving as ordnance sergeant in the 
second division, 14th Army Corps, until the close of the war. Mr. 
Brinckley attended Rush Medical College during the term of 1873-4. 
The only brother Mr. Brinckley had that lived to be a man served in 
Co. C, 25th 111. Vol. Inf., and died while in the army. In 1856 Mr. 
Brinckley. was joined in marriage to Miss Mary A. Bradway, a native 
of Salem count}', New Jersey. She was born on the 12th of June, 
1838. They are the parents of one son, William J. Mr. and Mrs. 
Brinckley are members of the M. E. church, and in politics M. Brinck- 
ley is a republican. 

J. M. Crntchley, Catlin, was born in Northumberland county, Penn- 
sylvania, on the 22d of May, 1836, and, about the year 1844, came with 
his grandparents to Hendricks county, Indiana, where he remained 
until 1857. He then removed to Vermilion county, Illinois, where he 
engaged in farming and coal mining until 1874. Since then he has 
been in the mercantile business, being connected with the firm now 
known as Payne & Crutchley. Mr. Crutchley served in the rebellion, 
in Co. A, 70th Reg. 111. Vol. Inf., serving his time out in that regiment. 
He reenlisted in 1864 in the 135th 111. Vol. Inf., and served his time 
out in that regiment. He was united in marriage on the 29th of July, 
1859, to Miss Cynthia Tanner, a native of White county, Indiana, born 
on the 9th of July, 1837. Mr. Crutchley is a member of the A.F. & 
A.M., Catlin Lodge, No. 285. 

J. F. Crosby, Catlin, insurance agent, was born in Shelby county, 
Indiana, on the 6th of December, 1834, and came west, locating in 
Catlin, Vermilion county, in 1857. His parents also came to this 
county. His father, Joseph, served in the late war, and resided in the 
county until his death in 1866. His mother, Mary, died soon after 
they came to this county. Mr. Crosby served in the late rebellion, in 
Co. K, 125th 111. Vol. Inf., as second lieutenant. He served one year 
and then resigned. On the 23d of October, 1873, he was married to 
Miss Louisa Olmsted, daughter of George Olmsted. She was born in 
Vermilion county, Illinois. They have one daughter: Myra, and one 
son, deceased, Harry. 

William Hawkins, Catlin, farmer, section 7, was born in Wayne 
county, Indiana, on the 1st of January, 1831, and came to Vermilion 
county in 1859. He was married on the 28th of March, 1855, to Miss 
Duanna Burgoyne, a native of Muskingum count}', Ohio. She was 
born on the 20th of August, 1835. They have four children : Sarah 
E., wife of Gr. Patterson ; Nora B., Lue E., Marietta, and one deceased : 



646 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

William N. Mr. Hawkins served in the late war. He enlisted on the 
11th of August, 1862, in Co. G, 125th 111. Yol. Inf., and served until 
the close of the war. He was in the battles of Mission Ridge, Buz- 
zard's Roost, Perry ville and Atlanta. He was with Sherman on his 
march to the sea, and was in all the battles in which the regiment was 
engaged, except Chickamauga. He was at the general review at Wash- 
ington. 

James White, Catlin, farmer, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on 
the 4th of July, 1812. His father, William, was in the war of 1812,. 
and was wounded, from the effects of which he died. His mother, 
Julia White, died when he was seven years of age, leaving him with- 
out parents or money. He engaged as cabin-boy on one of the steamers 
on the Chesapeake Bay for fifty cents per month. He then worked on 
a farm for four and five dollars per month, in Pennsylvania, and in 
1859 came to Vermilion county. He has been twice married. His 
former wife was Hannah Rodgers; they were married in 1840, and 
she died in 1846. His second marriage was to Frances Sanders; they 
were united in 1849. She was born in 1829. Mr. White is the father 
of three children by his former wife: William, Samuel and Hannah, 
now wife of C. Dopp. By his present wife he has James E., Frank,. 
Josephine, wife of H. Finley; Charley, Robert, Ellen, Roker, Jesse, 
Julia, Elizabeth. Mr. White has, by hard work and economy, become 
the owner of six hundred and seventy-two acres of land. 

Samuel R. Tilton, Catlin, merchant, was born in Beaver county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1840. In 1844 his father moved to Ripley county, 
Indiana, where S. R. grew to manhood, and in 1862 came to this 
county. Soon after, in response to a call of his country for troops, he 
enlisted in the service, and participated with his regiment in the bat- 
tles of Perryville, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Resaca, Allatoona, 
Kenesaw Mountain, and many other engagements of less note. He 
was severely wounded in a charge on Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, on 
the 27th of June, 1864 — a musket ball penetrating his right breast. 
The ball afterward was extracted from his back, and is yet preserved 
by himself as a souvenir of the bloody days of our late civil war, and 
the excruciating suffering which he endured. He at times still suffers 
severely from the effect of his wound. Although his wound was of 
such a severe character as to unfit him for active military duty, he after 
a few months rejoined his regiment at Goldsborough, North Carolina, 
and continued with it until the close of the war. Then he returned to 
the residence of his parents in Indiana. In December. 1866, he re- 
turned to Catlin and took charge of the railroad station. After act- 
ing in the capacity of agent for the railroad company for nearly one 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. (147 

year, he embarked in the drug and notion business. His capital and 
experience in the business were both limited, but by his straightforward 
dealing and never-tiring industry, his small beginning has increased 
until he now has three first-class stores in the village of Catlin : a gen- 
eral merchandise store, one of drugs and notions, and a millinery store. 
In addition to these he owns a one-third interest in a general store at 
Pilot, Illinois, the firm name being Tilton & Bros., and under the super- 
vision of A. B. Tilton. These three departments are so complete that 
almost any article in general use is kept in stock. He is not naturally 
public spirited, but has served the people of Catlin as postmaster nearlv 
three years, resigning on account of ill health. He is a Past Grand in the 
I.O.O.F. Lodge, and has attained to the degrees of knighthood in Ma- 
sonry, being at present a member of the Danville Commandery. He 
is not a member of any church, but very liberal in his support of the 
different denominations, as well as in all other institutions pertaining 
to the public good. Not the least of his generous traits is his liberality 
to the poor, of which there is abundant evidence. On the 7th of Feb- 
ruary, 1868, he was married to Miss Lou G. Yance, daughter of John 
Yance, who was one of the early and prominent pioneers of this county. 
Tlieir family consists of Clinton Clay, born on the 10th of May, 1870, 
and Ralph Russel, born on the 14th of March, 1877. 

G. W. Tilton, Catlin, dry-goods, groceries, etc., son of the Rev. 
Enoch and Elizabeth (Wilson) Tilton, came to Yermilion county in 1862, 
being at that date twenty-six years of age. His first occupation after 
arriving and locating at Catlin, was to take charge of the Catlin schools, 
which wore under his supervision for four years following this date. 
He then engaged with Richard Jones in his store as book-keeper and 
salesman, in the village alread}^ mentioned. At the expiration of two 
years he formed a copartnership with J. C. Sandusky, in a store of 
general merchandise, under the firm name of Sandusky & Tilton. 
Five years afterward Mr. S. retired from the firm, selling his interest 
to L. C. Kyger, the firm name changing to Tilton & Kyger. This 
copartnership lasted for five years, when Mr. Kyger retired, since which 
time Mr. Tilton has conducted the business alone. The first five years' 
business of the firm amounted to but $11,000, but by steady applica- 
tion, good management and indomitable perseverance, the sales have 
steadily increased until they have reached nearly $50,000 per annum. 
Mr. Tilton is also interested in two other mercantile houses with his 
brothers : one at Pilot and another at Palermo, Illinois. In 1862 he 
became identified with the Yermilion County Agricultural and Me- 
chanical Association, and has since taken an active part in the work 
and interests of that society. He has served as secretary, vice-president 



648 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

and president, tilling the latter position for three years, and is its pres- 
ent incumbent. He has also served one term in the county board of 
supervisors, representing Catlin township. At the age of fourteen 
years he became a member of the Baptist church, and at sixteen years 
of age taught his first school. Until his advent in this county, at the 
age of twenty-six years, he was variously engaged at farming, carpen- 
tering, teaching and surveying. In 1862 he was married to Miss Eliz- 
abeth Allbright, a native of Ohio. The fruits of this union are Charlie 
"Vigil, Elsie Venus and Bertie Victor, aged respectively, fifteen, thir- 
teen and ten years. According to the best information available, the 
Til ton family in this country owe their origin to three brothers who 
came over from England at the same time, during the colonial period 
of the nation's history. Most, if not all, bearing this name in the 
United States, trace their ancestry back to this source. Previous to 
this no knowledge of their predecessors is known. In writing the his- 
tory of the county, personal sketches of old settlers and some of the 
more prominent business gentlemen, we deem it but proper to devote 
at least a short space to the Tilton brothers, live of whom have found 
a location in Vermilion county. Their father, Enoch Tilton, was born 
in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, on the 22d of July, 1811, and is of 
English descent. He was married on the 12th of September, 1832, to 
Miss Elizabeth Wilson, who was born on the 12th of January, 1811, 
and whose ancestry came from Ireland. In 1844 they came to Ripley 
county, Indiana, where Mr. Tilton has been known for a number of 
years as a leading minister of the Baptist church. Although now sixty- 
eight years old, he has the pastoral care of four congregations, and con- 
ducts a farm of one hundred and twenty acres. 

David Shaver, Catlin, section 18, farmer, was born in Muhlenburg 
county, Kentucky, on the 8th of October, 1824. His father was a 
native of Virginia, and was born in 1790. He came to Kentucky in 
1814, and was in the war of 1812. His mother, Nancy Peters, was 
born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1799, and died in Kentucky 
in 1878. Mr. Shaver married, on the 14th of February, 1847, Mildred 
A. Taylor, daughter of John A. Taylor. She was a native of Ohio 
county, Kentucky, and was born on the 17th of October, 1828. Her 
father was born in the fort near Hartford, Kentucky, in 1767, and was 
the second child born in that town — Hartford. He was one of the 
pioneers of Greene River county. He made various business trips from 
Frederick county to Virginia, in which he passed through wildernesses, 
being entrusted with agencies for land speculations. He superintended 
the locations of their claims amidst danger. Mr. Shaver removed to 
Vermilion county in 1864, where he has become one of the industrious 



CATLIN TOWNSHIP. 649 

and respected citizens of the county. He has raised a family of seven 
children : Leander, Elizabeth A., wife of C. T. Dye, Sarah M., wife of 
A. Kichards, Nancy D., Peter L., Bertha, William, W. C. One child, 
John A., died. 

A. J. Villars, Catlin, section 9, farmer, was born in Clinton county, 
Ohio, on the 22d of May, 1843. He was married on the 25th of May, 
1865, to Miss Harriet Smith, a native of Clinton county, Ohio, and 
born on the 16th of May, 1844. In the same year of his marriage he 
came to Vermilion county, and here he has been engaged in farming 
and school teaching since. Mr. Villars served in the rebellion, in Co. 
G, 11th Ohio Vol. Inf., and was in several hard battles, — the second 
battle of Bull Run, South Mountain, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, 
Resaca, and thirty-two skirmishes. He was taken prisoner at Liberty, 
but was paroled soon after. 

J. P. Guyer, Catlin, railroad agent, was born in Philadelphia, Penn- 
sylvania, on the 22d of December, 1843. He came to Wisconsin with 
his parents, where they remained for a short time, and then returned 
to Philadelphia. In 1859 they removed to Missouri, where they left 
him and returned east. Mr. Guyer enlisted in the army in 1861 for 
three years. He was at the battles of Boonesville, Wilson's Creek, and 
several skirmishes. In 1863 he came to Springfield, Illinois, where he 
engaged as bill clerk for the Chicago & Alton railroad. He also was 
with the Springfield & Southeastern railroad as agent for five years. 
He came to Catlin on the 9th of November, 1875, where he has acted 
as agent for the Wabash railroad. Mr. Guyer was united in marriage 
in 1873, to Miss Elizabeth Goodrich, a native of Urbana, Ohio, born 
on the 17th of February, 1855. Mr. Guyer is a member of the A.F. dc 
A.M. He has crossed the sea twice, and has been to South America 
and Liverpool. 

S. W. Jones, physician and surgeon, Catlin, son of H. and Luzena 
Jones, was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, on the 15th of 
November, 1851, where he remained until twenty-one years of age. 
Being an energetic young man, and wishing to make his mark in life, 
he started for himself, and, in 1859, came to Hamilton county, Indiana, 
where he engaged in teaching school and reading medicine. In 1874 
he attended the Ohio Medical College, and in 1875 came to Catlin, 
Illinois, where he practiced medicine until the fall of 1877. He then 
returned to Cincinnati, and took a course of lectures and received his 
diploma, on the 17th of February, 1878. He returned to Catlin, and 
purchased a stock of drugs from T. H. Runion, and, by attending to 
his profession, now ranks with the older physicians of the county. On 
the 28th of February, 1876,. he was united in marriage to Miss F. D. 



650 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Timmons, a native of this county, born on the 15th of December, 
1858. By this union they have one child : Ethelberth T. 

A. M. F. McCollough, Catlin, physician, was born in Monroe 
county, Ohio, on the 26th of November, 1852. His father, Dr. Mc- 
Collough, was born in Eastern Ohio in 1826, and is of Scotch-Irish 
descent. He received his education at Franklin College, Ohio, and 
read medicine under Dr. John Findley for some years. In 1848 he 
located in Monroe county, Ohio, and there was actively engaged in the 
practice of medicine until the year 1874, when he removed to Bellaire, 
Belmont county, Ohio, where he has since resided. He was married in 
the fall of 1849 to Miss Margrey A. Brokaw, of Harrison county, 
Ohio. They are the parents of three children : Isaac N., A. M. F. 
and W. S. At the age of seven years Isaac N. died. W. S., now 
twenty-four years of age, is a promising druggist in Wheeling, West 
Virginia. A. M. F., the subject of our sketch, received his education 
at Vermilion College, Ashland county, Ohio (now merged into Wooster 
University). In the year 1868 he began the study of medicine under 
the instruction of his father and Dr. Armstrong. In the year 1872 he 
attended medical lectures at Miami Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
The following year was spent in pharmaceutical rooms in Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania. About 1876 he attended a course of lectures at Jeffer- 
son Medical College, Philadelphia, receiving from that time-honored 
institution his desired diploma. Refreshed anew with vigor, he wended 
his way westward, accidentally dropping in the village of Catlin, where 
he located in the fall of 1877. After a residence here of about eighteen 
months he chose for his wife Miss Emma A. McClenathan, daughter of 
G. S. McClenathan, a resident of the county for about twenty-five 
years, and formerly from Washington county, Pennsylvania. The 
Doctor, since his residence at Catlin, has, by an honest and candid 
treatment of patients, as well as a polite and courteous treatment of 
associates, surrounded himself with a large circle of friends. Though 
he has been a resident of the county but a few years, he is already 
associated with the old physicians of the county. This alone is the 
best of guarantees of his ability as a physician and surgeon. 



ROSS TOWNSHIP. H51 

ROSS TOWNSHIP. 

Ross township, one of the largest and wealthiest in the county, 
embraced, in the original division of the county into political towns, 
nearly all of the northeastern quarter of the county, and contained all 
of congressional townships 23 N. 11 W., 23 N. 12 W., 22 N. 11 W. y 
22 N. 12 W., half of 21 N. 11 W., half of 21 N. 12 W., and the frac- 
tions of 21, 22 and 23 N. 10 W., which lie between these former and 
the Indiana line — more than five congressional towns in all. In 1862 
it was divided by a line through the center of it, and now embraces the 
north half of townships 21-11 and 21-12, and all of 22-11 and 22-12, 
except the northern tier of sections and north half of the second tier. 
The north fork of the Vermilion river runs nearly through its center, 
from north to south, cutting the northern line a little west of its center, 
running in a southeasterly direction, and leaving it a little east of the 
middle of its southern border, with an eastern branch, which is joined 
by another branch called the Jordan (from some supposed relation, by 
the eye of faith, to the good old river of "stormy banks"), running 
from its eastern borders. Bean creek, a tributary to the middle fork, 
runs through the northwestern portion of the town in a westerly direc- 
tion. Numerous small streams and rivulets, fed by living springs, feed 
these streams, making Ross one of the best watered regions in the 
county. Along all these streams a splendid growth of native forests 
grew, a portion of which has, of course, been cut off, the land being 
made into farms ; while in many places where there was only a scant 
growth, kept down by frequent tires, now a strong, heavy growth 
shows the rapid increase of western forests. 

" Hubbard's Trace," the original highway of travel between this 
southern country and Chicago, ran through the town, and in time gave 
place to the old "Chicago road," which was known farther north as 
"State road," and in Chicago itself became known as State street, a 
name it } r et bears. Along this timber and near this road the first set- 
tlements were made, very soon after the county was organized; and 
its prairies early became the homes, first of the great herds which 
pioneered these natural fields, and later of the thrifty men and women 
who brought its broad acres into use. 

Ross is preeminently a farming township. With the exception of 
the pleasant little village of Rossville, on its northern border, where a 
few families collected along the timber long known as Liggett's grove, 
where the Attica road crosses the Chicago road, and which in time 
grew into one of the prettiest little western villages in all this country, 
and one or two mills, her entire enterprise was agricultural. The sick- 



652 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

ness which is consequent upon every early settlement, made havoc 
with the early calculations of many a family ; but the great natural 
resources of the rich country they had come into, needing only the 
rasping of the plow and the raking in of the golden grain to put its 
energetic laborers into the possession of competence and wealth, those 
who first learned that the prairies would support human life reaped the 
richest rewards of their superior judgment or experiments. The 
Gundys, Gilberts, Greens, Davisons, Chenoweths, Manns and others 
found in Ross the full fruition of youthful hope in the landed prosperity 
of maturer years. For a long time, and up to within the last decade, 
the people were not vexed with railroads or "those bonds" which even 
in apostolic times were a chief source of regret. In 1872 the Chicago, 
Danville & Vincennes, now known as the Chicago & Eastern Illinois 
railroad, was built through the center of the town, giving rail con- 
nection with the county seat on the south and Chicago, and in 1877 the 
Havana, Rantoul & Eastern road was built through nearly the center 
of the township east and west, so that they are supplied with all the 
railroads they will ever need, to the remotest point of time. The 
latter is a narrow-gauge road, and as far as this portion of the state is 
concerned, is a pioneer effort. While it is claimed to be a financial 
success, it is still, probably, a problem to be solved by time, whether 
it will follow the wake of all the more recently built roads into the 
wreckers' hands. 

As early as 1836 Elihu, Isaac and Nathaniel Chauncey entered a 
large part of the land in township 21 north, range 11 east, in this and 
the adjoining town. The same parties entered a large amount of land 
in other townships. They were Philadelphians, and never came west 
to live. Their affairs in this county were managed by Henry L. Ells- 
worth, who also entered considerable land about the same time. These 
parties are all dead, and the lands have been divided among their de- 
scendants. This land has mostly been sold, but some still remains 
unsold and uncultivated. 

The town took its name from Jacob T. Ross, who owned a tract of 
land in section 9 (21-11), from which the timbers for the old mill which 
was built by Clausson on section 5, about 1835, were cut and hewn. 
He seems to have had an interest in the mill, for he furnished the tim- 
bers, and afterward became the owner. For a long time it was known 
as Ross' Mill, and there the early elections and town meetings were 
held, and very naturally gave name to the town, although there was 
an attempt to call it North Fork. 

The Davison family and their relatives, the Gundys, were probably 
the first white people to find a permanent home in Ross. If any were 



ROSS TOWNSHIP. 653 

living here before them there is no means of now verifying it, although 
Mr. Horr and Mr. Liggett may have been here a few months earlier. 
The writer has been placed under many obligations to Mr. Thomas 
Gundy for many of the facts in regard to early settlements, which he 
believes will be found substantially correct. With a mind clear and 
accurate, Mr. Gundy seems not to be distracted by cares of family, mer- 
chandise or politics, so that he has been a very valuable assistant. 

Andrew Davison and wife came here from Franklin county, Ohio, 
after they had brought up a considerable family, in 1828, and took up 
land in section 13 (21-12), near Myersville. He had a little means, 
and his children a good deal of pioneer strength and energy. He had 
long hoped to find a new home, where land was cheaper, so that his 
children could secure farms for themselves. They had seven children : 
James, Robert, Sally, Jane, Susana, Betty and Polly. Two of these, 
James and Mrs. Joseph Gundy, were married when they came, and 
soon after, young Joseph Kerr took the trail which the retreating Da- 
visons had followed, and came through the timber of Indiana and mar- 
ried the Davison of his choice. Andrew Davison saw his children all 
nicely fixed, having taken up land all around him, before death called 
him away in 1841. The land office at this time was in Palestine, in 
Crawford county, a now almost forgotten country village, but there 
the pioneers of Vermilion had to go to enter their land, until the land 
department was convinced that it ought to be removed to Danville. 
The seven children of Mr. Davison grew up and became one of the 
most important families in settling this wild country. James lived on 
the farm which he had entered until 1873, when he moved to Danville, 
where he died. He left two children : a son at Myersville, and a 
daughter, Mrs. Tuttle, at Danville. Robert carried on a farm in sec- 
tion 8 (21-11), one mile south of the present village of Alvin, till 
1843, when he died, leaving a family of five children. His son, John, 
continued to work the farm until the first call for troops rung along 
the banks of North Fork, when he enlisted in the 4th Cavalry, and did 
as valiant service, stamping out rebellion as he had done in killing out 
the rattlesnakes on his ancestral acres. Since his return he has been 
engaged in mercantile pursuits at Rossville. James, another son, lives 
on the old homestead. He also served in the army. Robert, the third 
son, a young man of much promise, went with his brothers, but did 
not return with thern. He gave his young life to his country, — a sac- 
rifice to national unity. He died at Salem, Arkansas, a member of 
the 25th 111. Mrs. Ingruham lives near the old homestead, and Mrs. 
Magee in Indiana. Of the daughters of Mr. Andrew Davison, Mrs. 
Joseph Gundy died before her husband ; Mrs. Joseph Kerr died some 



654 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

years since, leaving five children, who live in the vicinity of Myers- 
ville ; Mrs. Josiah Henkle died early, leaving three daughters ; Mrs. 
Mathers lived with her parents, and at her death left one daughter. 
Jacob Gundy, the father of the family of that name, who have been 
prominent for half a century in the history of Ross and of Vermilion 
county, had been a soldier in the revolutionary war, and had moved 
earl} 7 from Pennsylvania to Chillicothe, Ohio, where he lived on a farm 
until he followed his son Joseph here in 1830. Joseph had immigrat- 
ed here with the Davisons. William and Thomas, and Mrs. Abram 
Woods came with their father. Jacob, Jr., came here a few years 
afterward, and soon after went to Missouri. Mr. Gundy, Sen., was a 
widower, and made his home around with his children ; he died at a 
good old age, in 1842, and was buried at the Gundy burial ground 
near Myersville. They made their first settlement near the south line 
of Ross township, near wmere Joseph lived. Joseph came here to find 
a new country, where land would be cheap, and as soon as he got across 
the state line he expected to find things as he wanted. He took up 
the first land he could find, subject to " squatter sovereignty," or entry. 
He carried on farming very successfully, and acquired nine hundred 
acres of land ; raised stock largely, bought and fed, but did not adopt 
the more hazardous and speculative undertakings; he sold his stock to 
drovers. He often sold to the Funks, to Williamson on Sugar Creek, 
to Ohio men, and to others from Pennsylvania. He had two children 
when he came here, and ten were born to them here, four of whom are 
now dead. Of the eight living children all but one live in the county: 
Mrs. Isaac Chrisman, in Ross; Mrs. Dr. Henton, in Danville; Mrs. 
John Davison and Mrs. Milton Lee, at Rossville ; Andrew was a large 
and successful farmer and engaged in mercantile pursuits, was largely 
interested in public affairs, was a member of the legislature in 1875, 
and proved by his long acquaintance with the wants of the people and 
the breadth of his general intelligence a useful and safe legislator. 
After the failure of Hon. John C. Short, Mr. Gundy and some others 
undertook to stand in the breach and save the important coal interest 
which Mr. Short held, but the continued depression of trade and the 
large shrinkage of values was more than they could stand, and financial 
failure followed. There was little reason to doubt that the immense 
coal fields controlled and owned by the Exchange bank, would event- 
ually pay all the debts of that concern, but the depression of the coal 
trade so reduced the profit that they ceased to be a source of revenue. 
Mr. Gundy is now engaged in farming near Bismark. Francis and 
Joseph have been engaged in farming and in trade. Thomas Gundy 
was killed by lightning in 1855 ; he was fixing a fence when the storm 



ROSS TOWNSHIP. 655 

approached, and started to go across the field to the house when the 
sad accident occurred. Joseph Gundy, Sen., died at Myersville in 
1865, closing a useful and successful life. William Gundy, the other 
brother, who came with his father in 1830, married and raised a family 
of seven children, who are now scattered, the sons living in Missouri. 
He and his wife died in 1851. Mrs. Abram Woods, after her hus- 
band's death, went with her five children to Missouri. Thomas Gun- 
dy, who now lives at Rossville, has been a prosperous farmer, and now 
has practicallj' retired from hard work. He owns the Abram Woods 
farm, a farm near Alvin, one at Gilbert Station, and three small farms 
east of Bisinark. He has been remarkably prosperous in all respects. 
He has, however, never aspired to official position, though he has been 
occasionally pressed into township office. He has seen this countv 
grow from a wilderness to a fruitful field. 

John Demorest came here from Shawnee Prairie, Indiana, where 
he had buried his wife with his three daughters, about 1828, and 
entered land in section 6 (21-11), and in section 1 (21-12). He owned 
about four hundred acres of land. He was a local preacher, and for 
years gave his time very largely to the work of building up Christianity 
in this county. He was a strict man in all that pertained to religion, 
morality and family government, and as strict and honest in his deal- 
ings with hisfelloM'-men. He and Daniel Fairchild were much together 
in the ministry, and went here and there holding meetings. No one 
can over-estimate the results for good of these earnest, plain men, who 
preached as they went, and worked for the kingdom continually. 
Father Demorest sold his farm to Reuben Ray in 1866, and soon after 
went to Ohio, returned here, and removed to Kansas in 1870, where 
he died. His daughter, Mrs. Eli Fairchild, resides in Blount town- 
ship. 

Probably no person has ever been identified more largely in every- 
thing which pertains to the welfare of Ross than Alvan Gilbert. His 
father, Samuel Gilbert, with two brothers, came from Ontario county, 
New York, to Danville, in 1826. They had but little idea where they 
were going when they made their way down the Alleghany River, and 
were probably attracted here more by the fact that the salt works were 
here in the county than any other one thing. The Gilberts established 
a ferry at Danville, and built a mill. It was rather a cheap affair, but 
was not cheaper than the custom of the country. With corn only six 
cents to ten cents per bushel, and wheat about fifty cents per bushel, 
it could hardly be expected that grinding for the tenth bushel would 
pay a return on a very large investment. Alvan worked around Dan- 
ville about six years, tending mill and such other work as he could 



656 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

find to do, until 1832, when he married a daughter of Robert Horr, 
and bought his interest in the land he (Horr) had lived on, in section 
25, where the Chicago road crosses the north fork. His house was a 
little log cabin directly in the road leading to the old bridge before 
the road was changed to the new bridge. He afterward, in 1839, sold 
this place to his father, Samuel Gilbert, and bought the Liggett farm 
at what is now Rossville. Mr. Samuel Gilbert was soon after appointed 
postmaster of the new post-office, North Fork. Dr. Brickwell, who 
was a neighbor of Gilbert's at this time, says that at one time the mail 
was delayed six weeks by high water, and when it did finally awive, 
and the great rush of mail matter, dammed up for six long weeks, fell 
into the goodly people around where Mann's chapel now stands, and 
postmaster Gilbert had called in a bee of the citizens to help him 
open, sort, distribute, arrange, count, and deliver — for there were no 
railroad post-offices in those times — it was found that there was just 
one letter in the mail, all told; and the Doctor thinks that had the 
flood lasted another six weeks it would have "dried up" the post-office 
itself, so that no further mail matter would ever have come there. 
Samuel Gilbert's house was one of the early preaching-places of the 
Methodists, and was the real forerunner of Mann's chapel, which 
stands very near the spot where his house was. It was customary for 
the worshipers to take their rifles along with them when they went 
to church, and, when returning, should a stray deer come waltzing 
around in an ungodly crusade against the quiet of the Sabbath, he was 
very apt to get shot for his temerity. Few such Sabbath-breaking deer 
were ever actually known to return to the cool retreats. Samuel Gil- 
bert died in 1855, leaving four children. His two daughters had mar- 
ried, and gone west, his two sons living here. Both are now dead. 

Mr. Alvan Gilbert, mentioned at length in a subsequent part of 
this township, almost immediately, on his settlement in Ross, became 
recognized as one of the most useful, well informed and public spirited 
men of the county. 

John Liggett, who lived at, and gave the name to Liggett's Grove, 
came to the place where the late Hon. Alvan Gilbert long lived, about 
1829, and took up land in section 11 (22-12). This place was on the 
Chicago road, and was a place for travelers to stop ; although he did 
not claim to keep hotel. He died in 1838, and was buried near the 
present residence of Dr. Brickwell. His widow and children remained 
here some years and then went to Oregon. 

Thomas McKibben first settled with his father in section 32(22-11), 
in 1830 ; he afterward lived in different parts of the county, but this 
was his first place of residence. He was in the Blackhawk war, was 






ROSS TOWNSHIP. 657 

the first deputy sheriff, and served two terms as sheriff. He took 
greater delight in hunting a horse-thief than in eating a meal of victuals. 
He was a very popular man in the early days, and a very competent 
officer. People always slept soundly when they knew he was sheriff. 
He at one time owned a farm a little south of where Hoopeston 
now is. 

Oliver Prickett came from Brown county, Ohio, with his father, in 
1832. They farmed a while on the Spencer farm and on the Crockett farm 
south of Danville, and then came to where Rossville now stands. Asel 
Gilbert had entered a quarter-section joining Liggett' s north. There 
were no families in that part but Liggett's, Gilbert's and Bicknell's, 
the latter two in what is now Grant township. At this time, in fact imme- 
diately after the close of the Blackhawk war, Chicago became a place of 
trade for all this country. Instead of sending their produce down the 
river on flatboats, they began to team, or "haul," everything to Chi- 
cago, and look to Chicago for everything they had to buy. Very soon 
people began to bring salt from there that was boiled in Syracuse, New 
York, in place of that made at Danville. The "Board of Trade" is 
not more disastrous in its fluctuations and prices; no more uncertain 
in Chicago to-day, than they were in those old times. Farmers took 
oats to Chicago and sold for $1.50 per bushel ; at another time they 
would hardly bring " a bit a bushel." Corn had no market price, but 
hides and pelts were always cash. Pork was very regular in price, and 
usually brought enough to pay the farmer ten cents for his corn, that is, 
after about 1838. Before that, for a few years, the high-pressure specula- 
tive times of 1835-6, and the consequent crash of 1837, changed the 
prices of every commodity from a normal to an abnormal condition. 

Albert Comstock, now of Rossville, entered land in 25 (22-12), in 
1837 ; a few years later he sold to his brother-in-law, Clark Green, and 
established himself at " Bicknell's Point," which was the point of tim- 
ber north of Rossville, and the most ^northern of any timber on the 
Chicago road until you reached the waters of the Iroquois. The beau- 
tiful farms which spread over this delightful " divide " hardly suggest 
the scenes, the trials, the suffering consequent upon the droughts of 
summer and the severe cold of winter, crossing this wide stretch be- 
tween the Vermilion and the Iroquois. "Extremes meet," the philos- 
ophers tell us. Those who have crossed this arm of the " Grand Prai- 
rie" can testify to the rugged truth of this in their experience. No 
roads were ever nicer than these prairie roads when the weather was 
favorable. The smooth even surfaces where the wheels run, divided 
evenly by the strip of turf a few inches wide in the middle, were per- 
fection itself. Not a jolt or jar marred the even tenor of the teamster's 
42 



t>58 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

wagon ; no load was too heavy for the ordinary team ; and when during 
the long pleasant falls which were common in this state, the fresh prairie 
breezes fanned the fatigue from faint teams and drivers, no labor was 
pleasanter than this. When long-continued rains had swelled the 
slonghs to swimming rivers, and ruts had been worked into the " black 
stick " of the prairies deep enough to sink a horse, and black night had 
overtaken worn out nature, and the terrible storms which swept these 
great prairies held sway where so recently all was, lovely, the change 
may be partially imagined by the reader of to-day, but never realized. 
The extremes of pleasurable travel and disastrous suffering met where 
now the finest farms, the most pleasant villages, and comfortable rail- 
roads rule. 

The old mill, still in good running order, standing a little northwest 
of Alvin, is historic. Mr. Clawson put up a saw-mill in 1838, and a 
year or two later added a grist-mill. Soon after this, the two Chris- 
mans and Sommerville were at work building a mill at Myersville. 
One of the Chrismans was killed by the falling of earth from a race- 
way which they were attempting to tunnel. This circumstance induced 
them to abandon the work at Myersville, which they sold to Myers, 
and bought the Clawson mill. They run it with very good success until 
1848, when they sold to John Hoobler, from Perrysville, Indiana, a 
preacher of the United Brethren denomination, and the pioneer of that 
church. In 1851 he sold to Jacob T. Ross, who had taken an interest 
in its building as before noticed, and it came to be called from that 
time Ross' Mill. Ross put in a small stock of goods for the accommo- 
dation of the neighbors, which was the first store in the township. 
Here the first town meetings and elections were held. Mr. Ross sold 
the mill in 1858 to John L. Persons, who after! running it a few years 
was murdered, about 1862, by four men who, the evidence showed, had 
formed a conspiracy to kill him on account of a dispute about a pocket 
book. Miller and Persons had disputed about the settlement of an 
account of less than five dollars, at the store. Getting angry while he 
had his pocket-book in his hand, he laid it down, and forgetting it 
he went home. He afterward hired the three men — Sanders, Smith 
and Moore- — to get his pocket-book, or in case they did not succeed, to 
kill Persons, giving them a gallon of whisky, and agreeing to give half 
the money that was in the pocket-book (about ten dollars). The men 
agreed to go together at a given hour and make a demand on him, ex- 
pecting, of course, to get the pocket-book without further trouble ; but 
Moore, who it seems had the custody of the whisky, took down more 
of it than just enough to keep his pluck up to killing point, and sallied 
out and killed Persons on sight, without even demanding satisfaction. 






ROSS TOWNSHIP. 659 

He then hunted up his confederates and told them their help was not 
needed. Smith was arrested and turned state's evidence. Sanders got 
a short term in the penitentiary, and Moore went into the army. On 
Persons' death the property came into the hands of Sangster & Swazey, 
of Cincinnati, Ohio, and about 1867 John Mains, the present proprie- 
tor, bought it. It stands practically as it did forty years ago. 

A. J. Miller took up land three miles east of Rossville in 1834. 
He increased his farm to about six hundred acres, and remained on it 
till he died, in 1871, and his family reside there yet. Willard Brown 
came from New York and took up a farm a little southeast of where 
Alvin now is in 1835, and remained there until he died, in 1878. He 
was a good specimen of the hardy pioneer; a hardy, honest, upright, 
true man ; a good citizen and faithful father. Several of his children 
still live here to honor and revere the memory of his upright life. L. 
M. Thompson entered land southeast of Rossville. He now lives in 
the village. He has long been interested in everything pertaining to 
the public affairs of his town, and is a public- spirited and useful citizen. 
Abram Mann, who, on account of his intelligence, education, great 
worth and wealth, held a commanding position in the new settlement, 
came here first in 1836. He was an Englishman, and had been only a 
short time in this country, living for a year in Herkimer county, New 
York, where Abijah and Charles A. Mann, — prominent then and since 
in the politics and business relations of central New York, — lived. 
When he came to |his county he lived in Danville a year, and entered 
several sections of land around where he afterward made his home, 
and the next year commenced his large farming operations here. His 
wife dying, he took his four children back to England in 1839, for a 
few years, and engaged Dr. Brickwell, then an energetic and progress- 
ive young man, — now an honored and esteemed physician of Ross- 
ville, — to superintend his affairs. After his return from England he 
put his large estate into productive cultivation. He went largely into 
cattle-feeding, aiming to feed up all that was raised on his large farm. 
He was a strong friend of education and religion, and exerted a good 
influence by his example and the liberal use of his means, — never 
ostentatious, but always giving a generous support to all that was good. 
He lived here until 1865, bringing up his four children to honest and 
frugal industry, inculcating the spirit of strong religious faith which 
possessed him, and the liberal sentiments which were a marked trait in 
his character. One act which marks the character of the man may be 
mentioned. In 1856, believing that the society then worshiping in the 
school-house needed a church, he offered to make and furnish all the 
brick necessary to put up such a church as the society should choose 



6H0 HISTOKT OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

to build — the larger they should decide to build the better. Messrs. 
James Gilbert, Messic, Demorest, B. C. Green and R. R. Ray were 
selected by the church to see that a good house of worship was put up. 
The building is 30 x 45, and cost, including the donations made, $3,300. 
Of Mr. Mann's children, two were married and have died. The other 
two remain on the farm. In 1875 they built probably the finest resi- 
dence in Vermilion county, at a cost of $25,000, brick. 

John Ray, about 1835, came to live where his three sons, George 
T., Wm. G. and John, now live, near the junction of the East and 
North Forks. The "Ray bo} r s," as they are still called, are good citi- 
zens, and have the reputation of excellent men among their neighbors. 
B. C. Green came here from Ontario county, New York, about 1840. 
He was a young man without means, with fair common-school educa- 
tion, and had heard of the Gilberts who had preceded him some years. 
He first bought a piece of land west of Rossville, where Thomas Arm- 
strong now lives. He afterward sold this, and bought forty acres and 
entered forty acres east of Rossville, but sold again and bought where 
he now resides, of Mr. Comstock. For several years he worked around 
as he could find work to do, splitting rails, working out by the day, 
or at the stone mason trade. He worked in Danville, taking down the 
old buildings there and making them into barns, sheds and shops, for 
by this time Danville began to put on airs, and must get rid of the old 
buildings which did not comport with increased prosperity. He tells 
with a commendable pride about walking from Danville, losing two 
days work there, to vote for building the first frame school-house, 
"when as yet he had no child." School-houses were not so popular 
then, and the plan of having the best school-house in the county was 
likely to fail. Green's children have since enjoyed the blessings of 
free schooling in that little frame house, which has been used from 
that time to this, but has recently been supplanted by a finer new one. 
In 1845 he had got a few dollars ahead, and commenced making what 
is now one of the best farms in Ross township, consisting of one thou- 
sand acres in ranges 11 and 12, just north of the timber. 

All settlers hugged the timber line, for the protection which that 
natural barrier presented. "Wild game was plenty. You could shoot 
prairie chickens from the roofs of the houses. Wild geese were plenty 
on the prairies, staying here awhile spring and fall. Deer were so 
plenty as hardly to attract much comment, and wolves would hardly 
keep away from the dooryard. Sheep could hardly be protected from 
them day or night. The farmers used to make the trip to Chicago 
with a drove of hogs, and return in about ten days. Hogs could travel 
in those days. They used to run in the timber till corn harvest, and 






ROSS TOWNSHIP. 661 

then they were collected and fed until they were in "light marching 
order," — tat enough that they would not actually run away from the 
herd, — and then start Chicagoward. Of course the large hogs we 
have now, well fatted, could never make the trip as they did then. 
Sometimes when they "got their hogs up" to commence feeding, they 
were so wild, having run in the timber all the year, that they were 
afraid to eat, and as a precautionary measure, the corn was put into 
the pen on the sly, so that the stubborn fellows would not get the hint 
that they were expected to eat it; and again, it sometimes became 
necessary to hunt them down with dogs and bring them in one at a 
time, — a custom which gave rise to the story which has been so often 
told about the first sheriff of Vermilion county (which the writer is 
happy to sa}' lacks confirmation), that when he was sent out to bring 
in the first grand jury to serve at Butler's, he found them so wild and 
afraid of the officer that he had to " let slip the dogs " and hunt them 
as the farmers hunted their hogs. 

There were times of prevailing sickness among the settlers, and cer- 
tain diseases which were more or less prevalent at all times. Especially 
was this so of those who settled along the streams. Many injured 
their constitutions by overwork, or, rather, by careless work. 

RELIGIOUS. 

The early religious life of the people in a new country, and the 
faithful labors of the early preachers, are always subjects of deep in- 
terest, but seldom of record here. There seems to have been a pre- 
vailing opinion that the record of their labors would be kept in a 
higher book than those we inspect here; so that very much of it has 
to be collected from those whose memories are not now the best. There 
seems to be no doubt that Rev. Enoch Kingsbury was the pioneer 
Presbyterian minister in Ross. He was engaged in preaching in the 
county almost from its first settlement. His general labors through 
the county are frequently spoken of. His particular labors at Ross- 
ville in organizing and ministering to the church there are a matter of 
record. This church was organized at Mr. Gilbert's house in 1850, by 
Mr. Kingsbury, six members uniting to form the church : Joseph 
Hains, Millie Bicknell, Eliza Kingsbury, David and Elizabeth Strain, 
and Mrs. Nancy Gilbert. Mrs. Gilbert is only left of those who there 
pledged their lives to the cause. Mr. Gilbert did not himself join the 
church till some months after. Services were held in Mr. Gilbert's 
house until the Odd-fellows built their hall, when, in common with all 
other denominations, services were held there. Mr. Kingsbury's long 
service terminated in 1868, when Rev. W. N. Steele was employed, 



662 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

and continued to minister to the church until 1874. At that date 
Rev. John H. Dillingham, the present pastor, who had been for 
several years city missionary at St. Louis, was employed, and has con- 
tinued to serve the church till now. They have a pleasant house of 
worship, and the membership now numbers eighty-seven. The first 
Sabbath-school at Rossville was the Union school, held in the hall 
until the churches were built, and Mr. E. Townsend acted as superin" 
tendent. After this each denomination held its own school. 

Like most other localities, the Methodists were largely in the ma- 
jority among the early preachers of the gospel here. The absence of 
all formalities, the plain, unvarnished presentation of the truth, the 
acceptance of all who had gifts to preach, faith to pray, and willingness 
to work, and, more than all, the free salvation they preached, made 
that denomination the great civilizer and christianizer of scattered 
communities, and the barrier against utter want of religious teaching. 
The preaching of the early fathers was maintained with much regu- 
larity in their times, but at irregular places : at first in the cabins of 
the people, and afterward in the school-honses as they were erected. 
John Demorest was one of the first local preachers, and, with Daniel 
Fairchild, went over this country holding their two-days meetings, and 
helping the traveling preachers continually. Samuel Gilbert's house, 
near where Mann's chapel was afterward built, was one of the earliest 
points; after this at Ray's school-house, at Goudy's school-house, at 
Myersville, and the Asbury chapel, near the state line. At first it 
belonged to the Danville circuit, but about 1855 it was cut off and 
made the Myersville circuit. During the former period the Munsells, 
W. T. Moore, Elliott, Crane and Bradshaw were the preachers. Dur- 
ing the latter, Messrs. Muirhead, Horr, Huckstip, Lyon and Edward 
Rutledge preached. During this period the appointments were: North 
Fork, Asbury, East Fork, Myersville, State Line and Fairchilds. The 
books placed at the disposal of the writer do not show any written 
record farther back than 1864. At this time Rev. W. H. H. Moore 
was presiding elder; J. Muirhead, preacher, and the appointments 
were: Ross, East Fork, Mann's, Rossville and Myersville. In 1865 
A. Shinn was presiding elder; Mr. Muirhead, preacher. In 1866 and 
1867 D. P. Lyon was preacher. In 1868 it became Rossville circuit, 
with appointments at Rossville, Eight Mile, Mann's and at a school- 
house; J. A. Kumler, preacher. In 1870, Preston Wood was presiding 
elder, and Kumler, preacher; in 1871, B. F. Hyde, preacher; in 1873, 
T. W. Phillips, presiding elder; J. Miller, preacher; in 1874, J. H. 
Noble, presiding elder. In 1876, J. Shaw was preacher, whose pastorate 
still continues ; in 1878, J. McElfresh, presiding elder. Houses of wor- 



ROSS TOWNSHIP. 663 

ship are now occupied at Rossville, Mann's and at East Fork, one mile 
east of Alvin. The Sabbath-school at Rossville numbers eighty-five, 
and is under the superintendence of Mr. D. C. Deamude. Mr. John 
Johns, of Danville, pretty good authority, says he believes Rev. James 
McKain was the first Methodist preacher who labored in the northern 
half of the county. He preached here when it belonged to the Eugene 
circuit, as early as 1829, though he does not know that he preached in 
what is now Ross. 

About 1848 several families belonging to the United Brethren de- 
nomination settled in the western part of Ross and along Bean creek. 
William Cork, the Albrights, Caleb Bennett, Mr. Putnam, and others 
of that faith, were anxious for preaching there. Rev. Joel Cougill, a 
member of the upper Wabash conference, was appointed there in 1851, 
and organized a class, with Samuel Albright as class-leader. He was 
followed in succession by Messrs. Pencer. Edmonson and Coffman. In 
1873 a church was built there, on section 30, 36 x 50, with belfry. A 
little later a church was formed at Rossville, and these, with Hoopeston, 
became the Rossville circuit. Messrs. Anderson, Jones and Cork have 
preached here. There are now twenty-four members. They have 
purchased the Christian church, and have maintained a Sabbath-school. 
Mr. A. Boardman is class-leader and superintendent of Sabbath-school. 

Below is a list of those who have been elected to township office 
since the organization of the township : 

Date. Vote. Supervisor. Clerk. Assessor. Collector. 

1851. . . 49. . .John Hoobler. .R. Brickwell A. Gilbert James Gilbert. 

1852. . . 47. . .T. McKibben. .R. Brickwell A. Gilbert James Gilbert. 

1853. . . 60. . .T. McKibben. .R. Brickwell James Holmes. . . .T. Armstrong. 

1854. . . 59. . .T. McKibben. .L. M. Thompson. .James Holmes J. Holmes. 

1855. . . 96. . .T. McKibben. .L. M. Thompson. .James Holmes J. Holmes. 

1856. . . 82. . .A. Gilbert. . . .L. M. Thompson. .James Holmes J. Holmes. 

1857. . . 72. . .A. Gilbert L. M. Thompson. .James Holmes J. Holmes. 

1858. . .107. . . A. Gilbert L. M. Thompson. .James Holmes J. Holmes. 

1859. . .191. . .J. R. Stewart. .L. M. Thompson. .J. H. Gilbert J. Holmes. 

1860... 170... J. R. Stewart.. L. M. Thompson.. A. M. Davis L. M. Thompson. 

1861... 207... J. R.Stewart.. A.M. Davis A. M. Davis A. T. Search. 

1862. . .110. . . A. Gilbert S. W. Harris Jacob Helmick . . .Thomas Gundy. 

1863. . .170. . .A. Gilbert L. M. Thompson. .G. A. Collings. . . .Thomas Gundy. 

1864. . .127. . .J. J. Dale Geo. W. Smith. . .G. A. Collings. . . .Geo. A. Collings. 

1865. . . 97. . .A. Gilbert G. W. Smith A. Davison T. McKibben. 

1866. . . 80. . .A. Gilbert Henry Boyd J. W. Dale J. W. Dale. 

1867... 132... A. Gilbert J. D. Bingham. . .J. W. Dale J. W. Dale. 

1868... 139... A. Gilbert Wm. 1. Allen J. W. Dale J. W. Dale. 

1869. . . 87. . .A. Gilbert Wm. I. Allen F. F. Randolph. . .J. W. McTaggart. 

1870. . .138. . . A. Gilbert J. D. Bingham... .J. J. Davison J. W. McTaggart. 

1871... 193... A. Gilbert J. D. Bingham... .A. T. Search J. Fisher. 

1872. . .217. . .A. Gilbert G. W. Smith J. W. McTaggart.. J. T. Search. 



664: HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Date. Vote. Supervisor. Clerk. Assessor. Collector. 

'1873. . .199 . . A. Gilbert G. W. Smith J. W. McTaggart.-J. T. Search. 

1874... 261... A. Gilbert G. W. Smith J. Fisher W. H. Collings. 

1875. . .168. . .A. Gilbert G. W. Smith A. T. Search J. H. Braden. 

1876... 204... A. Gilbert G. W. Smith A. T. Search W. D. Foulke. 

1877. . .210. . .A. Gilbert J. H. Williams. . .John Cook A. T. Search. 

1878. . .360. . . W. Chambers. .H. Shannon J. Fisher J. C. Gundy. 

1879. . .340. . . W. Chambers. .D. C. Deamude. . .J. S. Tursher J. C. Gundy. 

Justices of the peace : James Holmes, J. M. Demorest, L. A. Bard, 

Samuel Albright, J. J. Dale, A. Gilbert, W. I. Allen, W. Salmons, 

W. D. Foulke, John Davison. 

ROSSVILLE. 

Rossville is situated on the dividing line between Ross and Grant 
townships, at the point where the state road from Danville to Chicago 
crosses the old state road running from Attica, Indiana, to Blooming- 
ton. Its corporate limits now include what used to be known as 
Liggett's Grove on the south and Bicknell's Point on the north. The 
Chicago & Eastern Illinois railroad runs along its eastern boundary. 
It is eighteen miles from Danville, and about six from Hoopeston. 
The north fork runs about one mile west of it. The land upon which 
it is built is beautifully rolling, giving natural advantages of landscape 
which have been well used in beautifying the homes of its citizens. 

The first settlement within its limits, as has been before stated, was 
by John Liggett, who gave his name to the locality. His early death, 
however, gave the place to Alvan Gilbert, whose quick eye and accu- 
rate judgment readily saw that in course of time there would be a trad- 
ing point there, and perhaps a place of considerable local importance. 
The building of the La Fayette, Bloomington & Muncie through the 
next northern tier of townships, instead of following, as seemed likely, 
the old traveled road, somewhat changed the anticipations. For a 
while it was called Bicknell's Point, and again it was known far and 
near as " Henpeck," though who gave it this name, and why, is not 
now very apparent. 

After the tide of immigration which was consequent upon the rail- 
road building of 1851 to 1855 had tilled these prairies around the 
groves with hardy settlers, it became evident that some one must 
" keep store at Henpeck," and Samuel Frazier, of Danville, put in a 
stock of goods there in 1856, and continued to sell for four years. The 
depression consequent upon the financial storm of 1857 put back the 
enterprise of the little village some years, and it was not until after the 
close of the rebellion that it may really have been said to grow much. 
Several business ventures were tried, few of which proved successful. 
In 1857 Thomas Armstrong and the North Fork Odd-Fellows Lodge 






ROSS TOWNSHIP. 665 

built the two-story frame store now standing on the southwest corner 
of the principal cross-roads. It was built as a joint enterprise, the 
I.O.O.F. owning the upper story. This room, although belonging to 
a secret and rather exclusive society, has been for many years the only 
"public hall" — an apparent contradiction of terms in Rossville. Here 
all the societies and lodges ever organized at Rossville have found their 
homes, and for years the gospel was preached by those advanced guards 
of religious instruction and higher civilization, the traveling and local 
humble Methodist preachers, and by old Father Kingsbury, the pioneer 
Presbyterian preacher of this county. Some worthy poet ought to tell, 
in measures which the historian cannot hope to reach, how here the 
glad tidings of free salvation reverberated through the room, while 
righteousness was dressed to "square and compass" by Masonic goat- 
riders. Here the stern decrees, popularized in more austere communi- 
ties by calvinistic doctrinaires, and election, preordination and predes- 
tination, were made household words, while rabid grangers held the 
mythical middleman by the nape of the neck over a boiling, seathing, 
sulphurous perdition, ready to let him fall at the drop of the hat. 
Here for years the long-to-be-remembered union Sabbath-school was 
held, which crowded the hall to its fullest capacity, where many a dear 
little one now" singing the glad song of the redeemed in heaven learned 
to lisp the simple truths of religion. It does take off the rough edges 
of those who are opposed to secret societies to recall the good which 
has been done in that plain old hall. The store-room in the first story, 
was occupied as soon as built by Whitcomb & Upp, with a general 
stock of goods, with George S. Cole as clerk. In the spring of 1859 
W. R. Gessie opened a stock of goods here, with Win. Mann as man- 
ager. It was in operation for some time, and the goods were then 
shipped back to Ohio. 

The spring of 1862 brought to Rossville a man who, from that 
time to the present, has been one of the most important factors in its 
business prosperity. Perhaps no man in the community has been more 
thoroughly energetic (with the possible exception of Mr. Alvan Gil- 
bert, who was to all intents the father of Rossville,) in building up the 
young town than W. J. Henderson. He opened up a general stock of 
goods in 1862, and the people soon learned that he had come to stay. 
In 1861 he built the frame store which so long stood on the ground 
upon which now stands his magnificent brick block, since which time 
he has been engaged in trade, in farming, keeping hotel and looking 
after all. the interests of Rossville. In 1859 Gideon Davis built the 
south part of the large hotel and occupied it until he sold it to John 
Smith, who in turn traded it to Dr. M. T. Livingood, who purchased 



666 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

it with a view to enlarge and improve it for the better accommodation 
of the traveling public. In 1873 he built the north part, 24x44, two 
stories high, at an expense of nearly $4,000. It could hardly be called 
a financial success, but the Doctor accomplished his purpose of giving 
to Rossville the best hotel in the county north of Danville. About 
1862 Alvan Gilbert built the store now occupied by J. R. Smith, on 
the corner north of the Odd-Fellows' building, which was occupied by 
Short Brothers, of Danville, with a general stock of goods for two 
years. 

Jonas Sloat opened a blacksmith shop in 1857. The post-office 
known as North Fork was established in 1839 at Gilbert's, near Mann's 
Chapel, and in 1853 it was removed here and Alvan Gilbert appointed 
postmaster. It continued to bear that name until Rossville was laid 
out, when the name was changed. Alvan Gilbert and Joseph Satter- 
thwait laid out and recorded the original town of Rossville about 1857. 
It contained only four blocks at the crossing of the Chicago and Attica 
roads, and the two principal streets were named so from that fact. Gil- 
bert and Satterthwait's first addition was laid out and recorded in 
April, 1862, lying all around the original town. Gilbert's second 
addition lay south and east of this, seventeen blocks. W. T. and W. 
H. Livingood's, of eighteen blocks, is east of the original town. W. J. 
Henderson laid out an addition of nine blocks north of this, and Gil- 
bert a third addition south of the former. It was incorporated under 
the general incorporation act in force July, 1872. As soon as the act 
was in force a petition was signed and the county court ordered an 
election under the act to be held on the 27th of July, to vote for or 
against incorporating, which election resulted in favor of incorporation 
by a vote of. 53 to 15. Under this petition the bounds were fixed as 
all of the east half of section 11 and west half of section 12, town 22, 
range 12, embracing one mile square, the north half of which is in 
Grant and the south half in Ross. On the 24th of August an election 
was held for six trustees, clerk and police magistrate, resulting in the 
election of R. E. Purviance, Isaac B. Warner, W. C. Tuttle, William 
Laidlow, W. F. Lefevre, Ira Green, trustees; B. Z. Duly, clerk; J. 
W. McTaggart, police magistrate. These officers put the new village 
into successful operation and provided a code of ordinances under 
which it has prospered without licensing dram shops. 

The present officers are: J. C. Gundy, president; William Thomas, 
E. M. Gilbert, James Stafford, J. Warner, trustees; R. S.Williams, 
clerk; Mr. Deamude, treasurer; W. S. Demoree, police magistrate; 
D. C. Lee, constable. The clerk receives one dollar per meeting; trus- 
tees, fifty cents when present; treasurer, one per centum. 






ROSS TOWNSHIP. 667 

The progressive growth of the village has been uninterrupted since 
that time, several good buildings have been erected, and many pleasant 
residences. Putnam & Albright built the nice brick block on the north- 
east corner of Attica and Chicago streets in 1873. It is two stories 
high, sixty-five feet deep, and twenty feet wide in front by thirty-three 
in the rear. It is occupied below by a store and bank, and by offices 
above. It is neatly and substantially built. W. J. Henderson built 
the fine brick block which he occupies, in 1875. It is 35x90, two 
stories, having a good public hall above. The store-room is one of the 
finest in the county, thirty-three feet wide in the clear, with counting- 
room and safety-deposit vault, neatly finished off in oiled hard-wood, 
and presents anything but a rural appearance. It cost $7,500. Mr. 
Deamude built the fine brick block which stands next to Henderson's, 
in 1876. It is 24x80, two stories, having office and tin shop above. 
It was built for the hardware trade, which Mr. Deamude has so long 
carried on here, and occupied by him until his retirement from trade 
last year, and is now used by his successor. 

The original brick two-story school-house was built in 1868, 36 x 65, 
and was occupied the next year. In 1874 it was found too small, 
and a two-story addition, 30x40, was built. The grounds are ample 
and neat. The entire cost, furnished, was about $10,000. The school 
is graded, and employs six teachers, and is run eight months. It is 
justly the pride of the district. 

The Methodist church was built in 1869. It is brick, 34x56, and 
cost $5,500. It was dedicated in July, 1870, by Elder Moody, "the 
fighting parson," who acquired his title while serving as chaplain in 
the arm}', by the business-like way with which he upheld the " sword 
of the Lord and of Gideon," by praying all night and fighting all day 
with just the same spirit and faith. 

The Presbyterian church was built about the same time, and is a 
neat frame building 32 x 54, with vestibule at the corner surmounted 
by a belfry. It cost about $3,000, and was dedicated in October, 1870. 
The Christians built a church which is 30 x 46, which they afterward 
sold to the United Brethren. 

The Rossville Mill, a large and in every respect a first-class mill, 
was built by Tuttle & Ross in 1875, and the large elevator of Com- 
stock & Co., 40 x 60, in 1873. 

North Fork Lodge, I.O.O.F., No. 245, was chartered in 1857. 
James Holmes, Lewis A. Burd, J. H. Gilbert, Fulton Armstrong, A. 
Gilbert, J. R. Stewart, J. Dixon, John Rudy, J. Helmick, J. P. Jones 
and L. M. Thompson were charter members, of whom the last is the 
only one left in the lodge. The first officers were: Fulton Armstrong, 



\ 

668 HISTOEY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

N.G. ; Alvan Gilbert, V.G. ; L. M. Thompson, secretary; J. R. 
Stewart, treasurer ; L. A. Burd, chaplain ; J. [Tier, lodge deputy. The 
lodge owns its hall, and has been fairly prosperous, especially since the 
war; during that, the number did not often exceed six or eight. The 
present officers are: W. W. Phillips, KG.; W. W. Lettrill, V.G. ; 
D. W. Foulke, secretary; L. M. Thompson, treasurer. 

The first meeting of Rossville Lodge, A.F. & A.M., working under 
dispensation, was held November 23, 1866. Henry C. Ellis, W.M. ; 
John Ridgway, S.W. ; N. Griffing, J.W. pro tern. ; R. Potter, S.D. 
pro tern. ; J. V. Blackburn, J.D. pro tern. ; E. S. Pope, secretary pro 
tern. • Jacob Haas, tyler pro tern. Rossville Lodge, No. 527, was 
chartered October 1, 1867. The charter members were John Ridgway, 
S. D. Lewis, H. C. Ellis, E. S. Townsend, D. P. Haas, John R. Jerauld, 
H. D. Campbell, A. M. Davis, William York, J. D. Bingham and 
Jacob Haas. The first officers were: John Ridgway, W.M. ; H. C. 
Ellis, S.W. ; James D. Bingham, J.W. The charter was signed by 
Jerome R. Gorin, grand master, and H. G. Reynolds, grand secretary. 
The lodge has at present some forty or forty-five members. The 
present officers are: W. W. Phillips, W.M. ; Harry Shannon, S.W. ; 
J. C. Gundy, J.W. ; J. R. Livingood, secretary; D. C. Deamude, 
treasurer; E. F. Birch, S.D. ; Patrick Pendergrast, J.D. ; Thomas 
Dengler, tyler. 

The Rossville Lodge, No. 650, Knights of Honor, was chartered by 
the Supreme Lodge of the World, May, 1877. The charter members 
were J. J. McElroy, W. D. Foulke, William Yining, G. G. Ruth, J. C. 
Gundy, John Milligan, J. Warner, A. Grant, J. R. Livingood, S. A. 
Watson, W. H. Oakwood. J. C. Gundy was past dictator; W. D. 
Foulke, dictator; J. R. Livingood, vice dictator; J. B.Warner, assist- 
ant dictator; J. Milligan, chaplain ; S. A. Watson, guide; G. G. Ruth, 
reporter; A. Grant, treasurer; Messrs. Gundy, Milligan and Yining, 
trustees. The lodge meets in the Odd-Fellows' hall. Their objects 
are not unlike those of the Odd-Fellows order, having an established 
widows' fund, in addition to other regular beneficiaries. The supreme 
lodge makes regular assessments on subordinate lodges to meet the 
necessities of obligations to the representatives of deceased members. 
During the devastations of the yellow fever last year the lodge was 
taxed heavily, assessments following each other in quick succession, all 
of which were promptly met in the spirit which actuates the order. 
There are now eighteen members. The present officers are : J. C 
Gundy, dictator; J. R. Livingood, vice dictator; J. J. McElroy, assist- 
ant dictator; William Yining, chaplain; A. Grant, guide; W. D. 
Foulke, reporter. 






ROSS TOWNSHIP. 669 

In 1873 the Rossville " Observer,'' a six-column folio, was started 
by Mr. Moore. It was republican first, but in 1876 went with the 
" greenback " or national cause. Mr. Moore discontinued its publica- 
tion after three years, and removed to Champaign, where he became 
connected^ with the "Union." In 1876 Mr. J. Cromer commenced the 
publication of the "Enterprise," a republican paper, and continued it 
for nearly two years. He then went to Homer, where he is still en- 
gaged in publishing. Rossville now has no paper. 

ALVIN. 

When the Havana, Rantoul & Eastern railroad was built it was ap- 
parent that at its crossing with the Chicago & Danville road there 
would a station of some importance grow up. As early as 1872 a sta- 
tion had been established on the Chicago & Danville road a mile south 
of where Alvin now is, called Gilbert, from Hon. Alvan Gilbert, who 
had been so long identified with all the material interests of Ross, and 
who had been, more than any other man, instrumental in saving the 
township aid which had been voted by Ross to this railroad. A post- 
office was established, which, for some reason, did not bear the name 
of the station — probably because of the similarity between its name 
and that of some other post-office in the state. To compromise mat- 
ters, they attempted to name the post-office for Mr. Gilbert's given 
name, which was Alvan ; he always persisting in that spelling, which 
violated the theories and practices of the post-office department, and by 
the officials it was spelled as indicated at the head of this article. 

L. T. Dixson laid out the town of Gilbert on section 8 (21-11), and 
Bruce Peters and D. McKibben started a store. Peters was postmaster. 
Soon after this the store was sold to J. D. Williams, and he was ap- 
pointed postmaster. John Davison afterward bought it. and put in a 
stock of dry-goods. Dr. G. W. Akers started in the drug business in 
August, 1875, and continued there for one year, at which time the 
narrow-gauge road was a fixed fact, and drugs, store, post-office, station 
and all moved a mile farther north, and Gilbert went where Jim Fisk's 
profits in the great " crop-moving " Wall street speculation went. 

In laying out and giving name to the new town the 1 officials showed 
the good judgment of following not only the name but the spelling of 
the post-office which was moved there from Gilbert. 

The building of this road only called for private subscriptions, as 
the law and the constitution under which the people, the townships, 
cities and counties had run headlong into debt in aid of useless railroads 
had been repealed, and the voting "local aid " is among the things of 
the past. The company bought twelve acres of land of Samuel Kuns, 



670 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

on section 5, eight of which they laid out in town lots and recorded as 
the town of Alvin. John Davison and W. D. Foulke laid out additions 
west of this, and Samuel Kuns north of it. J. W. Stansbury laid out 
an addition west of these, making in all about seventy acres now 
within the unincorporated village of Alvin. 

Riley Yatman, a carpenter, built the first house in Alvin, which he 
sold to James Caldwell and went to Monticello. Abram L. Buckles 
built, in December, 1875, the hotel building at the railroad crossing, 
which he now occupies. Dr. G. W. Akers built the drug store he now 
occupies in 1876. George Ford, an old resident of Knox county, came 
here from Rantoul in 1876 and put up the fine, large boarding-house, 
the "Alvan House," which he now occupies. This was built on the 
original town. 

Rev. J. D. Jenkins (Presbyterian) commenced preaching here occa- 
sionally in 1877, and in the spring of 1878 a petition was presented to 
the Bloomington Presbytery to send a commission to organize a church 
here, according to the rules of that church. The prayer was granted, 
and Rev. Mr. Brooks, of Danville, Rev. John H. Dillingham and 
Elder Grant, of Rossville, were appointed to visit Alvin and organize 
a church. April 30 Messrs. Dillingham and Grant organized a church 
of nineteen members, ten of whom came by letter and nine on profes- 
sion of their faith. It was decided by the church to adopt the rotary 
system of eldership, and George L. Caldwell, Charles Peterson and 
Dr. Akers were elected elders; J. O. Andrews, Dr. G. W. Howard 
and J. Q. Tyler were elected deacons. A Sabbath-school was estab- 
lished, of which Mr. Tyler was elected superintendent. Jas. McDonald, 
S. Kuns and Dr. Akers were elected trustees, and the church engaged 
Mr. Jenkins to preach each alternate Sabbath. The trustees at once 
set about building a church edifice, 28x40, and have it so far completed 
that they have been occupying it during the winter. It has been used 
by the district school for the winter, as the district has no school-house. 
It is proposed to complete the church as fast as means are collected for 
that purpose. It will cost, completed, $1,000. There are now twenty- 
five residences in Alvin, and the grain trade amounts to about forty-five 
thousand bushels annually. J. H. Braden is postmaster. 

Rayville is a station on the Havana, Rantoul & Eastern railroad, 
with a post-office and one store, established on the land of R. R. Ray, of 
Rossville. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

Alvan Gilbert, deceased, was born in Ontario county, New York, on 
the 11th of July, 1810, and was a son of Samuel and Mary (Morse) 
Gilbert. About 1825 he emigrated with his parents and two younger 






ROSS TOWNSHIP. 671 

brothers (James H. and Elias M.) to Crawford county, Ohio, and tarry- 
ing there a year, continued their removal westward, settling in Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, two miles south of Danville, at which place no 
settlement was begun till about two years later. His father having 
become early interested in a ferry, — the first ever established at Dan- 
ville, — he was employed some years as ferryman, transporting men and 
teams across the North Fork of the Vermilion. In 1831, on the 18th 
day of April, he was married to Miss Matilda Horr, a daughter of 
Robert Horr. In the spring of 1835 he moved on a farm situated on 
the north side of the North Fork, west of the Chicago State road, and 
opposite Mann's Chapel, which he had purchased from his father-in-law. 
When he had, by successive additions, increased the area to two hun- 
dred and forty acres, he sold it to his father and younger brother, James 
H., and bought another from his uncle, Solomon Gilbert, which in- 
cluded the present northern limits of Rossville. After occupying this 
place three years he again sold, and bought the Daniel Liggett home- 
stead, embracing the present southern limits of Rossville, on which he 
afterward lived and died. Subsequently he dealt largely in real estate 
and personal property. He owned at the time of his death nearly one 
thousand acres, besides some valuable lots in Danville and Chicago, and 
a tract of land in Iowa. His business transactions were distinguished 
by the utmost fairness and the strictest honesty. His first wife died on 
the 13th of March, 1849, leaving two children : Sarah E., wife of Geo. 
C. Dickson, and Nancy J., wife of Frederick Grooms, both residents 
of Vermilion county. His second wife, sister to the deceased, to whom 
he was married on the 14th of November, 1849, was formerly Miss 
Nancy Horr, and relict of Samuel Elzy. She was born Sunday, on 
the 20th of January, 1815. Mr. Gilbert was one of the first volunteers 
in the Sac war, and was enrolled under Capt. Dan W. Beckwith. 
After his return, a young man of resolution was required to convey dis- 
patches to Gen. Atkinson, at Ottawa. The distance was two hundred 
miles and the country infested with hostile Indians, but he volunteered 
to perform the mission at every hazard ; and taking another young man 
of daring qualities in his company, he successfully executed his trust, 
being but once chased by the red foe. Mr. Gilbert was prominently 
before the public man} T years, and his name was a household world. 
He was honored beyond most men of local reputation, and in spirited 
contrast to the aspiring demagogues who throng the arena; his stead- 
fast integrity, uniform goodness and strength of character, his even, 
unvarying merit, preceded and invited every honor. He was one of 
the commissioners appointed by the legislature to divide Vermilion 
county into townships, on the adoption by the county of that system of 



672 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

organization. He was one of the three commissioners to divide the 
swamp lands between this county and Ford, when the territory of the 
latter was detached from Vermilion, — himself and Mr. Lamb acting on 
behalf of the old county, and Judge Patton of the new. Their labors 
covered a period of three months, and gave entire satisfaction to both 
sections. In 1876 he was elected to the state general assembly. He 
was a member of one of the visiting committees, and while in perform- 
ance of his duty inspecting some public work, the chilly, humid atmos- 
phere within the freshly erected walls, caused him to contract a violent 
cold which brought on an excruciating attack of rheumatism, pros- 
trating him several weeks, and from the effects of which he never com- 
pletely recovered. He was a member of the board of supervisors 
eighteen years, and chairman of that honorable body most of the time 
during his faithful service. He was intimately associated with the ma- 
terial growth and prosperity of the county. When a young man he 
hauled material to build the old court-house, and as chairman of the 
board and of the building committee, assisted in the erection of the new. 
His quiet but useful life terminated on the 18th of October, 1878. The 
following honorable tribute to his character is taken from the " Hoopes- 
ton Chronicle," of October 24th : "Alvan Gilbert was a man who 
loved his fellow-men, and in turn was held in close affection by all 
who knew his noble qualities. He was the self-constituted guardian of 
the poor and oppressed in his vicinity. They felt that no harm could 
befall them, no grinding landlord could turn them into the street, so 
long as their benefactor lived. In every public enterprise, in every 
private benefaction, in all enterprises redounding to the general good, 
Mr. Gilbert was ever in the van, and his hand was ever willing to be- 
stow an equable portion of his substance, not for ostentatious display, 
but purely and simply out of his native generosity. Prominent in 
local matters, he was equally conspicuous in the developments of the 
county where he passed more than half a century. Elevated to posi- 
tions of honor and trust, he performed his duty faithfully and well." 
The " Danville News " of the 25th, contained the following : "At the 
outbreak of the rebellion his whole soul was enlisted in the cause of 
maintaining the Union. His activity as a private citizen, and in his 
public capacity on the board of supervisors, was untiring in keeping 
the quota of Vermilion county more than full in the Meld, while his 
generosity, aid and sympathy, through all the war, was liberally — nay, 
even bountifully — bestowed upon the wife, children and parents of 
the absent soldier. Of the thousands of men, the patriotism and benev- 
olence of Alvan Gilbert shone through, conspicuously, all the dark 
hours of that terrible struggle. The soldiers and their families, of Ver- 




**L 



f*&a***s &oc6&^vJ 



DECD. 

DANVILLE . 




ROSS TOWNSHIP. C73 

milion county, can never forget this noble trait of his character. He 
was a public spirited man in every sense of the term. Anything that 
would promote the general good, whether of religion, education, public- 
roads and railroads, always found him an early and persistent friend." 
He was a consistent and liberal member of "the Presbyterian church, 
and aided largely by his influence and means to build up the denomi- 
nation. Politically, he was firm in his principles, but moderate in 
the expression of his views, and charitable toward opponents; first a 
whig and afterward a republican. Mr. Gilbert's funeral was the largest 
ever had in Vermilion county, — over a thousand people turning out to 
testify how deeply the public heart was moved, and how siucerelv his 
loss was deplored. The Rev. J. H. Dillingham, of the Presbyterian 
church, conducted the service, assisted by the Rev. James Shaw of the 
Methodist denomination. There were one hundred and seventy-five 
carriages and wagons in the procession, which was just one mile and a 
half long. He was buried in the cemetery at Mann's chapel, three 
miles south of Rossville, with the honors of Odd-Fellowship. The 
Gilbert family are descendants of English stock, and their ancestors 
were early settlers of Massachusetts colony. Mr. Gilbert's grandfather 
was a native of that commonwealth, and a soldier in the war of the rev- 
olution. His uncle, Solomon, served in the war of 1812, and in 1831 
migrated to this county and spent the remainder of his life. His 
grandfather, Zebediah Morse, was also a revolutionary soldier, and a 
progenitor of the celebrated Morse family, including the inventor of 
the electric telegraph — Prof. S. F. B. Morse. This family traces its 
lineage to pilgrims of the Mayflower. Mrs. Gilbert's ancestors, the 
Horrs, formed a part of the first hardy band of pilgrims. Her father, 
grandfather and great-grandfather, each bore the christian name of 
Robert, and her father and grandfather were each born in the same 
house in the town of Plymouth and near the Plymouth Rock. Her 
grandfather bore arms for his country in the revolution, and her father 
in the war of 1812. The latter, Robert Horr, was born on Monday, 
January 19, 1781, as has been already stated, in Plymouth, Massachu- 
setts. In 1812 he moved to Niagara Falls. The American troops, in 
winter quarters at that place, were destitute of clothing, and Mr. Horr 
conceived the idea of making a supply, not hesitating to ply the needle 
with his own hands, though he had never done so before. Taking in 
company with him a seamster, they went to work, and with the help 
of a force of sewing girls, during the winter, furnished the soldiers a 
complete outfit. At the close of the war he came west and settled 
where Columbus, Ohio, is situated, and bought a tract of land on 
which the state penitentiary has since been built. In 1827 he sold his 
43 



674 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

home and removed to Illinois, stopping the following winter with Gur- 
don S. Hubbard, at Bunkum, a trading post on the Iroquois River. 
Hubbard had opened a small store in Danville, at this time, and a few 
families had knotted together in a settlement. Next spring Mr. Horr, 
accompanied by Hubbard, came and looked out a place on the North 
Fork of the Vermilion, a little distance west of the present site of 
Mann's chapel. Here he died on the 10th of August, 1834, aged fifty- 
three years, ten months. The death of his wife, Lavina (Hamm) Horr, 
who was born Tuesday, August 1, 1782, followed close upon his own, 
occurring on the 26th of October, 1834. 

James H. Gilbert, deceased, was born in Rushville, New York, on 
the 15th of August, 1817. When a small boy, his parents, Samuel and 
Mary (Morse) Gilbert, moved to Danville, Illinois. After a few years' 
residence there the family moved up on the North Fork, a short dis- 
tance west of where Mann's Chapel now stands. He was married on 
the 14th of October, 1838, to Elizabeth W. McIIenry, who died on the 
1st of May, 3 844. He was married again, on the 10th of July, 1845, 
to Sarah Mather, who was born in Franklin county, Ohio, on the 11th 
of March, 1822. Mrs. Mary Mather, Mrs. Gilbert's mother, spent the 
latter part of her life, a considerable period, with her daughter. She 
was a sister to James Davison, Mrs. Joseph Kerr, and Mrs. Joseph 
Gundy, all pioneers of Vermilion county. Mr. Gilbert's family con- 
sisted of nine children, as follows: Samuel, born on the 15th of 
August, 1839; died on the 26th of August, 1839. Twin brother (un- 
named), born on the 29th of November, 1840; died on the 24th of 
January, 1841. William Henry, born on the 29th of November, 1840; 
died the same day. Alvan Ambrose, born on the 26th of July, 1842; 
died on the 9th of August. 1842. Lydia A., born on the 9th of August, 
1846; Elias M., born on the 13th of May, 1848; Mary Elizabeth, born 
on the 27th of August, 1850 ; died on the 13th of January, 1866. Jane, 
born on the 1st of July, 1852; Samuel H., born on the 12th of April, 
1854. Mr. Gilbert died on the 15th of January, 1861. His influence 
w 7 as always felt for good, and he was highly esteemed by all who knew 
him. He w T as charged by his fellow-citizens with the duties of town- 
ship offices at different times. He was descended from the Puritans, 
his ancestors having been among those who embarked in the May- 
flower; and was remotely related to Prof. Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor 
of the magnetic telegraph. 

John H. Johnson, Bismark, farmer, was born in Jackson county, 
Ohio, on the 3d of January, 1821, and is a son of Richard and Milbrey 
(Graves) Johnson. He was reared behind the counter of a dry-goods 
store. At the age of twenty-six he engaged in trafficking and farming. 



ROSS TOWNSHIP. 675 

His operations have always been confined to the Wabash Valley. In 
1826 his parents removed and settled at Fort Harrison, Vigo county, 
Indiana, but, remaining there only a short time, went to Lafayette, 
where his father died on the 30th of August, 1830. Mr. Johnson has 
held various township offices; was alderman of the fourth ward in 
Danville four years. In 1866 he was elected secretary of the Wabash 
General Association of Detective Companies, which position he has 
held to the present time. He was an old-line whig, sealing his fealty 
to that party by voting for Henry Clay in 1844. He has been an odd- 
fellow since 1846. His family now consists of six living children : Ora 
C, Mary H., Annie, Richard, Edward II., and Barton. He owns three 
hundred and twenty acres of land, worth $9,500. His political views 
are republican. 

Louis M. Thompson, Rossville, farmer, was born on the 31st of 
May, 1829, in Dearborn county, Indiana, and is the son of John and 
Esther (Payne) Thompson. He came with his parents to Vermilion 
county, Illinois, in the fall of 1831, and has lived here since that time. 
He was married on the 17th of August, 1848, to Judith A. Burroughs, 
and the same year moved and settled in Ross township, on the farm he 
still owns, which lies southeast of Rossville, and corners with that cor- 
poration. Since 1873 his family has lived in the village. Mr. Thomp- 
son is a stirring man ; a community with a few such never stagnates. 
He has farmed, bought, raised and sold stock; been town clerk of Ross 
seven years, collector twice, road commissioner, taught school one term. 
He is the father of six living children: Viola, Mary, John, Etta, Lena, 
Hattie. He owns seven hundred and eighty acres of land, worth 
$23,000. In politics he is a republican. 

William Songer, Rossville, farmer, was born in Danville township, 
Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 26th of June, 1832. He is the son 
of Samuel and Sarah (Parker) Songer. His father was a native of 
Virginia and his mother of Maryland. He was married on the 19th of 
May, 1857, to Miss Sarah A. Daugherty, who was born on the 30th of 
October, 1839. In 1867 he moved on the farm which he now owns, 
three miles southeast of Rossville, which lies in sections 17 and 18, 
town 22, range 11. He is at present commissioner of highways for 
Ross township. He carries on a considerable stock business in con- 
junction with tanning. He is the father of four living children : Charles 
W., born on the 4th of August, 1858 ; Mary Adeline, born on the 1st 
of March, 1860; Samuel W., born on the 28th of July, 1862; and 
Gilbert W., born on the 15th of May, 1868. He owns two hundred 
and sixteen acres of land, worth $6,500. He is a greenback republi- 
can in politics. 



676 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Abraham Mann, Rossville, farmer, was born at Leighton Buzzard, 
Bedfordshire, England, on the 17th of February, 1830. He is the son 
of Abraham Mann. About 1835 his father immigrated to America, 
and after stopping a few months in New York, came to Vermilion 
county and purchased a large tract of land, embracing several thousand 
acres, in Ross township, making his residence in Danville for a while 
at first. Soon afterward Mrs. Mann died, and in about 1840, the fam- 
ily returned to England and remained until about 1846, the children 
being educated in the meantime. From 1846 to 1851, Mr. Mann, 
together with his sons, Abraham and John, made several trips between 
the two countries, but finally, in the latter year, settled down and 
resided permanently in America. The family had valuable landed 
interests in England, which they retained until a recent date. The 
head of the family, Abraham Matin, Sr., died on the 17th of October, 
1865. He was a large-hearted, benevolent man. Instances of his 
generosity, and of his concern for the welfare of his neighbors are men- 
tioned by early settlers. The subject of this sketch had a sister older, 
and a brother and a sister younger, than himself. His brother John 
took great delight in the chase, and always kept mettled horses and a 
pack of English hounds. His fine social qualities, kind heart and 
obliging nature made him greatly beloved ; and while he lived he was 
a leading man in the community and enjoyed a wide and honorable 
reputation. His death occurred on the 19th of October, 1873. Mr. 
Mann is one of the largest farmers and stock-raisers in eastern Illinois. 
His estate comprises upward of four thousand acres of rich farming 
land, with an abundance of good timber. His mansion, whose erection 
was begun in August, 1874, and which was finished the next summer, 
and occupied in November following, is the finest edifice of its kind in 
Yermilion county. It contains twenty spacious rooms, including dairy 
and laundry, and exclusive of the large halls, closets and garret. It 
was built at a cost of about $30,000. The adjoining grounds are laid 
out with taste and planted with flowers and evergreens. A greenhouse 
is attached to the premises. Mr. Mann is an extensive stock-raiser, 
and a lover of fine horses, of which he keeps a considerable number, 
mostly English draft. He is fond of sport and recreation, and often 
makes considerable trips, generally to the west, with a party of his 
chosen fellows, to hunt, travel and otherwise seek adventure and 
amusement. He is liberal to all worthy objects of charity, and emi- 
nently public-spirited. His donations to schools and churches and the 
various public institutions reach a large sum. Honest worth and enter- 
prise find him a ready patron : and the poor have learned that his kind- 
ness is as abundant as the sunshine. His genial nature makes him the 



ROSS TOWNSHIP. 677 

soul of every private gathering. He is plain and simple in his habits 
and manners. His modesty is a conspicuous trait that is equaled only 
by his goodness of heart, and the universal esteem which he enjoys by 
virtue of his many excellences of character. He is a republican in 
politics, and has been an active member of the Methodist church thirty 
years. The Mann family have always been noted for their hospitality, 
and their careful avoidance of notoriety. 

John Davison, Rossville, collecting agent, was born in Ross town- 
ship, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 12th of February, 1837, and 
is the son of Robert and Melinda (Chenowerth) Davison. He was 
brought up to farm labor. In the fall of 1856 and the next winter he 
attended school at Perrysvilje, Indiana, and, the following summer, 
clerked at Myersville for Andy Gundy. He spent the next winter at 
Perrysville, and the succeeding spring at Danville, in school again. 
On the 26th of September, 1858, he was married to Maria, daughter of 
Joseph Gundy. He enlisted in Co. F, 4th 111. Cav., in July, 1861, and 
was in the battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson ; was discharged 
in August, 1862. Mr. Davison returned to farming. From 1873 to 
1876 he was employed in mercantile pursuits. He was elected justice 
of the peace in 1877, and since then has been in the collecting busi- 
ness. He has three living children : Willie L., Charley F., Ferdinand. 
Mr. Davison is a republican. 

Anthony T. Search, Alvin, farmer, was born in Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, on the 16th of August, 1814. He is a son of Christopher 
and Ann (Miles) Search. He learned the tailor's trade, and followed 
it a number of years. In April, 1837, he started for Illinois, stopping 
and working at his trade at different places on the route, and arrived 
at Danville in August. He was married on the 18th of February, 
1839, to Miss Eliza McKibben. In 1840 he went to Cape Girardeau 
county, Missouri, and lived there until 1850, when he crossed the 
plains to California. He remained there mining, doing moderately 
well, till 1856, at which time he returned to the states by steamship, 
stopping a few months in New York and Philadelphia, and reaching 
Danville, Illinois, in February, 1857. He then devoted himself to 
farming until the breaking out of the war. In August, 1861, he re- 
cruited Co. F, 4th 111. Cav., Col. Lyle Dickey. He was commissioned 
captain on the 27th, and mustered into the United States service the 
next month. He was engaged in the battles of Forts Henry and 
Donelson, and Shiloh and Coffeeville, and, as usual with cavalry, in 
numberless skirmishes. When the term of service of his regiment 
expired, one battalion veteraned, and he was commissioned major. 
This was in September, 1864. Subsequently, he participated in an 



678 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

engagement at Egypt, Mississippi, under Gen. Grierson, and later, at 
the battle of Franklin, Tennessee. His service extended into the 
states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louis- 
iana and Texas. He was president one year of the Department Court- 
martial, which held its sittings sometimes at Houston and at others at 
Galveston, Texas. He was twice breveted in the field for meritorious 
service: first, lieutenant-colonel, and next, colonel. His son Henry 
volunteered in the fall of 1863, and was mustered into his company. 
He was accidentally thrown from his horse while doing duty in Hous- 
ton, and received mortal injuries. This sad event took place on the 
31st of October, 1865, and he lingered till the 2d of November, when 
he expired. His remains were brought home and interred at Danville. 
Another son, Griffith, enlisted in Capt. Samuel Frazier's company, 12th 
111., Col. McArthur, for three months. He reenlisted in his father's 
company in August, 1861, and served three years. Major Search was 
mustered out of the service in April, 1866. He was elected sheriff of 
Vermilion county in 1868, and filled that office two years. He has 
been assessor and collector of Ross township, each three terms. He 
is the father of six children: Ann (relict of William Pierce), Henry, 
Griffith, Joeddy, William and Sarah (wife of Henry Marshall), who 
died on the 12th of August, 1876. He owns one hundred and twenty 
acres, worth $3,600. He is a stalwart republican in politics. 

Joseph C. Gundy, Rossville, merchant, was born in Vermilion 
county, Illinois, on the 15th of February, 1838, and is the son of Jo- 
seph and Sally (Davison) Gundy. He was enrolled on the 1st of June, 
1861, in Co. B, 25th 111. Vol., and was engaged in the following 
battles: Pea Ridge, Perry ville, Stone River, Chickaniauga, Mission 
Ridge and Kenesaw Mountain. His service on the Atlanta campaign 
terminated on the 26th of August, when his regiment withdrew pre- 
paratory to returning home, as their period of enlistment had about 
expired. He was commissioned second-lieutenant of his company on 
the 17th of February, 1862, and first-lieutenant on the 14th of April, 
1863. He was brigade commissary from the time Buell advanced 
from Louisville until after the battle of Perryville, and post commis- 
sary at Cleaveland, East Tennessee, in the winter of 1863-4. He has 
been collector of Ross township, and is now president of the board of 
trustees of Rossville. Mr. Gundy was married on the 29th of Novem- 
ber, 1865, to Miss Anna Tuttle. They are the parents of two living 
children : Flora and Maud M. His political opinions are republican. 

Daniel C. Deamude, Rossville, merchant, was born in Vermilion 
county, Illinois, on the 26th of July, 1839, and is the son of Samuel 
and Eleanor (Hillery) Deamude. He was reared a farmer. Mr. Dea- 



ROSS TOWNSHIP. H79 

made enrolled in Co. D, 35th 111. Vol., on the 3d of July, 1861, and 
mustered into the United States service on the 28th of August follow- 
ing. These are the chief engagements in which he participated: Pea 
Ridge, Corinth, Mumfordsville, Perryville, Stone River, Chiekamauga, 
Mission Ridge, Charleston, Tenn., Rocky Face Ridge, Buzzard Roost. 
Resaca and Burnt Hickory. At Chiekamauga he was slightly wounded ; 
received nine bullets through his clothing, two of them taking hair 
from his head ; at Mission Ridge he received a flesh wound in 
his right arm; at Burnt Hickory on the 26th of May, 1864, he was 
severely wounded in the left side. He was mustered out with his 
regiment at Springfield, Illinois, on the 27th of September, 1864. On 
the 1st of January following he recruited Co. K, 150th 111. Vol., and 
was mustered in as first-lieutenant on the 14th of February ; he was 
mustered out early in 1866. Mr. Deatnude married, on the 29th of 
November, 1866, to Harriet a Mosher. The past ten years he has 
been in the hardware trade, in Rossville. He is a republican and a 
Methodist, 

Thomas J. Allison, Alvin, farmer, was born on the 30th of Septem- 
ber, 1840, in Newell township, Vermilion county, Illinois, and is the 
son of Otho and Mary (Leonard) Allison. He enlisted on the 15th of 
August, 1861, in Co. K, of which he was fifth-sergeant, 37th 111. Vol.. 
Col. J. C. Black. He participated in the battles of Pea Ridge, Prairie 
Grove, Van Buren, Ark. ; Sugar Creek, Neosho, Newtonia, Cape 
Girardeau and Chalk Bluffs, Mo., and the siege of Vicksburg. He 
was taken prisoner in Louisiana on the 29th of September, 1863, and 
held in confinement until the 22d of July, 1864. He was married on 
the 26th of March, 1867, to Samantha Cunningham. They have two 
living children : Bertha and Charley. He is a republican in politics. 

John Lytle, Rossville, farmer, was born in Clinton county, Ohio, 
on the 10th of August, 1825. He is the son of John and Bathsheba 
(Babb) Lytle. When four years old his parents removed to Fountain 
county, Indiana, and in 1843 he came to Vermilion county, Illinois, 
and lived on the Covington road three miles east of Danville, two 
years, then on the North Fork one season, and the rest of the time, till 
1856, on the East Fork of the Vermilion, when he went west and 
remained over winter. He returned the next spring and settled where 
he now lives, one mile east of Rossville. He has one brother, Isaac. 
and six sisters: Mary, Anna, Hannah, Eliza, Sarah and Martha. His 
father died on the 7th of August, 1836, and his mother on the 27th of 
March, 1854. He owns one hundred and twenty acres, worth $3,500. 
He is a republican in politics. 

Cornelius W. Miller, Thomas, Warren county, Indiana, farmer, was 



680 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 23d of September, 1843. 
He is a son of Andrew J. and Catharine (Mover) Miller. He was 
married on the 11th of February, 1877, to Mary Lloyd, who was born 
on the 11th of April, 1854. He owns one hundred and ninety-two 
acres of land, which lies in sections 19, town 22, range 10, and 24, 
town 22, range 11. He is the father of two children : James U., born 
on the 4th of February, 1878, and Ida May, born on the 7th of April, 
1879. In politics he is a democrat. 

George W. Miller, Rossville, farmer, was born on the 26th of No- 
vember, 1841, in Vermilion county, Indiana. When two years old his 
parents, Andrew J. and Catharine (Moyer) Miller, removed to the 
present limits of Ross township, Vermilion county, Illinois, where he 
has since lived. His farm of two hundred and eighty-five acres, valued 
at $8,500, lies principally in sections 8, 9 and 16, town 22, range 11. 
He was married on the 15th of February, 1872, to Viana C. Haas, 
who was born on the 27th of November, 1852. They have four chil- 
dren: Louisa C, born on the 8th of March, 1873; Andrew D., born 
on the 12th of October, 1874; Samuel J., born on the 13th of October, 
1876 ; Mary E., born on the 27th of December, 1878. Mr. Miller is a 
greenback democrat, strongly tinctured with independence of all parties. 

Andrew Miller, deceased, was born in Kentucky on the 31st of De- 
cember, 1812. He was the son of Cornelius and Alice (Bairden) 
Miller. He came with his parents to Vermilion county, Indiana, about 
1831. In 1843 he permanently settled in Vermilion county, Illinois, 
where he died. In 1845 he began improvement on the place where 
his widow now resides. He was successful in his business, and acquired 
considerable property. At one time he owned twelve hundred acres 
of land. He sold some portions of this, and liberally endowed his 
heirs with the remainder. He was a democrat. 

Isaac Christman, Rossville, farmer, was born in Preble county, Ohio, 
on the 27th of January, 1823. He is the son of Peter and Sarah 
(Stout) Christman. In 1828 his parents removed to Tippecanoe 
county, Indiana, and in 1830 to Warren county, where his father died 
on the 3d of November, 1859. He was married on the 26th of No- 
vember, 1843, to Miss Elizabeth Gundy, daughter of Joseph Gundy, 
soon afterward he moved into Vermilion county, Illinois, where he now 
resides, and lived five or six j^ears; but, as the country was sickly, he 
returned to his large estate in Indiana, where he remained until 1878, 
when he came again to Vermilion county, and resumed the improve- 
ment of the tract of eleven hundred and twenty acres which he has 
owned many years. Mr. Christman has always been an extensive 
farmer and heavy stock-raiser. He has been a member of Williamsport 



ROSS TOWNSHIP. 681 

Lodge, No. 38, A.F. & A.M., twenty years. He inclines to independ- 
ence in politics. 

Milton Lee, Rossville, merchant, was born in Springfield, Clark 
county, Ohio, on the 3d of March, 1837, and is the son of James and 
Mary (Williams) Lee. In 1844 he accompanied his parents on their 
removal toYance township, Vermilion county, Illinois, where he lived 
until 1866, when he removed to Rossville, where he has been employed 
the past six years in merchandising. He enrolled in Captain Frazier's 
Co. (C), 12th 111. Vol. Inf., in April, 1861, being the twelfth man 
enlisted in Vermilion county. He was mustered out at Cairo about 
the 1st of August, by reason of the expiration of enlistment, which 
was for three months. In the same month he reenlisted in Co. I, 
35th 111. Vols. The second lieutenant of his company having died, 
Mr. Lee was elected, at Sedalia, Missouri, by the enlisted men, to 
that vacancy, being promoted from third sergeant. He served in the 
siege of Corinth, and on Buell's retreat to Louisville, subsequently 
taking part in the battle of Perryville, shortly after which he was 
promoted to first lieutenant. In November, 1862, a pioneer corps, 
consisting of two enlisted men from each company and one lieutenant 
from each regiment, was organized ; and the several detachments from 
the 35th 111., 81st Ind., 4th Iowa and the 25th 111. constituting his 
brigade, were formed into Co. K, 2d Battalion, Pioneer Brigade, com- 
manded by Captain, afterward Brevet Brig.-Gen. Morton, and Lieut. 
Lee was given the command of this company, which he led in the 
battle of Stone River. He was sent back from Elk River to Nashville 
to fit out the pontoon train, and was employed in the organization of 
the pontooniers, whom, with the train, he conducted across the Cum- 
berland Mountains. He held a position at the mouth of Battle Creek 
throughout the intensive and critical period of affairs at Chickamauga. 
This pioneer corps was disbanded in June, 1864, and the men and 
officers returned to their regiments. Lieut. Lee rejoined the 35th in 
front of Kenesaw Mountain, where he fought on the 27th of June. 
He was mustered out with the regiment at Springfield, Illinois, on the 
27th of September, 1864. He was married on the 7th of October, 
1868, to Catharine Gundy. They have two children living: Herbert 
and Catharine. Mr. Lee is a republican in politics. 

Asa W. White, Alvin, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Mus- 
kingum county, Ohio, on the 12th of June, 1819, and is a son of John 
and Mary (Davis) White. When he was twelve years old his parents 
removed to Licking county, where he lived till 1841, when he settled 
in Ross county. In 1844 he came to Illinois and located in Vermilion 
county, near the present site of State Line City. He has lived in this 



682 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

county since. Mr. White was poor for many years after he came, and 
lived by renting farms. At length, in 1860, he bought the first farm 
he ever owned in Illinois. By unremitting industry and careful man- 
agement he has increased it to three hundred and twenty acres, worth 
$6,500. He has ten children living: John W., born on the 1st of 
March, 1846; James E. ; Tichsh; Delia A., born on the 6th of Sep- 
tember, 1847; Martha, born on the 2d of June, 1854; Noah; George 
H. ; Elizabeth; Sarah E., born on the 9th of April, 1863; Mary A., 
born on the 19th of February, 1865. Mr. White is a citizen of sterling 
integrity, and is a republican in politics. 

William T. Fairchild, Rossville, farmer, was born in Blount town- 
ship, Vermilion county, on the 9th of November, 1847, and is the son 
of Zenas and Mary Ann (Hastings) Fairchild. He was reared as a 
farmer, and has always lived in the county in which he was born. He 
was married on the 12th of February, 1874, to Dialemma Ann Moss, 
who was born on the 5th of October, 1850, and died on the 16th of 
December, 1875. He was married again, on the 4th of October, 1877, 
to Eleanor Busenbark, who was born on the 19th of May, 1855. Mr. 
Fairchild is the father of two children, one of whom is living: Lily 
May, who was born on the 10th of November, 1878. The name of 
the deceased is Charles Wesley, who was born on the 11th of June, 
1875, and died on the 25th of September, 1875. Mr. Fairchild is a 
republican, and he belongs to the United Brethren church. 

Elias Morse Gilbert, Rossville, liveryman, was born in Ross town- 
ship on the 13th of May, 1848, and is the son of James Harvey and 
Sarah (Mather) Gilbert. When obtaining his education he spent one 
year at Union Christian College, Merom, Indiana. In 1873 he started 
in the livery business in Rossville, and now has a tine large establish- 
ment, well furnished with good horses and carriages, and everything in 
the line necessary for the dispatch of business or the promotion of 
pleasure. He was married on the 16th of June, 1875, to Belle Wier, 
of Ontario, Canada, who was born on the 20th of December, 1852. 
They are the parents of two sons: Harvey, born on the 12th of De- 
cember, 1876, and Robert A., born on the 29th of September, 1878. 
He is a republican in politics. 

Henry W. Harris, Rossville, farmer, was born in Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, on the 6th of July, 1827. He is a son of Jesse and 
Lydia Ann (Warner) Harris. In 1841 his parents removed to Ross 
county, Ohio, and lived there till 1848, when he settled in Ross town- 
ship, Vermilion county, Illinois, near the present site of Mann's 
Chapel, and removed from thence in 1853 to his present abode on the 
northeast quarter of section 15, town 22, range 11. He was married on 






ROSS TOWNSHIP. 683 

the 24th of November, 1853, to Nancy Clark, who died on the 24th 
May, 1864. He was married again, on the 22d of June, 1865, to Mary 
E. Monev. He has been school treasurer of town 22, ran»e 11, since 
1875. He is the father of ten living children: Prescott, Mary Emma, 
Isabella, Stanton, Olive, Salome, Lydia, Josephine, John and Minnie. 
He owns one hundred and sixty acres of land, worth $4,500. He is a 
republican in politics. 

Josiah Bivans, Alvin, tanner, was born in Franklin county, Ohio, 
on the 23d of December, 1832. He is a son of Thomas and Anna 
(Gundy) Bivans. In the fall of 1849 he came to Illinois, and settled 
on the east fork of the Vermilion, in the present limits of Ross town- 
ship. He was married on the 23d of December, 1852, to Rebecca 
Gouty, who was born on the 29th of January, 1834. He was a hearty 
supporter of the war for the preservation of the Union, and subscribed 
liberally to a fund for the hiring of substitutes. He has been highway 
commissioner twelve or fourteen years, and constable of Ross one 
term. He is the father of seven children : Horatio T.. born on the 
26th of August, 1853; Francis M., March 15, 1856; John M., June 
12, 1858; Martha D., March 26, 1862; Robert T., June 10, 1867; 
died September 21, 1869; William J., December 18. 1869; Henry C, 
January 28, 1874. In politics he is a republican, and his religious 
views are Methodist. 

Charles A. Allen, Rossville, attorney, was born in Danville, Illi- 
nois, on the 26th of July, 1851, and is the son of William I. and Emily 
(Newell) Allen. His mother was a daughter of 'Squire James Newell, 
for whom Newell township was named. Mr. Allen entered the law 
school of the Michigan University in September, 1872, and graduated 
on the 25th of March, 1874. tie immediately located in Rossville 
where he now resides, and is practicing his profession with gratifying 
success. He is enterprising and public-spirited, and verifies the old 
adage that " blood will tell." He married, on the 4th of April, 1878, 
to Miss Mary Thompson. In politics he is a republican, and his re- 
ligious views are Methodist. 

Amaziah Davis, deceased, was born in what was then Morgan 
count}', Virginia, on the 2d of August, 1807. He was a son of Jona- 
than and Margaret (Hill) Davis. He removed with his parents to 
Muskingum county, Ohio, in 1812, where he grew up and spent his 
life farming till 1851, when he moved to Grant township, Vermilion 
county, Illinois, and settled on a farm near Rossville. He was married 
on [the 24th of April, 1832, to Emily Berry. He held the office of 
road cotnmissioner several years; was a republican in politics, liberal 
in his views, and universally respected as a man and citizen. He was 



684 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

a prominent and influential member of the United Brethren church 
over thirty years. He owned one hundred and sixty acres of choice 
farming land. His death occurred on the 10th day of May, 1879. 
Two of his sons enlisted at the same time in Co. A, 125th 111. Vol., 
leaving home on the 1st of February, 1864. Their service was of brief 
duration, both dying of measles, — the elder, Charles, at Nashville, on 
the 1st of March following, and Elias at Chattanooga, on the 5th. Mrs. 
Davis was born on the 2d of April, 1813, in Muskingum county, Ohio. 
Her parents were James and Hannah (Williams) Berry. 

William D. Foulke, Rossville, retired farmer, was born in Bucks 
count}', Pennsylvania, on the 5th of June, 1828, and is a son of Evard 
and Fanny (Watson) Foulke. From the time he was seventeen years 
old until he became of age he clerked in a dry-goods house in Philadel- 
phia. In 1852 he came to Vermilion county, Illinois, and went into 
the stock business, buying up cattle and sheep and grazing them. He 
drove the first lot of cows and sheep ever taken from this section 
to Lancaster county, Pennsylvania ; before this it was supposed to be 
impossible to drive sheep so far, but this experiment was entirely suc- 
cessful. He had at the same time an interest in a mercantile house in 
South Charleston, Clark county, Ohio. This business was swamped in 
1855 by the potent influence of wild-cat money. Again in 1858 he 
came to Illinois and settled on a farm near Rossville, which he still 
owns. He has conducted farming operations since that time, and in ad- 
dition done a good deal of surveying. He surve} r ed most of the north 
part of the county, and, besides, laid out Hoopeston, Rossville and 
Alvan. He has been justice of the peace for Grant and Ross town- 
ships, collector, and at present commissioner of highways for the latter. 
He married on the 5th of April, 1854, to Alice Thomas. They have 
four living children: Susan J., Ellen, Jane and Lulu. Mr. Foulke has 
been a member of the Society of Friends the past twenty-nine years. 
He is a republican, and owns one hundred and eighty acres, worth 
$5,500. 

Lewis Coon, deceased, was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 5th 
of December, 1822. He was the son of John and Sarah (Morehead) 
Coon. His parents removed to Clinton county, Indiana, when he was 
young, and he was reared there on a farm. He married on the 27th 
of November, 1851, to Mary Albright. In the fall of 1853 he moved 
with his family to Illinois, and settled where his widow now lives in 
Ross township, Vermilion county. Both he and Mrs. Coon became 
members of the United Brethren church in 1860. He was a life-long 
democrat, and was greatly esteemed for his strict integrity and neigh- 
borly qualities. He died on the 13th of May, 1870, leaving one hun- 



ROSS TOWNSHIP. 685 

dred and sixty-seven acres of land to his heirs. The following were 
his children : Sarah Eliza, Melissa Belle, Mary Jane, who died on the 
29th of March, 1872, John D., Keturah Ann, Caroline, Alantson, 
George B. M., who died on the 5th of June, 1865, and Laura Ellen. 
Mrs. Coon was a daughter of David and Phebe (Newman) Albright. 
Her father was a native of Pennsylvania, and her mother of New York. 
The former died on the 28th of September, 1851 ; and the latter on 
the 7th of June, 1852. 

William Chambers, Rossville, farmer, was born in Queen Anne 
county, Maryland, on the 2Gth of February, 1826. He is a son of 
Matthew B. and Letitia (Broadaway) Chambers. When very young 
his parents moved to Franklin county, Indiana, and lived there till he 
was twelve, when they went to Montgomery county. He enlisted in 
the early part of June, 1846, in Co. H, 1st Ind. Vols., Col. James P. 
Drake. At New Orleans his company and another from Hendricks 
county, Indiana, were embarked on board a sailing vessel for Point 
Isabel, but on the passage she grounded w T hile under full sail. This 
occurred two hours before daylight, and, when morning came, Padre 
Island was discovered half a mile off. Two sailors, taking a small 
line, swam to land, and with this drew a rope ashore, by means of 
which the wreck was delivered of the men and the cargo, ten days 
being consumed in the removal of the latter. The vessel was burned. 
This regiment passed their term of service on the Rio Grande, guard- 
ing stores and doing other correspondingly irksome duty. It is said 
that a too ardent fondness for the "flowing bowl" in the commanding 
officer determined Gen. Taylor to keep them in the rear, and thus by 
the sins of one were many made to forfeit a share in the glories which 
clustered around the national standard from Palo Alto to Buena Vista. 
Mr. Chambers was discharged at Point Isabel shortly before the year 
for which he had volunteered had expired. Fie shipped for home on a 
rotten craft, and drifted about the gulf thirty days, with only eight 
days' rations aboard. The suffering from hunger was great, but that 
from thirst was exquisite. A Spanish merchantman heaving in sight, 
a flag of distress was hoisted, and provisions and water obtained. The 
last few days the men had subsisted on rotten oats. Eleven deaths 
occurred before they arrived in port. Mi 1 . Chambers was married on 
the 10th of August, 1848, to Lydia Phelps. He learned the carpenter 
trade, and divided his labors between that and farming till 1853, when 
he moved to Waynetown, Indiana, and sold goods two years; and in 
April, 1855, removed to Blue Grass Grove, Vermilion county, Illinois, 
and in 1865 to Bean Creek, in Ross township, where he now lives. In 
1861 and 1862 he was supervisor of Middle Fork township, which 



686 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

then embraced the town of Butler. He was collector of that town 
one term, and has been supervisor of Ross since the spring of 1878. 
He has a family of eight children : Sarah Jane, wife of James D. 
Leonard ; John B., Martha Melinda, wife of Frank Houchin ; Melissa 
Ann, wife of Asa Allen ; Mary Frances, Elizabeth Alice, Richard, 
Charlie (dead). Mr. Chambers owns seven hundred and seventy-eight 
acres, worth $23,500. He is a conservative democrat, and has been a 
member of the Baptist church for twenty-two years. 

William T. Cunningham, Rossville, merchant, was born in Grant 
township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 1st of December, 1856, 
and is the son of Humes and Elizabeth (Winning) Cunningham. Both 
parents died when he was very young: his father departed this life on 
the 13th of February, 1859, his mother having previously gone to 
her rest on the 1st of October, 1857. Mr. Cunningham was reared by 
his grandparents, Thomas R. and Elizabeth Winning, on their farm in 
Grant township. In the fall of 1874, then sixteen years old, he began 
for himself by hiring as a clerk in the grocery store of John R. Smith, 
Esq., of Rossville, where he remained eighteen months. He labored 
on a farm a year, then clerked in the hardware store of D. C. Deamude, 
Esq., of Rossville, a year. Resuming farm life a short time again, on 
the 1st of October, 1878, he formed a copartnership with William S. 
Lefever in the mercantile business in Rossville. He is a democrat. 

Alvan W. Gilbert, Rossville, farmer, was born in Ross township, 
Yermilion county, Illinois, on the 20th of May, 1856, and is the son of 
Alvan and Nancy (Horr) Gilbert. He was bred a farmer. He was 
married on the 18th of April, 1878, to Miss Meda Carson, who was 
born on the 21st of February, 1856, near Franklin, Johnson county, 
Indiana, and reared in Indianapolis. He owns one hundred and ten 
acres, worth $5,000. In politics he is a republican. 

William Biteler, Alvin, farmer, was born in Adams county, Penn- 
sylvania, on the 9th of April, 1820, and is a son of Abraham and Eliza- 
beth (Overholser) Biteler. He became an orphan at the age of six or 
seven years, and immigrated to Madison count}', Indiana, in 1835, 
where he labored seven consecutive years clearing land and log-rolling, 
doing no other kind of work. He was married on the 15th of April, 
1841, to Mary Ray. In January, 1850, he settled in Warren county, 
Indiana, and in March, 1857, removed to Ross township, Yermilion 
county, Illinois, and located where he now lives. Mr. Biteler has 
made four farms in the course of his life — two were cleared up in the 
woods and two were on prairie land. Has worked hard always; been 
frugal ; and careful in his business transactions, in which he has been 
uniformly governed by the strictest principles of honesty. He had at 



ROSS TOWNSHIP. 687 

one time two hundred and twenty-live acres in Ross, but has divided 
his land among his children, retaining but eighty acres. His son, 
James Edward, was a member of Co. B, 125th 111. Vols. Soon after 
the battle of Perry ville, in which he bore a share, he was stricken down 
with measles, which ran into typhoid fever, and his life terminated at 
Bowling Green, Kentucky, on the 10th of December, 1862. There are 
now four living children : Minerva; Amanda; Cornelius: and William 
H. In politics he is a greenbacker. He belongs to the church of 
God ; popularly, soul sleepers. 

William Salmans, Alvin, farmer, was born near Zanesville, Musk- 
ingum county, Ohio, on the 29th of January, 1823, and is the son of 
William and Fanny (Wallace) Salmans. His father was born in Dela- 
ware county, Delaware, on the 5th of September, 1796, and his mother 
was a native born Irish woman. Mr. Salmans was bred a farmer. 
When quite young his father settled in Guernsey county, Ohio, mov- 
ing from thence in April, 1839, to Jackson county. He was married 
on the loth of January, 1847, to Miss Prudence Phillips, daughter of 
Daniel Phillips, a well-to-do farmer of Jackson county. He settled 
that spring on an eighty acre farm which he owned ; living there until 
the spring of 1851, farming in summer and teaching school in winter, 
when he bought a small stock of dry goods and groceries and started a 
country store. This venture not paying well, he went into partnership 
with his brother-in-law, Dr. Sylvester, in Marion, Ohio ; after eighteen 
months he sold out to the doctor and dissolved the firm. About that 
time Mr. Salmans bought a large bankrupt stock, at Sandfork, Gallia 
county, and moved to that point and spent the summer selling goods, 
closing out the entire concern to Dr. Sylvester in the fall. He next 
bought out the dry goods firm of Frazee & Co., in Hamden, Vinton 
county ; remained in business there until the spring of '54, selling stock 
of goods to W. H. Gleason, and his town property to Dr. Arnold. He 
moved into the country, traveled during the summer, and in the fall 
resumed school teaching, which he followed three years without inter- 
ruption, at $100 per quarter; meantime buying and shaving notes on 
the Iron Furnace Company. In the spring of 1857 he moved to 
Charleston, Coles county, Illinois, moving from thence to Sugar 
Grove, Yermilion county, in the fall ; and to Ross township the next 
spring, where he has since resided ; teaching the district school the 
following winter. His advantages for early education were very slight, 
and he could only read and write indifferently at the age of twenty; 
at that time he started to school, traveling two and a half miles, morn- 
ing and evening; took up the common branches, applying himself 
with energy and resolution night and day to his studies, going through 



688 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

in twenty-two days, and working every example in the hardest arith- 
metic then in use — the Western Calculator. The next winter he 
obtained his first certificate to teach. His first wife having died on the 
8th of February, 1867, he married again on the 30th of September, 
1869, to Emma Colvin. He is serving his third term as justice of the 
peace of Ross township. Mr. Salmans was an abolitionist during the 
early agitation of the slavery question, and voted first for Henry Clay 
in 1844. He is the father of seven living children : Mark, Robert, 
Daniel, Emma, George William, Sarah Jane, and Martha Jane. He 
owns one hundred and sixty acres of land, worth $5,500. He is a 
republican and a Methodist. 

John M. Ross, Alvin, farmer, was born in Fleming county, Ken- 
tucky, on the 19th of December, 1808, and is the son of Johnson and 
Jane (McMann) Ross. In 1823 his father moved to Warren county, 
Ohio. In 1831 the subject of this sketch left home and began the 
study of dentistry, practicing until 1840, five years of the time being 
spent in western Tennessee and northern Alabama. His health fail- 
ing, he returned to Indiana and went into the merchandising business 
in Cambridge City, Wayne county. In 1847 he removed to Indian- 
apolis and engaged in his profession. At the end of five years he 
re-located at Milton Mills, bought that property, running the mills and 
farming in the meantime, until 1858, when he emigrated to Ross 
township, where he now resides. He was married on the 27th of De- 
cember, 1840, to Ellen H. Hannah. His eldest son, Edward H., en- 
listed in Co. B, 125th 111. Vols., but was stricken early with sickness, 
and died at Jefferson City, Missouri, on the 8th of September, 1861. 
When Mr. Ross settled in Vermilion county he purchased six hundred 
and forty acres of prairie land, and subsequently seventy acres of tim- 
ber; but having sold and given some to his children, has reduced his 
homestead to three hundred and ten acres, valued at $9,000. He was 
an old line whig, and cast his first vote for president for gallant Harry 
Clay, in 1832. In 1836, when a resident of Tennessee, he voted for 
Davy Crockett for congress. He is the father of four living children : 
Sarah Eliza, John N., Charles N. and Henry H. His religious opinions 
are Methodist. 

John Ross, Rossville, farmer, was born in Brown county, Ohio, on 
the 22d of December, 1808. He is a son of Lazarus and Lydia 
(Prickett) Ross. He lived in his native place, farming, and for some 
time running a steam grist-mill, until 1859, when he removed to 
Illinois, and settled on a farm six miles east of Rossville, Vermilion 
county. His two sons, Isaac F. and Nelson E., enlisted, on the 12th 
of August, 1862, in Co. B, 125th 111. Vols. They bore an honorable 



ROSS TOWNSHIP. 689 

part in the battles of Perryville, Cliickamauga, Mission Ridge, Kene- 
saw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek and Jonesborongh ; marched with 
Sherman to the sea ; thence on the longer and more difficult campaign 
through the Carolinas, fighting their last battle at Bentonville, North 
Carolina. They marched north at the close of the war through Rich- 
mond, Virginia, to Washington City, closing their active military life 
in that grandest of pageants — the review of Sherman's army, on the 
25th of May, 1865. The company disbanded at Chicago, Illinois, on 
the 27th of June, 1865. In 1872 the subject of this sketch moved into 
Rossville, where he has since lived, retired, enjoying a hale old age as 
the fruit of a well-spent, industrious life. He was married on the 16th 
of September, 1830, to Hannah W. Fergnerson, who was born on the 
9th of May, 1810. They have seven living children: William t A., 
Isaac T., Samantha E., wife of Peter Reitz, Nelson E., Arminda J., 
wife of John W. Calton; Mary A., wife of Daniel Romine; Orange 
L. The eldest daughter, Virginia A., was born on the 22d of March, 
1838, married Erastus Reed, and died on the 21st of March, 1859, 
leaving an only daughter, Sarah Luella, five months old. The father 
died in 1864, and the grandparents reared Miss 'Ella, who lives with 
them and imparts the sunshine and freshness of young womanhood to 
their home. Mr. Ross is a republican ; was an original abolitionist 
and under-ground railroader, and takes profound satisfaction in know- 
ing that he has kindled the fires of everlasting gratitude in many a 
negro soul by helping him on his pursuit of freedom. Both he and his 
wife have enjoyed an experimental knowledge of religion for forty-six 
years. They are members of the United Brethren church. 

Philip Cadle, Rossville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Bed- 
fordshire, England, on the 22d of February, 1849. He is the son of 
George and Elizabeth (Saunders) Cadle. He came with his parents to 
America in the summer of 1853, and settled in Attica, Indiana; lived 
there four years, then moved to Iroquois county, Illinois, and located 
south of Milford, where he remained two years, and in 1859 came into 
Vermilion county, since which time he has lived in different parts of 
the northern half of the county. In 1870 he left home and began life 
on his own account. He was married on the 30th of May, 1871, to 
Emma Weaden, who died on the 23d of October, 1872. He married 
again on the 27th of October, 1875, to America Seymour, who was 
born on the 9th of October, 1851. He owns a fine farm of three hun- 
dred and eighty-one acres, valued at $13,000, situated two and one-half 
miles southeast of Rossville. Stock-raising comprises a large part of 
his business. Mr. Cadle traveled one season in California with an 
invalid sister, who died there. He is the father of three children : 
44 



692 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

county, Indiana, on the 23d of August, 1827. He is a son of Samuel 
and Eleanor (Bishop) Hannah. His father for over forty years exer- 
cised a wide-felt influence, iirst in political offices, and next in com- 
mercial stations, and was distinguished for his enterprise and able ser- 
vices in the internal development of his state. He was sheriff, clerk, 
and a member of the board of justices of Wayne county, Indiana; 
postmaster at Centerville under John Quincy Adams, and one of the 
three commissioners appointed by the legislature to locate the Michi- 
gan road from the Ohio river to the lake, and to select the lands se- 
cured to the state by a treaty with the Indians, made on the upper 
Wabash in 1826. He was twice elected a member of the state legis- 
lature. In 1846 he was chosen by that body treasurer of state, and 
served three years. He was the chief promoter of, and leading spirit 
in, the construction of the Indiana Central Railway, and was the first 
president of the road. Later, he became treasurer of the Indianapolis 
& Bellefontaine Railroad Company. In May, 1852, he accepted the 
office of treasurer of the Indiana Central, and held it until 1864, when 
he retired from active life. At different times during his incumbency 
of this office he was also secretary for the same company. He died on 
the 8th of September, 1869, aged nearly eighty years. The subject of 
this sketch passed his early life in farming and in clerking in a *store 
belonging to his father. He studied law with John S. Newman, a 
brother-in-law, afterward prominent in business and political circles, 
and Oliver P. Morton, who were law-partners. At the age of twenty 
he was admitted to practice, undergoing examination by George W. 
Julian, George H. Whitman and Oliver P. Morton, and receiving his 
license from Hon. Jehu T. Elliott, afterward chief justice of the Su- 
preme Court of Indiana. Soon after he formed a law partnership 
with Hon. John S. Newman, which was continued until the fall of 
1849, when he accepted the position of deputy United States marshal 
under Gen. Sol. Meredith, discharging the duties of the same till 
November, 1850. On the 20th of that month he was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Margaret A. Dunham. The winter of 1850-1 he spent 
in Iowa, seeking a location for the practice of his profession, but not 
finding one suited to his desires, he returned to Indianapolis in the 
spring, and engaged in railroad business on the Indiana Central: first 
as a clerk, then passenger conductor, next receiver of funds, and 
finally, general ticket agent. These various positions he occupied 
from 1853 to 1856. In the former year he was engaged by the city 
council of Indianapolis to re-duplicate the tax-list of that city, the 
original being so full of errors as to be worthless — a piece of work 
which he executed with accuracy and dispatch, to the entire satisfac- 



BOSS TOWNSHIP. 689 

part in the battles of Perry ville, Ohickamauga, Mission Ridge, Kene- 
saw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek and Jonesborough ; marched with 
Sherman to the sea ; thence on the longer and more difficult campaign 
through the Carolinas, fighting their last battle at Bentonville, North 
Carolina. They marched north at the close of the war through Rich- 
mond, Virginia, to Washington City, closing their active military life 
in that grandest of pageants — the review of Sherman's army, on the 
25th of Maj', 1865. The company disbanded at Chicago, Illinois, on 
the 27th of June, 1865. In 1872 the subject of this sketch moved into 
Rossville, where he has since lived, retired, enjoying a hale old age as 
the fruit of a well-spent, industrious life. He was married on the 16th 
of September, 1830, to Hannah W. Ferguerson, who was born on the 
9th of May, 1810. They have seven living children : William A., 
Isaac T., Samantha E., wife of Peter Reitz, Nelson E., Arminda J., 
wife of John W. Calton ; Mary A., wife of Daniel Romine ; Orange 
L. The eldest daughter, Virginia A., was born on the 22d of March, 
1838, married Erastus Reed, and died on the 21st of March, 1859, 
leaving an only daughter, Sarah Luella, five months old. The father 
died in 1864, and the grandparents reared Miss 'Ella, who lives with 
them and imparts the sunshine and freshness of young womanhood to 
their home. Mr. Ross is a republican ; was an original abolitionist 
and under-ground railroader, and takes profound satisfaction in know- 
ing that he has kindledj the fires of everlasting gratitude in many a 
negro soul by helping him on his pursuit of freedom. Both he and his 
wife have enjoyed an experimental knowledge of religion for forty-six 
years. They are members of the United Brethren church. 

Philip Cadle, Rossville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Bed- 
fordshire, England, on the 22d of February, 1849. He is the son of 
George and Elizabeth (Saunders) Cadle. He came with his parents to 
America in the summer of 1853, and settled in Attica, Indiana; lived 
there four years, then moved to Iroquois county, Illinois, and located 
south of Milford, where he remained two years, and in 1859 came into 
Vermilion county, since which time he has lived in different parts of 
the northern half of the county. In 1870 he left home and began life 
on his own account. He was married on the 30th of May. 1871, to 
Emma Weaden, who died on the 23d of October, 1872. He married 
again on the 27th of October, 1875, to America Seymour, who was 
born on the 9th of October, 1851. He owns a fine farm of three hun- 
dred and eighty-one acres, valued at $13,000, situated two and one-half 
miles southeast of Rossville. Stock-raising comprises a large part of 
his business. Mr. Cadle traveled one season in California with an 
invalid sister, who died there. He is the father of three children : 
44 



692 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

county, Indiana, on the 23d of August, 1827. He is a son of Samuel 
and Eleanor (Bishop) Hannah. His father for over forty years exer- 
cised a wide-felt influence, first in political offices, and next in com- 
mercial stations, and was distinguished for his enterprise and able ser- 
vices in the internal development of his state. He was sheriff, clerk, 
and a member of the board of justices of Wayne county, Indiana ; 
postmaster at Centerville under John Quincy Adams, and one of the 
three commissioners appointed by the legislature to locate the Michi- 
gan road from the Ohio river to the lake, and to select the lands se- 
cured to the state by a treaty with the Indians, made on the upper 
Wabash in 1826. He was twice elected a member of the state legis- 
lature. In 1846 he was chosen by that body treasurer of state, and 
served three years. He was the chief promoter of, and leading spirit 
in, the construction of the Indiana Central Railway, and was the first 
president of the road. Later, he became treasurer of the Indianapolis 
& Bellefontaine Railroad Company. In May, 1852, he accepted the 
office of treasurer of the Indiana Central, and held it until 1864, when 
he retired from active life. At different times during his incumbency 
of this office he was also secretary for the same company. He died on 
the 8th of September, 1869, aged nearly eighty years. The subject of 
this sketch passed his early life in farming and in clerking in a store 
belonging to his father. He studied law with John S. Newman, a 
brother-in-law, afterward prominent in business and political circles, 
and Oliver P. Morton, who were law-partners. At the age of twenty 
he was admitted to practice, undergoing examination by George W. 
Julian, George H. Whitman and Oliver P. Morton, and receiving his 
license from Hon. Jehu T. Elliott, afterward chief justice of the Su- 
preme Court of Indiana. Soon after he formed a law partnership 
with Hon. John S. Newman, which was continued until the fall of 
1849, when he accepted the position of deputy United States marshal 
under Gen. Sol. Meredith, discharging the duties of the same till 
November, 1S50. On the 20th of that month he was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Margaret A. Dunham. The winter of 1850-1 he spent 
in Iowa, seeking a location for the practice of his profession, but not 
finding one suited to his desires, he returned to Indianapolis in the 
spring, and engaged in railroad business on the Indiana Central: first 
as a clerk, then passenger conductor, next receiver of funds, and 
finally, general ticket agent. These various positions he occupied 
from 1853 to 1856. In the former year he was engaged by the city 
council of Indianapolis to re-duplicate the tax-list of that city, the 
original being so full of errors as to be worthless — a piece of work 
which he executed with accuracy and dispatch, to the entire satisfac- 



ROSS TOWNSHIP. 693 

tion of the council and the tax-payers. In 1856 he opened a grocery 
store in Davenport, Iowa, and the next year removed to Blue Earth 
county, Minnesota, where he preempted one hundred and sixty acres 
of land, migrating from thence in the fall of 1858 to Linn county, 
Kansas. Here he was elected to the office of county assessor, and 
served one term. In the winter of 1860-1, succeeding the well-known 
drouth of the previous summer, lie went to Kansas City, Missouri, to 
winter his family, intendiug to return in the spring; but the war broke 
out, and he moved back to Illinois, and located in Ross township, Ver- 
milion county, buying a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, in 
February, 1863, on which he has since resided. His wife died that 
year, and he was again married, on the 13th of December, 1866, to 
Mrs. Isabel Warren, formerly Miss Isabel Kent, daughter of Perrin 
Kent, of Warren county, Indiana. He has ten living children, all of 
whom are either at home or settled in Vermilion county, except his 
eldest son, Richard H., who is married, and living in Phillips county, 
Kansas. This son is a graduate of the Illinois Industrial University, 
and was at one time florist of the institution. Mr. Hannah is an inde- 
pendent republican ; a man of large views, good information, and live 
business talent. He owns three hundred and twenty acres of land, 
worth $11,500. 

William W. Phillips, Rossville, lumber dealer, was born in Licking 
county, Ohio, on the 4th of July, 1837, and is the son of John and 
Matilda (Pumphrey) Phillips. He removed with his parents in 1842 
to Van Buren county, Iowa. His early life was passed in cultivating 
the soil. He enrolled, on the 28th of August, 1861, in a militia regi- 
ment, known as the Northeast Missouri Regiment of Home Guards 
(Col. Moore), and served the full term of enlistment — three months. 
He enlisted again on the 13th of August, 1862, in Co. F, 19th Iowa 
Inf., and was discharged on the 28th of December, 1862, on account of 
disability. He came the next February to Danville, Illinois, but was 
unsettled until 1867, being engaged in the meantime in carpentering 
and traveling from place to place. In June, 1867, he became employed 
as salesman in A. Leonard's lumber office, Danville. On the 29th of 
January, 1871, he was married to Florence Frazier, youngest daughter 
of Samuel Frazier of Danville. In August, 1871, he removed to Ross- 
ville and opened the lumber and coal trade, in which he is at present 
engaged. Mr. Phillips has been village trustee four years. He is the 
father of two children : Edward, born on the 18th of October, 1873 ; 
Alice, born on the 28th of September, 1876. He has been a member 
of the Methodist church upward of twenty years. He is a republican 
in politics. 



696 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Mr. Demaree was village trustee from May, 1875, to May, 1876, and is 
now police magistrate of the town. He is the father of live living chil- 
dren : Omar I., Mary U., Nancylena, Bertha L. and Maggie W. He is 
a member of the Presbyterian church, in which he has been a ruling 
elder since 1874. In politics he is a republican. 

Francis D. Tomlinson, Rossville, farmer, was born in Warren coun- 
ty, Indiana, near Marshfield, on the 25th of March, 1842, and is a son 
of Jesse and Mary (McFarland) Tomlinson. In 1853 his parents died, 
leaving him an orphan. He lived with his brother-in-law, Enoch Wat- 
kins, by whom he was raised, until of age. Afterward he attended the 
Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Indiana, nearly two years ; then 
went to work on a farm of four hundred and forty acres of wild land 
which had descended to him from his father's estate. This is situated 
in sections 14, 19, 22, 23 and 24, town 22, range 11. He owns twenty- 
nine acres near Marshfield, Indiana. He has added by purchase till 
now his landed property amounts to five hundred and thirty-one acres, 
valued at $16,000. He was married on the 12th of November, 1872, 
to Matilda C. Young, daughter of Chas. S. Young, an old and wealthy 
settler of Vermilion county. Mr. Tomlinson is the father of the fol- 
lowing children : Mary Jessie, who died on the 10th of September, 
1874; Walter D., who died on the 25th of July, 1876, and Elizabeth 
Frances. He is a member of the republican party, and his wife of the 
M. E. church. 

Harry Shannon, Rossville, postmaster and notary, was born in 
Shelby county, Kentucky, on the 23d of April, 1841, and is the son of 
Hugh and Catharine (Harrod) Shannon. He was bred to agricultural 
pursuits. He enlisted, on the 4th of September, 1861, in Co. H, 34th 
Ind. Vol. Inf., and was mustered into the service of the United States 
on the 21st of the same month. The following are the conspicuous 
events in his military career: Operations at Island No. 10, battles of 
New Madrid, Fort Gibson, and Baker's Creek or Champion Hills, and 
the siege of Yicksburg. He reenlisted on the 14th of December, 1863, 
when his regiment " veteraned." On the 13th of May, 18*65, before 
news of the termination of the war had reached that distant quarter, 
he, with three or four hundred of his command, fell into a small en- 
gagement on the Rio Grande, and on the old Palo Alto battle-ground. 
Eighty of them, himself with the number, were captured and held as 
prisoners of war eight days, when they were released on parole. He 
filled all the non-commissioned offices in his company, and on the 1st 
of August, 1865, was commissioned first lieutenant. He was mustered 
out on the 3d of February, 1866. Immediately on quitting the army 
he attended two terms at the Kokoniu Normal School, and after that 



ROSS TOWNSHIP. 693 

tion of the council and the tax-payers. In 1856 he opened a grocery 
store in Davenport, Iowa, and the next year removed to Blue Earth 
county, Minnesota, where he preempted one hundred and sixty acres 
of land, migrating from thence in the fall of 1858 to Linn county, 
Kansas. Here he was elected to the office of county assessor, and 
served one term. In the winter of 1860-1, succeeding the well-known 
drouth of the previous summer, he went to Kansas City, Missouri, to 
winter his family, intending to return in the spring; but the war broke 
out, and he moved back to Illinois, and located in Ross township, Ver- 
milion county, buying a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, in 
February, 1863, on which he has since resided. His wife died that 
year, and he was again married, on the 13th of December, 1866, to 
Mrs. Isabel Warren, formerly Miss Isabel Kent, daughter of Perrin 
Kent, of Warren county, Indiana. He has ten living children, all of 
whom are either at home or settled in Vermilion county, except his 
eldest son, Richard H., who is married, and living in Phillips county, 
Kansas. This son is a graduate of the Illinois Industrial University, 
and was at one time florist of the institution. Mr. Hannah is an inde- 
pendent republican ; a man of large views, good information, and live 
business talent. He owns three hundred and twenty acres of land, 
worth $11,500. 

William W. Phillips, Rossville, lumber dealer, was born in Licking 
county, Ohio, on the 4th of July, 1837, and is the son of John and 
Matilda (Pumphrey) Phillips. He removed with his parents in 1842 
to Van Buren county, Iowa. His early life was passed in cultivating 
the soil. He enrolled, on the 28th of August, 1861, in a militia regi- 
ment, known as the Northeast Missouri Regiment of Home Guards 
(Col. Moore), and served the full term of enlistment — three months. 
He enlisted again on the 13th of August, 1862, in Co. F, 19th Iowa 
Inf., and was discharged on the 28th of December, 1862, on account of 
disability. He came the next February to Danville, Illinois, but was 
unsettled until 1867, being engaged in the meantime in carpentering 
and traveling from place to place. In June, 1867, he became employed 
as salesman in A. Leonard's lumber office, Danville. On the 29th of 
January, 1871, he was married to Florence Frazier, youngest daughter 
of Samuel Frazier of Danville. In August, 1871, he removed to Ross- 
ville and opened the lumber and coal trade, in which he is at present 
engaged. Mr. Phillips has been village trustee four years. He is the 
father of two children : Edward, born on the 18th of October, 1873 ; 
Alice, born on the 28th of September, 1876. He has been a member 
of the Methodist church upward of twenty years. He is a republican 
in politics. 



696 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Mr. Deinaree was village trustee from May, 1875, to May, 1876, and is 
now police magistrate of the town. He is the father of five living chil- 
dren : Omar 1., Mary XL, Nancylena, Bertha L. and Maggie W. He is 
a member of the Presbyterian church, in which he has been a ruling 
elder since 1874. In politics he is a republican. 

Francis D. Tomlinson, Rossville, farmer, was born in Warren coun- 
ty, Indiana, near Marshfield, on the 25th of March, 1842, and is a son 
of Jesse and Mary (McFarland) Tomlinson. In 1853 his parents died, 
leaving him an orphan. He lived with his brother-in-law, Enoch Wat- 
kins, by whom he was raised, until of age. Afterward he attended the 
Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Indiana, nearly two years; then 
went to work on a farm of four hundred and forty acres of wild land 
which had descended to him from his father's estate. This is situated 
in sections 14, 19, 22, 23 and 24, town 22, range 11. He owns twenty- 
nine acres near Marshfield, Indiana. He has added by purchase till 
now his landed property amounts to five hundred and thirty-one acres, 
valued at $16,000. He was married on the 12th of November, 1872, 
to Matilda C. Young, daughter of Chas. S. Young, an old and wealthy 
settler of Vermilion county. Mr. Tomlinson is the father of the fol- 
lowing children : Mary Jessie, who died on the 10th of September, 
1874; Walter D., who died on the 25th of July, 1876, and Elizabeth 
Frances. He is a member of the republican party, and his wife of the 
M. E. church. 

Harry Shannon, Rossville, postmaster and notary, was born in 
Shelby count}^, Kentucky, on the 23d of April, 1841, and is the son of 
Hugh and Catharine (Harrod) Shannon. He was bred to agricultural 
pursuits. He enlisted, on the 4th of September, 1861, in Co. H, 34th 
Ind. Vol. Inf., and was mustered into the service of the United States 
on the 21st of the same month. The following are the conspicuous 
events in his military career : Operations at Island No. 10, battles of 
New Madrid, Fort Gibson, and Baker's Creek or Champion Hills, and 
the siege of Vicksburg. He reenlisted on the 14th of December, 1863, 
when his regiment " veteraned." On the 13th of May, 1865, before 
news of the termination of the war had reached that distant quarter, 
he, with three or four hundred of his command, fell into a small en- 
gagement on the Rio Grande, and on the old Palo Alto battle-ground. 
Eighty of them, himself with the number, were captured and held as 
prisoners of war eight days, when they were released on parole. He 
filled all the non-commissioned offices in his company, and on the 1st 
of August, 1865, was commissioned first lieutenant. He was mustered 
out on the 3d of February, 1866. Immediately on quitting the army 
he attended two terms at the Kokomo Normal School, and after that 






ROSS TOWNSHIP. 697 

taught for several years during the winter season. He was married on 
the 10th of October, 1872, to Mary A. Jones, daughter of John P. 
Jones, one of the earliest settlers of Vermilion county, Illinois. He 
settled in Koss township in 1872, and has been postmaster at Rossville 
since January, 1879 ; and was connected with the office as an assistant 
for three years prior to that time. He is the father of one child : 
Frank Curtis, born on the 29th of June, 1877. He is a republican, and 
a member of the Christian church. 

Emil H. Langhans, Rossville, merchant, was born in Aurich King 
dom of Hanover, Germany, on the 9th of April, 1836, and is the son 
of John and Louisa (Clemens) Langhans. He was instructed in the 
regular schools of the country, and was four years under the private 
tutorship of the Rev. Hulcher. At seventeen he came from the 
Fatherland, and settled at Canton, Ohio, where he was employed by 
his uncle in a store four years. He went to Wooster, Ohio, and en- 
gaged in business for himself four or five years ; then traveled in Mid- 
Tennessee, looking for a business location ; but signs of the war 
appearing, he returned north, and went into business in Lafayette, 
Indiana, part of the time as principal, part of the time as employe. 
In 1862 he employed a substitute for the nine-months service, paying 
him one hundred dollars. He served in Co. K of an Indiana militia 
regiment six weeks, in pursuit of John Morgan. He recruited in Co. 
K, 50th Ind. Vols. — one-year men, — and was commissioned captain. 
He served in Virginia, chiefly in the Shenandoah, participating in some 
skirmishes. After the war Mr. Langhans resumed his former occupa- 
tion, a portion of the time as commercial traveler in the wholesale dry- 
goods business. In 1873 he settled in Rossville, this county, where he 
has continued in mercantile pursuits. He was married to Elizabeth 
Black in January, 1855. He is the father of three living children : 
Emil D., Doretta and Edward G. He is an independent in politics, 
and a Methodist. 

Ritchie A. S. Williams, Rossville, music teacher, was born in what 
was then Greenbrier county, Virginia, on the 18th of May, 1824, and 
is the son of Richard and Thankful (Morrison) "Williams. He was 
educated at Winchester, Virginia, and afterward took a full course of 
music at the Friendship Musical Academy, New York. He followed 
the profession of school-teaching eight or ten years at first, but after 
that devoted his time principally to instruction in music. In 1816 he 
left Virginia and settled at Lafayette, Indiana. He lived there a few 
years, and removed to Delphi, where he married Miss Sarah A. Reed, 
on the 13th of January, 1850. In 1862 he removed to Brookeston, 
residing there till 1873, when he located at Rossville,Vermilion county, 



700 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

graduated on the 22d day of February, 1878. He received from the 
medical college of Indiana, on the 28th of February, 1879, an ad 
eundem degree. In December, 1863, he settled at Paola, Miami county, 
Kansas; lived there twelve years and removed to Vermilion county, 
Illinois, and settled at Gilbert, and afterward at Alvin, on the removal 
of the former place. He was married on the 22d of March, 1860, to 
Maggie M. Steele. He was a charter member of the Miami Count v 
Kansas Medical Society, which was organized in 1868, and is a member 
of the North Vermilion and of the Vermilion County Medical Societies. 
He has contributed to the following medical journals: "Cincinnati 
Repertory," " Lancet " and " Observer," of Cincinnati, and the "Ameri- 
can Practitioner" of Louisville and Indianapolis. Mr. Akers has been 
a reporter for country papers where he has lived the past twelve or 
thirteen years. His pen has been employed in literaiy ventures through 
the press at different times. He is at present correspondent of the 
" Danville Commercial." He has been a member of the Presbyterian 
church for twenty years. In politics Mr. Akers is a republican. 

Joseph S. Christman, Rossville, farmer, was born on the 30th of 
January, 1854, in Warren county, Indiana. He is the son of Isaac and 
Elizabeth (Gundy) Christman. He was reared a farmer. In Decem- 
ber, 1871, he entered Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College, Indi- 
anapolis, and graduated in May, 1872. In the fall he began clerking 
in a dry-goods store in Attica, and early in the following year went to 
Indianapolis and engaged in merchandising until the fall of 1875, when 
he came to Rossville and took a position behind the counter in the 
establishment of W. J. Henderson & Co., retaining the same until the 
spring of 1878. 

George W. Salmans, Rossville, attorney, was born in Vinton county, 
Ohio, on the 9th of January, 1849, and is the son of George and Re- 
becca (Hudson) Salmans. He was a student at Evans' Union College, 
State Line City, for fifteen months. He taught district school half the 
time for ten years — just sixty months. In the fall of 1871 he entered 
the law department of the Michigan University, attending lectures one 
term. From this time till the fall of 1875 he worked on a farm, taught 
school and read law privately, when he returned to the university, fin- 
ished his course, and graduated on the 29th of March, 1876. He estab- 
lished himself at once at Rossville, where he is successfully practicing 
his profession. He was married on the 12th of October, 1876, to Ra- 
chel Alison, daughter of Mark M. Alison. He is the father of one 
child : Edwin, born on the 7th of May, 1878. He is an independent 
in politics and in religion. 

James A. Williams, Alvin, hardware and lumber dealer, was born 



ROSS TOWNSHIP. 697 

taught for several years during the winter season. He was married on 
the 10th of October, 1872, to Mary A. Jones, daughter of John P. 
Jones, one of the earliest settlers of Vermilion county, Illinois. He 
settled in Ross township in 1872, and has been postmaster at Rossville 
since January, 1879 ; and was connected with the office as an assistant 
for three years prior to that time. He is the father of one child : 
Frank Curtis, born on the 29th of June, 1877. He is a republican, and 
a member of the Christian church. 

Emil H. Langhans, Rossville, merchant, was born in An rich King 
dom of Hanover, Germany, on the 9th of April, 1836, and is the son 
of John and Louisa (Clemens) Langhans. He was instructed in the 
regular schools of the country, and was four years under the private 
tutorship of the Rev. Hulcher. At seventeen he came from the 
Fatherland, and settled at Canton, Ohio, where he was employed by 
his uncle in a store four years. He went to Wooster, Ohio, and en- 
gaged in business for himself four or five years ; then traveled in Mid- 
Tennessee, looking for a business location ; but signs of the war 
appearing, he returned north, and went into business in Lafayette, 
Indiana, part of the time as principal, part of the time as employe. 
In 1862 he employed a substitute for the nine-months service, paying 
him one hundred dollars. He served in Co. K of an Indiana militia 
regiment six weeks, in pursuit of John Morgan. He recruited in Co. 
K, 50th Ind. Yols. — one-year men, — and was commissioned captain. 
He served in Virginia, chiefly in the Shenandoah, participating in some 
skirmishes. After the war Mr. Langhans resumed his former occupa- 
tion, a portion of the time as commercial traveler in the wholesale dry- 
goods business. In 1873 he settled in Rossville, this county, where he 
has continued in mercantile pursuits. He was married to Elizabeth 
Black in January, 1855. He is the father of three living children : 
Emil D., Doretta and Edward G. He is an independent in politics, 
and a Methodist. 

Ritchie A. S. Williams, Rossville, music teacher, was born in what 
was then Greenbrier county, Virginia, on the 18th of May, 1824, and 
is the son of Richard and Thankful (Morrison) Williams. He was 
edncated at Winchester, Virginia, and afterward took a full course of 
music at the Friendship Musical Academy, New York. He followed 
the profession of school-teaching eight or ten years at first, but after 
that devoted his time principally to instruction in music. In 1846 he 
left Virginia and settled at Lafayette, Indiana. He lived there a few 
years, and removed to Delphi, where he married Miss Sarah A. Reed, 
on the 13th of January, 1850. In 1862 he removed to Brookeston, 
residing there till 1873, when he located at Rossville, Vermilion county, 



700 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

graduated on the 22d day of February, 1878. He received from the 
medical college of Indiana, on the 28th of February, 1879, an ad 
eundem degree. In December, 1863, he settled at Paola, Miami county, 
Kansas; lived there twelve years and removed to Vermilion county, 
Illinois, and settled at Gilbert, and afterward at Alvin, on the removal 
of the former place. He was married on the 22d of March, 1860, to 
Maggie M. Steele. He was a charter member of the Miami Count}' 
Kansas Medical Society, which was organized in 1868, and is a member 
of the North Vermilion and of the Vermilion County Medical Societies. 
He has contributed to the following medical journals: "Cincinnati 
Repertory," " Lancet " and " Observer," of Cincinnati, and the "Ameri- 
can Practitioner" of Louisville and Indianapolis. Mr. Akers has been 
a reporter for country papers where he has lived the past twelve or 
thirteen years. His pen has been employed in literary ventures through 
the press at different times. He is at present correspondent of the 
" Danville Commercial." He has been a member of the Presb} 7 terian 
church for twenty years. In politics Mr. Akers is a republican. 

Joseph S. Christman, Rossville, farmer, was born on the 30th of 
January, 1854, in Warren county, Indiana. He is the son of Isaac and 
Elizabeth (Gundy) Christman. He was reared a farmer. In Decem- 
ber, 1871, he entered Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College, Indi- 
anapolis, and graduated in May, 1872. In the fall he began clerking 
in a dry-goods store in Attica, and early in the following year went to 
Indianapolis and engaged in merchandising until the fall of 1875, when 
he came to Rossville and took a position behind the counter in the 
establishment of W. J. Henderson & Co., retaining ^the same until the 
spring of 1878. 

George W. Salmans, Rossville, attorney, was born in Vinton county, 
Ohio, on the 9th of January, 1849, and is the son of George and Re- 
becca (Hudson) Salmans. He was a student at Evans' Union College, 
State Line City, for fifteen months. He taught district school half the 
time for ten years — just sixty months. In the fall of 1871 he entered 
the law department of the Michigan University, attending lectures one 
term. From this time till the fall of 1875 he worked on a farm, taught 
school and read law private]} 7 , when he returned to the university, fin- 
ished his course, and graduated on the 29th of March, 1876. He estab- 
lished himself at once at Rossville, where he is successfully practicing 
his profession. He was married on the 12th of October, 1876, to Ra- 
chel Alison, daughter of Mark M. Alison. He is the father of one 
child: Edwin, born on the 7th of May, 1878. He is an independent 
in politics and in religion. 

James A. Williams, Alvin, hardware and lumber dealer, was born 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 701 

in La Fayette, Indiana, on the 8th of November, 1845, and is a son of 
Harrison and Hannah (Gish) Williams. He was bred to farming, and 
lived near Pond Grove, in Warren county, Indiana, until 1873, when 
he began traveling for the benefit of his health, meantime studying 
medicine, and graduating at the Hygieo-Therapeutic College, at Flor- 
ence Heights, New Jersey, on the 10th day of April, 1876, delivering 
the valedictory address of his class on that occasion. In the winter of 
1873-4 he took the course in Drew's Business College, and graduated 
on the 2d of March, 1874. In 1864 he enlisted in the 135th Ind. Vols., 
a regiment of one-hundred-days men. He was married on the 17th of 
April, 1879, to Sarah E. Salmans. In March, 1877, he located in 
Alvin, where he has since carried on the lumber and hardware trade. 
In politics Mr. Williams is a republican. 



GEANT TOWNSHIP. 

Grant township was, until 1862, a portion of Eoss, and as now con- 
stituted, occupies the northeastern corner of the county, having Indiana 
for its eastern boundary, Iroquois county for its northern, Butler town- 
ship for its western, and Eoss for its southern. It is rectangular in 
shape ; is twelve and one-half miles long by seven and one-half wide, 
containing fifty-eight thousand eight hundred and eighty acres, being 
the largest township in the county. It contains all of townships 23, 
range 11 and 23, range 12, one and one-half miles oft' the north side of 
townships 22, range 11 and 22, range 12, and a narrow strip of the 
west side of 22,^range 10 and 23 range 10. It was almost entirely 
prairie, having but a few acres of timber near the center of its southern 
line, known as Bicknell's Point, and formed the great treeless " divide " 
between the head waters of the Vermilion and of the Iroquois. As 
late as 1860 but little of its land had been brought into cultivation, 
although the great highway of travel from the south to Chicago ran 
directly across its center twenty-five years before that time. When in 
1872 the railroad was built through it but few farms were intersected. 
The great prairie from Bicknell's Point stretching north was the dread 
of the early settler when he became benighted on his return from Chi- 
cago after a ten days' trip to that their only market. The dark, stormy, 
wintry nights carried terror to many a household when it was feared 
that the father or husband or son was trying to find his way home over 
the treeless waste of the great divide. 

A single incident of such tragic nature as to be told over and over 



704 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

was at one time postmaster of North Fork postoffice before the name 
was changed to Rossville. 

Col. Abel Woolverton, one of the best known of the early settlers in 
this township, settled in 1849 on section 18, two miles northeast of the 
Point. His was probably the first settlement out on the prairie, and 
as others came in his name was given to the neighborhood, and is so 
called yet. He came from Perrysville, Indiana, and had been in the 
Blackhawk war. He received the title of Colonel from his foster-brother, 
Gov. Whitcomb, of Indiana. He was onty able to enter a quarter- 
section at first, but afterward took land in sections 17 and 8. He 
engaged in farming, enduring the hardships consequent on early settle- 
ment on the prairie, raising cattle, fighting rattlesnakes and wolves 
with the same bravery he had the Indians. There was no market for 
anything but at Chicago, and there he had to go, over bleak prairies, 
through rain and mud, which latter was often one of the worst hard- 
ships the early settler had to endure. Points of trading at this time 
were Danville and Attica. Col. Woolverton was a competent sur- 
veyor and did considerable work in that line. Col. Woolverton died 
in 1865. Of his children, George, a young man of bright prospects, 
was killed near Richmond, in the rebellion ; Charles still lives on the 
farm which his father brought into cultivation, and Thomas lives near 
on part of the same land, down the branch from Col. Woolverton's, 
about a mile and a half toward the Fork. 

Churchill Boardman settled in 1845, and made a farm. His son 
lives near Rossville yet. Capt. McKibben, so well known to the early 
settlers of this county, lived a portion of the time in the same neighbor- 
hood. He had done valiant service fighting the Indians, had served 
as deputy sheriff and sheriff, and was probably as well known as any 
man in the county. Charles Leighton settled in the neighborhood 
about the same time. He still resides there at the age of nearly ninety 
years. 

Charles Wier was early, and Mr. Smart, who soon went back east, and 
settled just north of Bicknell's Point, on the Chicago road. Robert 
Crane (whom most of the early settlers persist in calling Cream) made 
an early settlement. Robert Davison entered what is now known as the 
Webb farm, but returned to Myersville. John Chenoweth, from Per- 
rysville, came in and remained one year. He died at Perrysville, and 
Charles Wier purchased his land. Mr. Glover lived three or four years 
on the land now owned by L. F. Goodman. Robert Anderson took 
land just west of the Davison place. 

James Holmes came from Kentucky, and settled on section 16 (21- 
11), in the south part of Ross, where his son John was born forty-three 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 701 

in La Fayette, Indiana, on the 8th of November, 1845, and is a son of 
Harrison and Hannah (Gish) Williams. He was bred to farming, and 
lived near Pond Grove, in Warren county, Indiana, until 1873, when 
he began traveling for the benefit of his health, meantime studying 
medicine, and graduating at the Hygieo-Therapeutic College, at Flor- 
ence Heights, New Jersey, on the 10th day of April, 1876, delivering 
the valedictory address of his class on that occasion. In the winter of 
1873-4 he took the course in Drew's Business College, and graduated 
on the 2d of March, 1874. In 1864 he enlisted in the 135th Ind. Vols., 
a regiment of one-hundred-days men. He was married on the 17th of 
April, 1879, to Sarah E. Salmans. In March, 1877, he located in 
Alvin, where he has since carried on the lumber and hardware trade. 
In politics Mr. Williams is a republican. 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 

Grant township was, until 1862, a portion of Ross, and as now con- 
stituted, occupies the northeastern corner of the county, having Indiana 
for its eastern boundary, Iroquois county for its northern, Butler town- 
ship for its western, and Ross for its southern. It is rectangular in 
shape ; is twelve and one-half miles long by seven and one-half wide, 
containing fifty-eight thousand eight hundred and eighty acres, being 
the largest township in the county. It contains all of townships 23, 
range 11 and 23, range 12, one and one-half miles off the north side of 
townships 22, range 11 and 22, range 12, and a narrow strip of the 
west side of 22, range 10 and 23 range 10. It was almost entirely 
prairie, having but a few acres of timber near the center of its southern 
line, known as BicknelPs Point, and formed the great treeless " divide " 
between the head waters of the Vermilion and of the Iroquois. As 
late as 1860 but little of its land had been brought into cultivation, 
although the great highway of travel from the south to Chicago ran 
directly across its center twenty-five years before that time. When in 
1872 the railroad was built through it but few farms were intersected. 
The great prairie from BicknelPs Point stretching north was the dread 
of the early settler when he became benighted on his return from Chi- 
cago after a ten days' trip to that their only market. The dark, stormy, 
wintry nights carried terror to many a household when it was feared 
that the father or husband or son was trying to find his way home over 
the treeless waste of the great divide. 

A single incident of such tragic nature as to be told over and over 



704 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

was at one time postmaster of North Fork postoffice before the name 
was changed to Rossville. 

Col. Abel Woolverton, one of the best known of the early settlers in 
this township, settled in 1849 on section 18, two miles northeast of the 
Point. His was probably the first settlement out on the prairie, and 
as others came in his name was given to the neighborhood, and is so 
called yet. He came from Penwsville, Indiana, and had been in the 
Blackhawk war. He received the title of Colonel from his foster-brother, 
Gov. Whitcomb, of Indiana. He was only able to enter a quarter- 
section at first, but afterward took land in sections 17 and 8. He 
engaged in farming, enduring the hardships consequent on early settle- 
ment on the prairie, raising cattle, fighting rattlesnakes and wolves 
with the same bravery he had the Indians. There was no market for 
anything but at Chicago, and there he had to go, over bleak prairies, 
through rain and mud, which latter was often one of the worst hard- 
ships the early settler had to endure. Points of trading at this time 
were Danville and Attica. Col. Woolverton was a competent sur- 
veyor and did considerable work in that line. Col. Woolverton died 
in 1865. Of his children, George, a young man of bright prospects, 
was killed near Richmond, in the rebellion ; Charles still lives on the 
farm which his father brought into cultivation, and Thomas lives near 
on part of the same land, down the branch from Col. Woolverton's, 
about a mile and a half toward the Fork. 

Churchill Board man settled in 1845, and made a farm. His son 
lives near Rossville yet. Capt. McKibben, so well known to the early 
settlers of this county, lived a portion of the time in the same neighbor- 
hood. He had done valiant service fighting the Indians, had served 
as deputy sheriff and sheriff, and was probably as w y ell known as any 
man in the county. Charles Leighton settled in the neighborhood 
about the same time. He still resides there at the age of nearly ninety 
years. 

Charles Wier was early, and Mr. Smart, who soon went back east, and 
settled just north of BicknelPs Point, on the Chicago road. Robert 
Crane (whom most of the early settlers persist in calling Cream) made 
an early settlement. Robert Davison entered what is now known as the 
Webb farm, but returned to Myersville. John Chenoweth, from Per- 
rysville, came in and remained one year. He died at Perrysville, and 
Charles Wier purchased his land. Mr. Glover lived three or four years 
on the land now owned by L. F. Goodman. Robert Anderson took 
land just west of the Davison place. 

James Holmes came from Kentucky, and settled on section 16 (21- 
11), in the south part of Ross, where his son John was born forty-three 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 705 

years ago, so that he is one of the oldest natives of the northern part 
of the county. Mr. Holmes was elected a justice of the peace in 1846, 
six years before township organization was effected in the county. He 
was reelected when Ross was organized, and for a number of years in 
succession was elected assessor and collector of that township. He 
was a man of few early advantages of school education, but of strong 
good sense, and was a very acceptable official in all the positions he 
tilled. He settled among the very first on the Jordan, and sold to 
Thomas Gundy, and entered the land known as the Tomlinson farm, 
and at one time owned forty acres where Alvin now is. He brought 
up a family of eleven children, who nearly all survived him. He en- 
gaged in farming, raising cattle and hogs. He was an honored mem- 
ber of the Christian church, and of the Masonic and Odd-Fellows 
fraternities. He died in 'January, 1864, at the time of the terrible 
cold which prevailed all over the country, and it was several days 
before arrangements could be perfected for his funeral. His wife died 
in 1848, during the time of the high water, which is said to have 
marked the highest ever known on the Wabash. She was buried in 
the Kight burying ground, and the neighbors were obliged to make a 
raft to convey the remains to their final resting place. Of his six chil- 
dren now living three are daughters : Mrs. Mark Wilson, Mrs. Jesse 
Prather, Mrs. John Turl, and three sons: John, Phillip and William. 
All the northeast part of the township was open prairie and uncul- 
tivated until the railroad was built. William Allen, Esq., was the 
pioneer in the northern part of the township. He came from Ohio in 
1844, and taught school three miles south of Danville, in the Jones 
neighborhood. He afterward taught in the Duncan neighborhood, in 
Newell, and married there in 1848. He then lived in Danville awhile 
and practiced law, and served as assistant to W. D. Palmer, county 
superintendent. In May, 1850, he took up a farm on the high land 
northwest of Hoopeston, where a beautiful spring had attracted atten- 
tion, and afterward bought more. This was believed to be one of the 
finest farms, or at least would become one of the finest farms, in the 
county ; and so old Thomas Hoopes considered it for three years after 
he bought this land for ten dollars an acre. The old hedge, which runs 
along near the Hibbard House, was the south line of this farm, and 
the county line the north one. Allen was county assessor while liv- 
ing out here, and after selling out went back to Danville, thence to 
Perrysville, and, in 1858, back to East Lynne, where he again pio- 
neered, being the first settler in the northern part of Butler township. 
One son is engaged in law at Possville and one daughter at East 
Lynne ; the others are with their parents at Hoopeston. Mr. Allen has 
45 



706 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

seen this part of the county blossom into fruitful farms. When he first 
struck plow on his farm here, for miles in all directions, nothing met 
the eye but prairie-grass ; even the great herds of cattle, which after- 
ward were seen in these parts, were absent then. 

Amos Thompson entered four hundred acres of land here in 1853, 
but never resided on it after the railroad was built. His sons came 
here and turned the raw prairie into city lots. 

Thomas Hoopes, for whom Hoopeston was named, is a good sam- 
ple of the better class of those fortunate people who have greatness 
thrust on them without ever praying for it or entertaining any strong 
faith in its coming. He grew up to stalwart manhood in Chester 
county, Pennsylvania, and emigrated to Harrison connty, Ohio. Lived 
in Marion awhile, and in 1853 bought the farm of Win. Allen. He 
came on here in 1855 and commenced work as best he could. He 
bought some land of D. C. Andrews and C. J. Hungerford, and under- 
took to get it into shape to get a living from it. He brought eight 
hundred sheep with him, and by taking in a herd of cattle to tend each 
year, he managed to keep inside of his expenses. There was no place 
for stopping on the Chicago road from Bicknell's Point to the " red 
pump," near Milford, when he made his home on the big prairie. The 
first year he had to go over to the Jordan to buy corn, and pay seventy- 
five cents a bushel for it ; since that time he has managed, by careful 
economizing, such as he is master of, to raise enough for his own use. 
He did not go into wheat very extensively, as many others did about 
that time, but raised corn and oats. Within three years he got about 
three hundred acres into good cultivation, having over one thousand 
acres in prairie grass to keep a herd on. Wool was his principal crop, 
which was more reliable than now. The vast range was suitable for 
the health of his sheep, the absence of neighborly dogs was favorable, 
and, by keeping up in a close pen at night, they were safe from the 
attack of wolves. Wolves, though apparently bold when they have a 
free field for escape, are cowards when hemmed in by a high fence. 
They would not climb into an inclosure where the sheep were in a 
crowd ; they seemed to fear being penned in. He did not raise many 
hogs, but kept his flock of sheep and herd of cattle increasing. He 
never drove cattle to the markets, being satisfied that he knew enough 
to raise cattle, but was not sharp enough to try any risks of a speculative 
nature. In 1859 he sold a thousand sheep, and during the war he sold 
off the remainder, thinking that if the war kept on there would not 
be young men enough left in the country to take care of what he had, 
and if it did not continue, his sheep would fall in price. His nearest 
neighbors, for some years, were Col. Woolverton and Churchill Board- 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 707 

man. He had no more idea of seeing a city grow up on his farm here 
than of seeing a volcano ; and when the road was built, and Snell, Taylor 
& Co. wanted to buy him out, he had no desire to go into any specu- 
lation in city lots, and sold them a thousand acres for just what he 
believed it was worth. Now, at the age of 73, he has a quiet home in 
the little city which the railroads forced on him, and looks upon the 
last } r ears of his life as almost a dream. 

Alba Honeywell was born in Cayuga county, New York, and received 
a good education, and very early got into the anti-slavery and temper- 
ance work as a disciple of Garrison, Wendell Phillips and Beria Green. 
He was an agitator by his very nature, and devoted his time to writing 
and speaking for political and moral reforms. In fact, it was impossi- 
ble for any one who had once drank at the spring of man's brother- 
hood which flowed from the inspiring brain of William Lloyd Garrison 
to cease preaching abolition upon every occasion. The hero who could 
say " strike, but hear, 1 ' did not need to use arguments to induce such 
minds as Honeywell's to take up the refrain for universal liberty. He 
had charge of "Box Brown" during his tour, in relating his wonder- 
ful escape from American slavery, packed in a dry goods box. This 
story, as he told it, in his plain, simple language, how he had permitted 
himself to be nailed up in a box and shipped north as freight, consigned 
to the abolitionists, carefully marked " this side up with care," was in- 
tensely interesting ; and people crowded to his meetings to hear from 
his own lips the story of his " abolition," as they do nowadays to an 
" agricultural hoss trot." The carelessness of the boat hands in stow- 
ing the box away upside down, leaving him for some days without the 
power to help himself to the little food he had prepared for his journey, 
was one of the most interesting parts of his story. 

Hon. Lyford Marston was born in Massachusetts and emigrated to 
Kentucky, where he became a law partner of Hon. Garrett Davis, the 
last of the old whig senators of that dark and somewhat bloody ground. 
About 1859 he came to this county and settled on his farm northwest 
of the present city of Hoopeston. He has been a successful farmer and 
stock-raiser. In 1878 he was elected to the state legislature by a very 
flattering vote, and gave a very close and attentive care to the duties 
of his position. 

CHURCHES. 

The Antioch church, which was built on section 34, about two miles 
from the southern and two from the eastern line of the township, was 
the outgrowth of a union effort for securing the necessary house of 
worship for that part of the town. Elder Stites at an early day had 
preached there at the house of James Holmes, who was a member of 



708 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

that — the Christian — denomination, and others of that connection 
followed. Father Connor preached there in 1870, and Elders Hubbard 
and Stipp, since. Rev. Mr. Warren is now serving the church. 

The Methodist class, that worships in the same place, has belonged 
to the Rossville circuit, and has been served by the same pastors who 
have labored at Hoopeston. The church is a neat and commodious 
building, and by the terms of its bnilding is to be free to be occupied 
by all christian denominations. Noah Brown and Mr. Brillhart were 
trustees, and were largely instrumental in collecting the means to build, 
which was subscribed liberally by all the neighborhood. 

The first town meeting held in Grant township after it was cut off 
from Ross, was held in the Owen school-house, April, 1862. The fol- 
lowing are the officers who have been elected since that time : 

Date. Vote. Supervisor. Clerk. Assessor. Collector. 

1862... 95... J. R. Stewart A. M. Davis A.M. Davis W. W. Smith. 

1863... 89... J. R. Stewart A. M. Davis A. M. Davis W. W. Smith. 

1864... 98... J. R. Stewart A. M. Davis A. M. Davis J. R.Smith. 

1865. . . 78. . .J. R. Stewart A. M. Davis E. B. Jenkins J. R. Smith. 

1866... 100... Fred. Tilton A. M. Davis E. B. Jenkins A. Warner. 

1867... 143... Fred. Tilton A. M. Davis A. M. Davis Wm. Brillhart. 

1868... 152... Ira Green A. M. Davis A. M. Davis Wm. Moore. 

1869. ..134.. .Ira Green A. M. Davis A. M. Davis Wm. Moore. 

1870... 183... C. Hartwell A.M. Davis A. Warner Wm. Moore. 

1871... 201... C. Hartwell A. M. Davis A. Warner W. W. Duly. 

1872. . .240. . .W. F. Youngblood.A. M. Davis A. Warner W. W. Daly. 

1873. . .302. . . W. F. Youngblood.A. M. Davis L. Marston T. W. Harris. 

1874. . .373. . . W. F. Youngblood.A. M. Davis J. F. Marquis. . . .T. W. Harris. 

1875... 315... W.F. Youngblood.A. M. Davis Wm. Glaze W. W. Duly. 

1876 W. F. Youngblood.A. M. Davis J. F. Marquis J. F. Marquis. 

1877 W. F. Youngblood.A. M. Davis J. F. Marquis. . . .W. I. Hobert. 

1878. . .528! . . W. R. Clark B. F. Stites J. F. Marquis. . . .W. I. Hobert. 

1879. . .576. . . W. R. Clark B. F. Stites Thos. Wolverton . W. I. Hobert. 

Justices of the peace have been : James Holmes, E. B. Jenkins, W. 
D. Foulke, A. M. Davis, Wm. Moore and L. Armstrong. 

The record of Grant township on the matter of railroad aid is very 
similar to that of nearly all other railroad townships. The legislature 
of the state in response to an almost universal demand for more liberal 
facilities for railroad building, passed in 1869 the act known as the 
refunding act, or, in common parlance, the " Tax Grab." There were 
many localities in the state like the one here in northern Vermilion, 
that were destitute of railroad facilities. There was not sufficient in- 
ducement for any company to build roads to such places in the mere 
prospect of business to be transacted, and the counties and townships 
wanting the roads could not well afford to give the bonds necessary to 
go on with the enterprise, so the plan was adopted of making the other 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 709 

counties help pay for the investment. An act was passed giving to 
the counties, cities, towns or townships which should vote aid for rail- 
road building under the provisions of this act, all the state taxes which 
should be raised on the railroad so built, and on its property, and all 
state tax on all increase of assessment over the assessment of 1868, as 
a fund to help pay the bonds issued in aid of railroads. 

An election was called, May 11, 1867, to vote for or against giving 
$14,000 to the Chicago, Danville & Yincennes railroad, but the elec- 
tion was adjourned without action in consequence of informality. June 
3d an election was held, which resulted in 132 for, to 17 against, such 
aid. A special town meeting held on the 25th of August, 1868, to 
vote for or against $4,500 additional in aid of the same road, which 
resulted in a vote of 60 for, to 19 against. At a later date,— but the 
township records fail to show anything in regard to it, — a vote was 
had to take $25,000 stock in the Lafayette, Bloomington & Mississippi 
railroad. The bonds were issued, the stock was taken, but by a recent 
foreclosure of the mortgage the stock has all been wiped out, and Grant 
is not any longer a railroad stock holder. On the 27th of June, 1876, 
a special town meeting was held to decide, by a vote of the township, 
whether they would employ 'counsel to contest the payment of the 
bonds, which resulted in a vote of 135 for, to 17 against, such contest; 
and a vote was also taken in favor of raising $4,000 by tax, to use in 
contesting the bonds. Hon. Charles H. Wood, of Chicago, was em- 
ployed, under the resolution of this meeting, to take care of the case 
in behalf of the township. 

HOOPESTON A CITY OF EIGHT YEARS. 

Hoopeston is at the crossing of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois and 
the Lafayette, Bloomington & Muncie railroads; is situated on the 
high rolling prairie which forms the dividing ridge between the waters 
of the Wabash and the Illinois rivers, and in the artesian region, forty- 
two miles from La Fayette, twenty-seven from Danville, twenty-six 
from Paxton, and twenty -four from Watseka. When the railroads 
were built through here, in 1871, the entire country, for miles around, 
with the exception of the Hoopes farm, was an unbroken prairie, and 
with no trading point or railroad nearer than the places above men- 
tioned, it was known that this must soon become a place of consider- 
able importance. The two construction companies which were building 
these roads, Snell, Taylor & Co. and Young & Co., looked with covet- 
ous eyes upon this railroad crossing, both inwardly vowing that they 
would possess the prize. Both companies were in the height of their 
prosperity (this was in 1871, before the panic of '73 had knocked the 



710 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

bottom out of every railroad enterprise and construction company in 
the country), both being managed by shrewd, determined, positive 
men, who were not in the habit of being thwarted in their plans. 
Both, at that time, "knew no such word as fail." "When Greek 
meets Greek then comes the tug of war," and this struggle between 
the two contestants for this prize was about the only " war record " 
this young city ever knew. Young & Co., through their agent, Mr. 
Honeywell, made acceptable terms with the land owners on the east of 
the Chicago, Danville & Vincennes road, and supposed they had made 
terms with Mr. Hoopes ; but while they were like the servant of the 
prophet, " here and there," Col. Snell closed a bargain with Mr. 
Hoopes for one thousand acres of his land lying west of the junction, 
and forestalled Young & Co. 

Mr. Hoopes knew enough to manage a good farm, but he doubted 
his ability to go into a scramble for selling city lots; for this reason "he 
would have nothing to do with the business, but was ready to sell out 
to either party. 

When Young & Co. found that they were defeated in their plan of 
getting control of all the land which would come into the town plat, 
they bent their efforts to make the most of what they had, while the 
other firm, intent on a like operation, hurried up the platting of their 
part, and making such improvements as should offer strong induce- 
ments to business men. In the rage for speculation three separate 
towns were laid out and recorded. Davis and Satterthwait laid out 
eighteen acres, on the 28th of July, where Main street is, and called it 
Hoopeston. Snell, Taylor & Co. (consisting of Col. Thomas Snell, of 
Clinton ; Abner Taylor, Esq., of Chicago, and James Aiken, who re- 
cently died in Chicago, with Mr. Mix, of Kankakee, as a special part- 
ner) laid out in November one hundred and sixty acres where the 
Hibbard House stands, and called it Leeds. Thompson Brothers laid 
out that east and north of the railroads, and called it North Hoopeston ; 
and Davis and Satterthwait an addition to Hoopeston, — making, with 
some other additions, about five hundred acres in all. 

The track of the C. D. & V. road was laid through town on the 
24th of July, 1871, and not a house nearer than a mile. The next day 
a few people collected to see the surveyors drive the first stake of the 
future metropolis of the prairie. Charles W} 7 man was the first to com- 
mence laying off and selling lots. Messrs. Lukens Brothers, who are 
still in business here, were the first to purchase. On the 28th of July, 
Mr. Wyman's office, the first building, was built by J. C. Davis, who 
was the pioneer carpenter and did a prosperous business until he was 
repeatedly burned out. J. Bedell, who is yet here in trade, started the 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 711 

first grocery store. The strife between the different landed proprietors 
grew warm. The proprietors of Leeds built a large hotel three stories 
high and had it ready for occupancy that fall, and soon after that built 
the fine brick block, two stories high, and the five frame one-story 
stores and the large livery bam, all of which buildings now stand there 
practically unused. They put in wide sidewalks, set out shade trees, 
graded up the streets and run the grade ont a mile from their center. 
They made very liberal offers to such as wanted to rent buildings 
of them, but the lots lying between their improvements and the lands 
of the other proprietors they would not sell at an}' price. Their plan 
looks reckless now, in the light of eight years, but after the contest 
they had for the possession of the town, there does not seem to have 
been any other course for them to pursue. Had they permitted 
the lots joining the tracts of others to be put on the market first, they 
could hardly have expected to retain the business on their lands. The 
proprietors of the original town were pushing their lots into notice, 
and every person who purchased there became an attorney in fact 
to work up a sale of the remaining lots as fast as possible. 

During the first season the lots along Market street, of North 
Hoopeston, were the popular ones, and nearly every business was 
located on that street, which became the thoroughfare of trade and 
commerce. Way out north of the railroad, for four blocks, buildings 
went up in quick succession, nearly all the stores, the postoffice, the 
printing office, and in fact nearly everything called business was in 
North Hoopeston. B. F. Stites was pretty nearly in the center of 
trade. 

In October the postoffice was established and J. M. R. Spinning 
was appointed postmaster, a position he continued to hold until 1878. 
when Judge Dale Wallace was appointed, but the first mail did not 
arrive here, for some unexplained cause, until the 9th of December, 
when it was brought over from Rossville in an open buggy, which had 
to be provided for the occasion free of expense to the postoffice depart- 
ment. It was not until the 1st of January, 1872, that mail came by 
the trains. 

In October of that year religious services commenced to be held in 
the store of Mr. McCracken ; this was for some months headquarters 
for religious instruction and heavenly intelligence. The people were 
not so particular what a man's denominational credentials were ; if 
he could preach, and was not above occupying " McCracken's pulpit," 
they heard him gladly. Seavy & Wallace commenced the publication 
of the first and only newspaper ever published in Hoopeston, issuing 
the first number on the 11th of January, 1872, of "The North Ver- 



712 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

milion Chronicle." The first number gave a very full account of the 
" Early days of Hoopeston " — the town was less than six months old, 
and was full of interest to every resident. The first number which 
came from the press was put up at auction and sold for $32.50 ; the few 
succeeding copies were also sold in the same way, commanding sums 
which made the young proprietors feel an assurance of certain success. 
It was a seven-column folio and contained about six columns of adver- 
tisements. The following persons and firms made known their desire 
to do business with the citizens of Hoopeston and the surrounding 
prairie, in the first number : Whipple & Brown, S. K. White, G. C. 
Davis, Deamude & Lefever (of Rossville), Ed. Stemp, J. W. Elliott, 
G. H. White, Motfett & Kirkpatrick, J. Bedell, E. D. North, F. G. 
Hoffman, Miller & Brother, A. B. Perkins, R. Morey, Given & Knox, 
R. McCracken, Roof & Rae, Mrs. Robb, Dr. Anderson, Dr. McCaughey, 
J. C. Askern, Esq., J. H. Phillips, Snell, Taylor & Co., C. L.' Wy- 
man and B. Sanders. The paper continued to be published under that 
name for a year and a half, and then the name was changed to the 
ik Hoopeston Chronicle." After about four years Seavey & Wallace 
sold it, but a year later Mr. Wallace purchased it and continues to 
publish it. The " Chronicle" has always been a first-class local paper, 
and has received a liberal patronage from the enterprising, stirring 
citizens of this lively young city. It is republican in politics. 

On the 1st of January, 1872, five months after the surveyor's stakes 
had been driven in the wild prairie, seventy buildings had been erected 
and the population was two hundred and forty-five, and by the 1st of 
January, 1873, — less than one year and a half, — one hundred and 
eighty buildings were up, the population had increased to eight hun- 
dred, and seventeen miles of streets had been graded, three hotels built, 
a bank started, the principal streets provided with sidewalks, an ele- 
vator built, and over forty business houses in full operation. The history 
of Illinois may be searched in vain for a parallel to the sudden growth 
and development of the wild prairie. Only in the wild speculations of 
mining camps can the like be found. Chicagowas many years in mak- 
ing a similar growth. Neither has this growth proved fitful and un- 
certain. The men who first pinned their faith to Hoopeston remain to 
realize, in a great measure, the full fruition of that hope. The failure 
of the speculative enterprise of Snell, Taylor & Co., after investing 
about $25,000 in buildings and improvements, is the only exception to 
the general success. 

CHURCHES, SOCIETIES, SCHOOLS, ETC. 

The Methodist society was organized in 1872 by Rev. B. F. Hyde, 
of Rossville, and presiding elder Rev. Preston Wood. The preaching 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 713 

was at first in McCracken's store. It took some time to get matters 
started in this town, so that the preachers could have regular places 
for preaching the Word. The circuit at that time included Schwartz, 
East Lynne and Antioch, Rev. A. H. Alkire being pastor. In 1873 
Rev. W. Lang was pastor, J. W. Phillips, presiding elder. Dick 
School-house and Bridgman School-house were added as regular ap- 
pointments. In 1874 J. Muirhead was pastor, his pastorate continuing 
three years. During his time the church was commenced. It is a fine 
structure, very pleasantly located, with a beautiful spire one hundred 
and thirteen feet high. It is in the Gothic style of architecture, 
34 x 56, to which has been added an extension for a class-room, 16 x40. 
The building is yet incomplete, and has cost $3,300. In 1877 Rev. H. 
M. Hoff was appointed to this circuit, and still remains in the work. 
The present membership of the church is eighty-six; J. Lakin, Thomas 
Smith and M. G. Miller, class leaders. The Sunday-school under the 
superintendency of E. B. Row is in a flourishing condition, numbering 
about seventy-five, and is maintained all the year. 

The United Presbyterian church was organized in May, 1872, by 
Rev. J. D. Whitham, who lived at that time at Sugar Creek, near 
Rankin, and when the wave of migration carried many members of 
the church from Paxton to Hoopeston, he collected them together and 
organized a church of twenty-two members, with T. C. McCaughey, 
G. M. Kirkpatrick and R. M. Knox as ruling elders, who still continue 
to officiate. Thirteen of the original members still continue here. 
Rev. R. C. Wyatt served the church for two years as stated supply. 
At first the meetings were held in the only "synagogue" in town, Mc- 
Cracken's store. Rev. R. C. Hamilton, from Ohio, preached to the 
congregation for three months. Rev. E. D. Campbell, Rev. J. H. 
Gibson and Rev. G. W. Torrance successively labored, and Rev. T. A. 
Houston is present supply. While Mr. Gibson was in charge the 
church was built — a neat, substantial edifice 36 x 55, with session room 
attached — at a cost of $1,500. The church numbers forty-eight. The 
Sundaj'-school is the continuation of the original Union school, of 
which Dr. McCaughey was superintendent, and who still continues 
the same relation. The school numbers about one hundred, has twelve 
teachers, and is interesting and successful. 

The Baptist church was organized by Rev. G. T. Willis, from Cham- 
paign, in 1873, with twelve members. He continued to preach for two 
years. The church belongs to the Gilman Association, and has simply 
kept up its connections, and has no church or pastor. 

The First Presbyterian church of Hoopeston was organized on the 
3d of May, 1872, by Rev. A. L. Brooks and Rev. Mr. Steel, a commit- 



714 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

tee of the Bloomington Presbytery, with eighteen members. E. R. 
Strauss, W. Maxwell and L. W. Anderson, elders. Mr. Steele preached 
one year one-third of the time. Rev. M. Lynn supplied the church for 
one year. In the fall of 1877, Rev. A. L. Knox, formerly of Hey worth, 
was employed to preach, preaching each morning and evening, and at 
Victor school-house and Ross school-house, afternoons. The present 
elders are D. B. Crane, H. Lukens, Josiah Jones, John Miller and John 
Palmer. The Sabbath-school numbers about sixty, with H. Lukens, 
superintendent. The church numbers thirty-six, and has no house of 
worship, but meets in Clark's hall. 

The church of Christ (Christian) was organized June, 1873, by Elder 
Rawley Martin with twelve members. J. M. R. Spinning and J. S. 
Shirley, elders; J. Hawkins and Thomas Roof, deacons. Elders Roe 
and A. R. Owen were successive pastors of the young church, and Rev. 
C. Austin the present preacher. The church edifice was built in 1874, 
is 36x50, a neat substantial building with steeple, and cost about 
$1,800. The present membership is sixty-five, and present officers are 
John Williams, J. Hawkins and George Chamberlain, elders; Win. 
Bloomfield and Joseph Green, deacons. 

There were representatives of the Friends here at Hoopeston from 
the laying out of the new town. Joseph M. Satterthwait was one of 
the original proprietors of the town. In 1872 he built a commodious 
dwelling, corner of Third and Penn streets, into which, during the 
fall, himself and wife, Isaac T. Lukens and wife, and Miss Edith Mul- 
len, moved. Here, in their new home, the first meetings were held, 
which were continued, according to the rules and discipline of the 
Friends, twice a week — first day and fifth day — for a year. In 1873 
R. M. Lukens, wife and daughter, joined the pioneers of that faith 
here. Mr. Lukens had a building erected on the corner of Third and 
Main, and arranged it for a meeting-house. His proposition to the 
Friends to occupy this met with very general acquiescence. It was 
here, in the fali of 1873, that the first public meetings of the "Rich- 
land Meeting of Friends" were held, where they continue to meet. 
Several of their number have passed away, and others have come in, 
keeping a stead} 7 growth, not only in numbers but in that channel of 
love and friendship becoming their christian profession. 

SCHOOLS. 

In no respect does the public spirit of the people of Hoopeston 
show a better development than in the matter of schools. No sooner 
had the village got under way than a live board of directors was elect- 
ed — G. C. Davis, Mr. Armstrong, and Win. Moore — who proceeded 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 



715 



at once to put the school in running order. The first need was a suit- 
able house. It became a question whether the district should build a 
good, substantial, well-proportioned, large school-house,- one within 
whose walls all could be accommodated, and whose spacious propor- 
tions, beautiful surroundings and pleasant appointments would inspire 
the pupil, and awaken taste, love of school and culture- or whether 
cheap, scattered buildings should be erected, in which a strict grade 
could not be instituted. The former was wisely chosen, and it was 
through this decision that the Hoopeston public schools have become 
known far and wide as among the best in the country. This action 
necessitated a heavy debt, but it is now well-nigh wiped out In what 




HOOPESTON PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDINU. 

ever the directors have done to make the schools more effective the 
people have cordially seconded them, and the result has been that the 
officers have felt sustained. The present directors are: W K Clark 
Wm. Glaze and Joseph Green, under whose excellent administration the 
school has attained the highest standard of success. In 1877 the pre- 
sent principal was employed. His work has given such general satis- 
faction that a large number of pupils have come in from the country 
around about to perfect their studies as teachers,- or business men, or 
farmers, and farmers' wives. During the past year nearly four hun- 
dred dollars has been received from foreign pupils for tuition The 
Hoopeston Normal School is held each summer, under the direction of 



716 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Prof. T. B. Bird, where teachers and 'those about to teach are pre- 
pared for their work. The success of their school is not more a matter 
of pride to the directors and teachers than of gratnlation to the citi- 
zens. 

SOCIETIES. 

Star Lodge, No. 709, Free and Accepted Masons, was chartered in 
1872. The charter members are: George Steely, William Moore, Will- 
iam Brillhart, Cyrus Hartwell, J. S. Crane, Thomas Williams, Jona- 
than Bedell, E. D. North and J. M. R. Spinning. J. Bedell was first 
master. The present officers are: Dale Wallace, W.M. ; P. F. Levin, 
S.W. ; K. Miskimmins, J.W. ; J. S. Powell, Sec; J. A. Cunning- 
ham, Treas. ; L. R. North, S.D. ; T. C. Baxter, J.D. ; P. W. Silver, T. 
Lodge numbers about seventy. They have a fine lodge room in the 
bank building. 

Hoopeston Chapter (under dispensation) numbers fourteen mem- 
bers. William Moore, LLP. ; P. F. Levin, K. ; J. A. Cunningham, 
Scribe ; Dale Wallace, Sec. ; Thomas Williams, Treas. 

Hoopeston Lodge, I.O.O.F., was organized September, 1872, with 
the following charter members: W. F. Rader, N.G. ; Sj'dney Teller, 
V.G. ; B. F. Stites, Sec. ; John Burns and H. Shaver. It numbers 
forty members. The following are present officers : W. F. Rader, N.G. ; 
A. F. McKnight, Y.G. ; Thomas Wolverton, R.S. ; B. F. Stites, Sec. ; 
J. Wyford, Treas. It meets every Tuesday evening. 

As soon as Hoopeston took shape, and the active, live men who 
had come to stay set about putting in motion every measure which 
would improve their condition, with this view the Hoopeston District 
Agricultural Society was formed, _ on the 12th of July, 1873. Cyrus 
Hartwell was elected president; J. Ellis, vice-president; Thomas Will- 
iams, treasurer ; G. W. Seavy, secretary. The stock was fixed at $5,000, 
but afterward increased to $10,000. The society got thirty acres of 
land half a mile west of the railroad, enclosed it, erected stalls, floral 
hall and mechanics' hall, laid out a good track, and in six weeks from 
the date of organization, held one of the largest and most successful 
fairs ever held in this portion of the state. The receipts of the first 
fair were $2,100. Since then, an amphitheatre has been built, music 
stand, officers' stand, dining hall, a building for exhibition of fine car- 
riages, and other necessary buildings. Shade trees have been set out, 
and everything put in first-class order. The society has given more 
attention to offering liberal inducements to fine stock than to fast 
horses, and has been a decided success from the first. There is a splen- 
did supply of water on the fair grounds. The premiums have been 
paid in full in cash each year, without deduction. The society is in the 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 717 

hands of men who generally make a success of what they undertake, 
and the success thus far shows that it is being run on business princi- 
ples. 

The Hoopeston Library and Lecture Association was organized 
December 30, 1872, and Hon. Lyford Marston elected president; K. 
Casemut, vice-president ; G. ~W\ Seavy, secretary ; W. Gloze, treasurer ; 
S. E. Miller, librarian. The membership fee was fixed at one dollar 
per year, and had fifty members. The interest in it has not been main- 
tained as it should have been. N 

The Sunbonnet Club is an exclusive society of youngerly ladies, 
which has among its objects the support of a library association. Mem- 
bership to the library association is subject to an annual fee of one 
dollar. Membership to the club is not dependent upon a property 
qualification, but on the expressed will of all the members. All that 
outsiders know of the qualifications of membership is that a sunbonnet 
is indispensable, and that the Lauras are very apt to be admitted. 
Whether the members are all striving for a laural crown is mere con- 
jecture. The officers are : president, Addie Reame ; vice-president, 
Jennie Dyer; corresponding secretary, Laura Fleming; treasurer, 
Laura Calkins ; secretary, Laura Smythe. 

INCORPORATION. 

On the 12th of January, 1874, a petition was presented to the 
county court of Vermilion county by W. R. Clark and fifty-six others, 
praying for incorporation as a village under the act of 1872, with the 
following corporate limits: the east half of section 11, the west three- 
fourths of section 12 (23-11), and the south half of the southwest 
quarter and the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 1, 
and the south half of the southeast quarter of section 2 (23-12). The 
court entertained the prayer of the petitioners, and appointed an elec- 
tion to be held at the store of William Brillhart, January 31, to vote 
for or against such organization, and appointed W. R. Clark, T. J. Corr 
and J. S. Dellose judges of such election. At such election 174 votes 
were cast, 98 being for and 76 being against such incorporation. The 
court ordered an election to be held Saturday, February 28, for six 
trustees for the government of said village, and appointed the same 
judges to conduct the election. At that election 172 votes were cast, 
and the following trustees were elected : T. J. Corr, J. Bedell, N. 
Dauner, W. R. Clark, S. P. Thompson, L. North. 

The board of trustees proceeded to organize b}* electing T. J. Corr 
president and J. M. R. Spining, clerk. A vote of thanks was unani- 
mously returned to L. Armstrong, Esq., for swearing the trustees into 



18 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 



office. J. W. Hawkins was appointed street commissioner, G. W. 
Seavy, police constable, and J. S. McFerren, treasurer. At the regu- 
lar annual election, April 21, W. R. Clark, S. P. Thompson, N. L. 
Thompson, Thomas Watkins, W. A. Brillhart and L. Armstrong were 
elected trustees; A. H. Young, police magistrate, and J. S. Powell, 
clerk. The salary of the clerk was fixed at $100. Just how this 
flourishing village got into the order of cities seems to be a mystery. 
Certain it is that there is no record of any action taken, by vote or 
otherwise, to get into city organization. Indeed it is said that at the 
time of this metamorphosis there was no law on the statute books per- 
mitting the change from village to city, and that the entire proceeding 
was illegal. The only reasonable explanation is that Hoopeston, like 
the parliament of Great Britain, could do anything, and it just naturally 
moved out from its outgrown position of village, and took orders in 
the city line, with a kind of " who's afraid ; bring on your almanac " 
air. The question of its right to do so is yet unsolved. The present 
officers (1879) are: A. Honeywell, mayor; W. M. Young, clerk; Mr. 
Bedell, treasurer; H* H. Dyer, attorney ; J. Miller, A. M. Fleming 
and Joseph Crouch, aldermen. 

At first Hoopeston was three-headed, as has been heretofore ex- 
plained. The effort of those who had her best interests at heart was 
to combine these three and condense the business as much as possible 
on Main street, so that now her finest structures are found on that 
street. The buildings which were put up by Snell, Taylor & Co. have 

gone into disuse. The Hibbard 
House, at the time of its building, 
was the finest hotel in the county, 
and the stores are almost all unoc- 
cupied. The line of Market street 
has been pretty nearty abandoned by 
the mercantile gentlemen, although 
some good stores remain there. The 
fine bank building built by Mr. 
McFerren in 1876 is 24x60, brick, 
two stories and basement. It is a 
very neat building, nicely trimmed, 
and is occupied by Mr. McFerren as 
a bank, and with his partner, as a 
real estate office, and by H. H. Dyer as a law office, on the main floor. 
The entire basement is occupied by the "Chronicle" office editorial 
and press rooms. Above, the Masonic fraternity have an elegant 
lodge-room. The building cost $5,000, and is the finest building in 




M FERREN S BANK BUILDING. 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 719 

town. W. R. Clark and Dr. T. J. Roof built, in 1877, the two-story 
brick double store across the street, west from the bank. It is 50 x 100, 
occupied by the proprietors below, and by the Odd-Fellows over Dr. 
Roof's, and as a public hall over Mr. Clark's. The building cost 
$7,500. Thomas Hoopes, the same year, built the double brick store 
north of the bank. It is 45 x 80, and occupied for stores below and 
offices above. It cost $7,000. * The little city contains a number of 
other substantial business houses and residences that would appear 
respectable in any town in the west. 

WEAVER CITY. 

A city which came into being and disappeared without a history, 
was laid out by George Weaver where the L. B. & M. railroad crosses 
the Indiana line. The town plat as recorded and afterward vacated, 
consisted of four blocks on the north half of section 6 (23-10). 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

Watts Finley, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Dearborn county, 
Indiana, on the 4th of November, 1833. He is the son of David and 
Nancy (Miller) Finley. His parents removed the same year to this 
county and settled near Catlin. In the spring of 1846 his older brother, 
David, enlisted in Capt. Lewis Payne's company of an Indiana regi- 
ment; fought at Buena Yista, Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo; died at 
Puebla of scarlet fever in March, 1847. In the spring of 1855, he, in 
company with his brother Miller and his sister Nancy (now Mrs. Sam- 
uel Frazier, of Danville), settled on a farm of two hundred acres, in 
sections 24 and 25, town 23, range 12, where he now lives. He has 
made stock-raising his principal business, and has been successful in 
accumulating a handsome property. He is one of the substantial and 
sterling citizens of Grant township, and is held in universal esteem. 
He was married on the 17th of April, 1859, to Miss Margaret Davis, 
daughter of Amaziah Davis, deceased. She was born on the 16th of 
April, 1834. They have three children : David, born on the 29th of 
August, and died on the 30th of September, 1860 ; Mary, born on the 
25th of February, 1863 ; Charles, born on the 6th of September, 1867. 
Mr. Finley owns seven hundred and forty acres of land, worth $26,000. 
He is a republican. Mrs. F. is a member of the M. E. church. 

James W. Smith, Rossville, merchant, was born in Vermilion county, 
Illinois, on the 18th of December, 1833, and is a son of William and 
Catherine (Yeazel) Smith. He was brought up to till the soil. When 
eighteen years old he moved to Edgar county, Illinois, and in 1869, to 
Labette county, Kansas, returning to Edgar county in 1872. He re- 



720 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

turned to his native county on the 1st of January, 1879, establishing his 
home in Rossville, where he is at present employed in the store owned 
by his brother, John R. Smith. He has followed merchandising six- 
teen or seventeen yea,rs, most of the time in Grandview, and the rest of 
the time at Paris, Edgar county. He has traveled through twenty- 
eight states of the Union and some of the territories. From 1862 to 
1865 he was deputy provost marshal for Edgar county, under Dr. Wm. 
Fithian. He was educated principally at the high school at Grand- 
view ; he was local correspondent of the "Cincinnati Gazette" during 
the years 1874-5. He married on the 10th of February, 1852, Miss 
Frances L. Smith. They have two children living : William W., and 
Nellie, wife of John Tate. Mr. Smith is a republican in politics. 

Frederick Tilton, Rossville, farmer, was born in the Province of 
Quebec, Canada, on the 5th of March, 1821. He is the son of Abiel 
F. and Cynthia (Thompson) Tilton, and was descended from English 
blood. Three brothers named Tilton came from England about two 
hundred years ago: one of them settled in New Hampshire, one in 
Virginia, and the other, it is thought, in Pennsylvania. About 1812 
his parents went to Canada to make themselves a home; his father Mas 
a native of New Hampshire and his mother of Massachusetts. In the 
spring of 1835 he emigrated with his parents to Medina county, Ohio, 
and the next spring they continued their removal to Illinois, and lo- 
cated in Danville. In the fall of 1838 his mother died and the family 
was broken up and scattered ; his two sisters returned to Canada to 
live with their aunt. In the winter of 1839-40 he and his brother 
David carried the mails between Danville and the " Buckhorn " tavern, 
five miles north of Bunkum, in Iroquois county. There was unusually 
good sledding at that time, and they drove a sleigh sixty miles a da} 7 
for six weeks — his brother driving from Danville to Milford, and he 
from Milford to the "Buckhorn " and return. About 1842 his father 
moved up on the Middle Fork, ten miles northwest of Danville, in the 
present limits of Blount township. In the spring of 1853 he settled 
where he now lives in Grant township, section 29, town 23, range 12, 
He has a fine farm of six hundred acres, valued at $18,000. He has 
been principally engaged in stock-raising. He has been supervisor of 
Grant township two terms, and is one of its most highly-respected and 
substantial citizens. He is liberal in his political opinions, but inclines 
to independence of all parties. He was married on the 15th of April, 
1846, to Affa K. Horton, daughter of David Horton, of Habersham 
county, Georgia. They have eight children : Mary, George, Sarah, 
Jane, Charles, Alice, James, Jesse. 

John R. Smith, Rossville, merchant, was born in Vermilion county, 






GRANT TOWNSHIP. 721 

Illinois, on the 1st of March, 1836, and is the son of William W. and 
Catherine (Yeazel) Smith. Pie was reared amidst the surroundings of 
agricultural life; moved into Ross township in 1851; attended school 
at the academy at Galesburg, Illinois, during the school year of 1856-7. 
Since that time he has been employed in merchandising, farming, hotel- 
keeping and mail-carrying. At present he keeps a general store and 
is doing a good business in Rossville; is affable, accommodating and 
gentlemanly. He has been constable in Grant and Ross townships ; col- 
lector in the latter two terms, and deputy sheriff under Lyons Parker. 
He was married on the 3d of March, 1859, to Josephine R. Stewart. 
They have five living children: Ellen Minerva, Alfred F., Herbert, 
Jesse, Harry. He is a republican. Mrs. Smith is a member of the 
Presbyterian church. 

Albert Comstock, Rossville, farmer, was born in Lennox, Massa- 
chusetts, on the 7th of September, 1807. His parents were Stephen 
and Clarissa (Sheldon) Comstock. When he was ten years old his 
father moved to New York and settled between Canandaigua and 
Geneva. After a residence of six years in that place he went to Cha- 
tauqua county, Pennsylvania. In May, 1837, the subject of this sketch 
came to Illinois, and after stopping a while at Danville, settled on the 
North Fork near Mann's Chapel, and first improved the farm which he 
afterward sold to Clark Green, who now owns it. Six years later he 
began the improvement of the farm on which the Red-top school-house 
stands, selling the same in 1851 to Alvan Gilbert, by whom it was 
sold to Thomas R. Winning, its present owner. He next improved 
where he now lives, on the southwest quarter of section 4, town 22, 
range 12, moving on the place in the above-mentioned year. He was 
married on the 17th of April, 1828, to Roxanna Fish, who was born on 
the 18th of March, 1809, and died on the 11th of December, 1836 ; mar- 
ried second time on the 7th of August, 1837, to Rhoda Ann Green, who 
was born on the 10th of May, 1819. They have eleven children living 
and dead : Samuel, born on the 18th of May, 1829, died the 30th of the 
same month ; Charles, born on the 9th of May, 1832 ; Mary Jane, born 
on the 31st of July, 1834; Ephraim, born on the 28th of November, 
1836, died on the 17th of May, 1837 ; Benjamin C, born on the 8th 
of August, 1842, died on the 13th of September, 1846 ; Ira, born on 
the 28th of February, 1S44, died on the 27th of July, 1862; Guy, born 
on the 28th of February, 1844, died on the 27th of November, 1864; 
Clarissa, born on the 12th of December, 1847; Perlina, born on the 
8th of January, 1850; Albert, born on the 30th of May, 1853; Lewis, 
born on the 2d of March, 1856. All the living children are settled 
within one and one-fourth miles of the old homestead. Mr. and Mrs. 
46 



722 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Comstock have been faithful laborers in the vineyard of their Lord 
and Master for fifty years ; they and five of their children are mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Comstock owns two hundred 
acres of land worth $8,000. He is a republican. 

Benjamin F. Stites, Hoopeston, cabinet-maker and furniture dealer, 
was born in Cincinnati, on the 20th of July, 1833, and is a son of Ben- 
jamin and Susan (Stewart) Stites. In the spring of 1837 his parents 
emigrated to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled in Blount town- 
ship, at the Rickart Corners. The next year they moved and located 
two miles south of Myersville ; lived there till 1857, and then went to 
Paxton, Ford county, where his father died, on the 6th of December, 
1860. His mother still resides there. The subject of this sketch went 
to Paxton to live in the winter of 1853-4; farmed the first year; in 
1855 set up a store on the prairie and sold goods eighteen months. In 
the fall of 1856 he sold out, and emigrated to Benton county, Arkan- 
sas ; worked there at carpentering, milling and farming. He invested 
in six hundred acres of land. Immediately after the presidential elec- 
tion of 1860 he narrowly escaped by stratagem, with his family, from 
the toils of the fire-eaters, and came north, abandoning and losing all 
his property. In 1861 he went into the furniture business in Paxton, 
and in the fall of 1871 moved to Hoopeston. He worked two years at 
carpentering, and then opened a furniture store, which he still keeps, 
in connection with his manufacturing and undertaking. He is serving 
his second term as town clerk of Grant township. He was married on 
the 15th of June, 1859, to Martha A. Dunn. He has nine living chil- 
dren : Frances E., Charles A., Benjamin A., Carrie Louisa, William H., 
Samuel, Susan, Katie and Martha A. In politics he is a greenbacker. 

James A. Cunningham, Hoopeston, farmer and stock-dealer, was 
born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 22d of June, 1843. He is 
the youngest son of James and Mary Ann (Andrews) Cunningham. 
He was reared a farmer, and obtained his schooling at Evans Union 
College, State Line City, Indiana. In the winter of 1864-5 he pursued 
studies in bookkeeping at the Commercial College at La Fayette. In 
August, 1862, he enlisted in the 125th 111., but was rejected by the 
examining surgeon. He was married on the 4th of April, 1865. to 
Miss Mary R. Scott, adopted daughter of Thomas Hoopes, an old and 
highly esteemed citizen of Vermilion county. Mrs. Cunningham was 
born on the 9th of April, 1844. In the summer of 1865 he settled in 
State Line City, and opened a grocery slore; he soon after added a 
stock of drugs, and after a year of business sold out to George Dunn. 
He then engaged in stock dealing a short time, and early in 1867 
moved into Grant township and settled where he now resides. He has 



(tRant township. 723 

been president of the Hoopeston District Agricultural Society since 
1874. This society has held a number of distinguished fairs, and has 
acquired a reputation unsurpassed by any of equal age, and by few- 
older ones, in the state. This success is traced to the ability, energy 
and enterprise of its thorough-going and practical officers. Mr. C. has 
always been a heavy farmer and stock-dealer, and is one of the most 
liberal, substantial and honored citizens of Grant township. They have 
five children : Frank H, born on the 18th of January, 1866: Anna S., 
born on the 19th of April, 1868 ; Bertie M., born on the 1st of May, 
1870 ; Harry, born on the 21st of May, 1872 ; Walter, born on the 21st 
of September, 1873, died on the 9th of November, 1878. He owns one 
thousand acres of land, worth $30,000. His political views are repub- 
lican. 

John Villars, the grandfather of James W. Villars, of Rossvilie. 
came from England in 1740, with a colony of Dissenters, and settled 
in Pennsylvania, where he married. He and a brother were soldiers 
of the revolution. The latter was killed at Bunker Hill. In 1806 the 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch emigrated from Washington 
county, Pennsylvania, and coming down the Ohio on a flat-boat, reached 
Cincinnati in the spring of that year. He settled in Clinton county, 
where he lived and died. William, the father of the subject of this 
sketch, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, on the 31st of 
August, 1802. He married Ruth Whittaker, on the 14th of February, 
1822; lived in Clinton county, Ohio, till 1843, when he removed with 
all his family to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled four miles east 
of Danville, on the place now owned by William Cast, his son-in-law. 
James was born on the 3d of July, 1825, in Clinton county, Ohio, and 
was raised a farmer. He was married on the 25th of December, 1844, 
to Rebecca Villars. In 1866 he sold his farm and moved to State Line 
City, and engaged in the mercantile business, — first hardware, and 
afterward drugs, — and sold out in 1872. In 1870 he made a trip to 
California, and two years later returned again to the Pacific coast, and 
traveled in California, Oregon and Washington Territory. From April, 
1874, to October, 1875, he was business manager of the Vermilion 
County Grange Company's store, in Danville. During his residence 
in Newell township he filled the offices of constable, town clerk and 
school trustee of town 20, range 11. In 1878 he moved into Grant 
township, where he owns two hundred and eighty acres of land, worth 
$7,000. He has two sons, Ambrose and George. His wife is a mem- 
ber of the M. E. church, and he was formerly. In politics he is a 
greenbacker. 

Benjamin Ford, Rossvilie, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Ross 



724 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

county, Ohio, on the 16th of December, 1818, and is the son of William 
and Sarah (Yokem) Ford. When he was eleven his parents removed to 
La Fayette, Indiana; lived there a number of years, and went thence 
to Fulton count} 7 , Illinois. After a residence of several years there 
they all moved back to Indiana, and located near Lebanon. Here the 
subject of this sketch was married to Abigal Fleming, on the 14th of 
August, 1842. In the spring of 1844 he moved into the present limits 
of Grant township, renting from place to place for six years, when he 
had accumulated enough to buy a land warrant, with which he entered 
the northeast quarter of section 1, town 22, range 11. He began very 
poor, and his progress at first was slow, but by industry and frugality 
has accumulated a large property, and is now one of the substantial 
farmers of Grant township. By successive purchases he has increased 
his homestead to eight hundred and forty-eight acres ; has always com- 
bined stock-raising with his farming operations. He has ten children: 
Arthur, Betsy Jane, James, Rebecca, Leander, William H., Jeremiah 
(dead), Benjamin F., Mary R. Mr. Ford owns one thousand acres of 
land, worth $29,000. He is a republican in politics. 

William Warren, Rossville, farmer, was born in Bedfordshire, Eng- 
land, on the 16th of March, 1829 ; and is the son of Thomas and Mary 
(King) Warren. In 1848 he emigrated to America and settled near Ross- 
ville, Vermilion county, Illinois. When he arrived here he had but $5, 
which he equally divided with a less fortunate comrade. He was $110 
in debt, which sum he paid in labor at $9.25 per month, having hired 
for a year at that rate before leaving England. At the end of two and 
a half years he bought ten acres of timber and paid for it. He worked 
hard at herding and feeding cattle, buying pieces of land as he accumu- 
lated money enough for the purpose. He owns four hundred and twen- 
ty-five acres, two hundred and sixty-five lying on the Middle Fork, in the 
township of that name, and the balance adjoining Rossville on the east, 
in Grant township, the whole worth $11,000. He used to be engaged 
a great deal in teaming ; hauled produce to Chicago and returned with 
merchandise to Danville, for which he received twenty-five cents per 
hundredweight. A large part of the material used in the erection of 
buildings in Rossville was transported by his teams from Danville, 
Paxton, Attica and State Line City. He was married on the 4th of De- 
cember, 1853, to Mary Ann Whitesitt, who was born on the 29th of 
October, 1837. They have thirteen children : Mary S., born on the 25th 
of January, 1855; Florence V., born on the 2d of September, 1856; 
Edith T., born on the 11th of January, 1858; Augustus O., born on the 
21st of March, 1859; Olive J., born on the 6th of February, 1861; 
John T., born on the 1st of February, 1863; an infant born and died 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 725 

in October, 1864; Herbert D., born on the 21st of June, 1867 ; William 
W., born on the 15th of March, 1869; Elzie, born on the 20th of May, 
1871; George Wesley, born on the 5th of June, 1873; Clarence I)., 
born on the 27th of April, 1875 ; Bertha May, born on the 14th of 
February, 1877. He is an independent in politics. 

Jonathan Prather, Rossville, farmer, was born in Warren county, 
Indiana, on the 3d of May, 1845. His parents were Nehemiah and 
Eveline (Miller) Prather. He settled with his father in this county 
about 1848, on land now owned by Geo. Miller in Ross township. He 
has lived in Vermilion county all the time since, except the two years of 
1868-9 spent in Missouri and Kansas. He enrolled in Co. A, 3d Ind. 
Cav., on the 16th of September, 1863, and mustered out at Indianapo- 
lis on the 7th of August, 1865 ; served in the 3d division 1st cavalry 
corps,- — first under Wilson and next under Custer, as division com- 
manders ; participated in the bold raid of Gen. Kilpatrick, begun on 
the 28th of February, 1864, for the release of Union prisoners in Rich- 
mond ; in Sheridan's raid against the enemy's communications with 
Richmond, which was begun on the 9th of May, 1864; and in the raid 
of Gen. Wilson on the Weldon, South-side and Danville railroads, be- 
gun on the 22d of June, 1864; fought at the Wilderness and Spott- 
sylvania Court House, and under Sheridan in the battles of Winchester 
and Cedar Creek, and did an immense amount of scouting, skirmishing 
and fighting incident to the cavalry arm of the service, closing his active 
military life with the grand review of the army of the Potomac at 
Washington, D. C, on the 23d of May, 1865. He was married on the 
13th of August, 1872, to Tabitha E. Miller, who died on the 15th of 
April, 1877 ; married again on the 3d of March, 1878, to Mary A. 
Segear. Mr. Prather owns one hundred and sixty acres of land valued 
at $5,000. He is a greenbacker in politics. 

Thomas Armstrong, Rossville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Madison county, Ohio, on the 18th of April, 1826. His parents were 
Robert and Elizabeth (Earl) Armstrong. In 1848 he removed to Illi- 
nois and lived two years in the western part of the state. In 1850 he 
settled on his present farm one mile west of Rossville, Vermilion 
county. Married on the 24th of August, 1850, to Nancy Smith, who 
died on the 23d of November, 1878. He has been for many years ex- 
tensively engaged in farming and the stock business; and in addition to 
these is at present operating a factory which he erected on his farm two 
years ago for the manufacture of drain tile. He has, in that time, 
turned out three hundred thousand tile, and laid down on his own farm 
twenty-two miles of drain, besides ten miles for other people. He has 
demonstrated the wisdom and econom} 7 of under-drainage. He has 



726 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

ample facilities for a large manufacture. The first donations of land to 
encourage improvements in Rossville, were made to Mr. Armstrong by 
Alvan Gilbert and Parker Satterthwait, and he is entitled to the credit 
of founding that superior town. He exerted himself with untiring dil- 
igence in behalf of the educational interests of the place, and together 
with one or two others, was chiefly instrumental in causing the erection 
and final extension and improvement of the commodious and tasteful 
brick structure now devoted to the instruction of the youth of Ross- 
ville and the surrounding country. He has been a director of the 
school continuously for twenty years prior to April, 1879. He was 
associated with Henry Armstrong in the laying out of Armstrong sta- 
tion, on the Havana, Rantoul & Eastern railroad (narrow gauge), where 
he has a body of eight hundred acres of land. He has four living chil- 
dren : Isabel, wife of Calvin Lamb ; Thomas J., James L., Catherine M. 
Mr. Armstrong owns 2,280 acres of land, worth $80,000. His political 
views are republican. 

Addison M. Davis, Rossville, farmer and magistrate, was born in 
Muskingum county, Ohio, near Zanesville, on the 9th of January, 1833. 
He is the son of Amaziah and Emily (Berry) Davis. He came to Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, with his parents in the fall of 1851, and settled 
on a farm near Rossville. He received a fair education at the graded 
school in Adelphi, Ohio. At the age of twenty he commenced teaching 
school, and pursued this vocation nine years. He was married in 1856 to 
Sarah J. Helmick. He was assistant internal revenue assessor for the 
northern part of Vermilion county, Illinois, from the passage of the 
law creating the office until the fall of 1865. He has held numerous 
township offices, and been constantly in local public business the past 
twenty years; has been town clerk and assessor both of Grant and 
Ross, and has held the office of justice of the peace continuously for 
thirteen } T ears. In the meantime he has directed operations upon his 
farm. He has been a member of the Masonic order .twelve years. 
He is independent in politics. He has six living children : Virgil C, 
Emily B., Robert B., H. Winter, Rebecca and Lucy L. Mr. Davis 
owns eighty acres of land worth $4,000. 

Charles Wolverton, Hoopeston, farmer and carpenter, was born 
near Perry sville, Vermilion county, Indiana, on the 17th of August, 
1837, and is a son of Abel and Anna (English) Wolverton, who had 
five sons and two daughters. His father served fourteen days in the 
war of 1812; he volunteered, and was marching with a detachment 
of six hundred men for Detroit when the news of Hull's surrender 
was received. He commanded a corps of one hundred and fifty men at 
the reception of Gen. La Fayette, at Cincinnati, in June, 1824. He 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 727 

was for a long time colonel of militia in Indiana, under commission 
granted by Gov. Whitcomb. In 1850 he entered one hundred and 
sixty acres of land in Vermilion county, Illinois, being the N. E. \ 
section 18, town 23, range 11. He soon after bought one hundred 
and sixty acres more, and finally augmented the area to four hun- 
dred. His family came and occupied the land in 1851. The subject 
of this sketch learned the carpenter's trade before and during the war. 
He enlisted at Bloomington on the 18th of June, 1862, for three months, 
in Co. H, 70th 111. Vols., Col. O. H. Reeves. This regiment did gar- 
rison duty most of the time at Camp Butler, Springfield, and at Alton ; 
also furnished numerous details for guarding prisoners while in transit. 
He was mustered out at Alton on the 23d of October, 1862. His 
brother George was enrolled in Co. D, 20th Ind. Vols, at the beginning 
of the war. He served under Gen. Kearny throughout McClellan's 
memorable peninsula campaign, bearing an honorable part on the 
bloody fields of Fair Oaks and the Seven Days battles. He was mor- 
tally wounded on the 6th of May, 1864, at the Wilderness, and died 
on the 19th at Finley Hospital, Washington City. Altogether he was 
in twenty actions. Mr. Wolverton was married on the 8th of May, 
1864, to Mary Ralph, who was born on the 30th of July, 1849. They 
have had eight children : George L., born on the 1st of January, 1866 ; 
Charles T., born on the 5th of May, 1867 ; Thomas L., born on the 1st 
of December, 1868, died on the 23d of August, 1869; Louis R., born 
on the 5th of February, 1871 ; John P., born on the 16th of February, 
1874 ; Anna S., born on the 21st of February, 1877 ; Mary, born on the 
13th of June, 1878, died on the 2d of July, 1878; Joseph, born on the 
11th of July, 1879. Mr. Wolverton owns sixty acres worth $2,500. 
His political views are republican. 

Thomas Williams, Hoopeston, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Harrison county, Ohio, on the 29th of November, 1828, and is the son 
of Nathan and Sarah (Hoopes) Williams. His parents were natives 
of Pennsylvania. In 1847 he went to Sandusky Plains, Marion county, 
Ohio, were he lived six or seven years, working by the month for his 
uncle, Thomas Hoopes, tending sheep. In the fall of 1853 he came to 
this county ; wintered four hundred sheep ; the next spring added 
four hundred more ; rented a farm of his uncle Hoopes, giving him a 
share of all his profit. This he continued two years; then preempted 
one hundred and sixty acres two miles west of Buckley, in Iroquois 
county; ran an ox-breaking team three years; in 1859, having been 
broken up by paying security debts, returned to Vermilion county to 
live. He was married on the 9th of June, 1859, to Lavina McFarland, 
who was born on the 22d of April, 1841. From 1860 to 1868 he rented 



728 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

land of>his uncle. In the former year, by borrowing money and hir- 
ing teams of the same patron, and buying and grazing cattle, he cleared 
$600; the next year $1,000. From that time on his success and re- 
covery were steady and rapid. On the 25th of November, 1870, he 
was run over by a loaded runaway team, breaking his leg, and crushing 
the bone in a very serious manner. Since that casualty he has been 
incapacitated for manual labor. He has held the offices of highway 
commissioner and trustee of schools in Grant township. He has five 
children : Sarah, born on the 23d of June, 1860, died on the 7th of 
December, 1874; Charles, born on the 1st of September, 1861 ; twins, 
born on the 23d of May, 1868, one died on the day of birth, and the 
other on the 16th of June following; Walter W., born on the 17th of 
January, 1878. Mr. Williams owns four hundred acres of land worth 
$16,000. His political views are republican. 

John Williams, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Harrison county, 
Ohio, on the 29th of September, 1832, and is the son of Nathan and 
Sarah (Hoopes) Williams. In the spring of 1854 he came to this 
county ; broke prairie and farmed, and the third year entered three 
hundred and twenty acres in section 12, in the present limits of Prairie 
Green township, Iroquois county. He lived there seventeen years. He 
was married on the 13th of October, 1858, to Elnora Shankland, who was 
born in 1841, and died on the 23d of February, 1864 ; married again on 
the 12th of August, 1867, to Jennie M. Harwood, who was born on 
the 7th of April, 1844. He was assessor of Prairie Green four or five 
years in succession. On the 1st of January, 1864, memorable as a cold 
day, he froze his right foot while feeding stock, and all the toes had to 
be amputated. In April, 1873, he moved to his present home, one and 
a half miles south of Hoopeston. He has six children : Sarah E., born 
on the 3d of March, 1860, died on the 16th of May, 1866 ; Anna C, 
born on the 28th of September, 1862, died on the 22d of September, 
1865; Mary E., born on the 14th of February, 1864, died on the 2d of 
September, 1864; infant, born and died on the 11th of November, 
1870; Nellie M., born on the 12th of November, 1871; Charles H., 
born on the 5th of October, 1873, died on the 5th of August, 1 875 ; 
Josephine B., born on the 30th of August, 1875. Mr. Williams owns 
two hundred and thirty-five acres worth $8,500. His political views 
are republican. He is a member of the Christian church. His parents 
belonged to the Society of Friends, and his father was a preacher 
among them. 

Joseph M. Satterthwait, deceased, was born in Berks county, Penn- 
sylvania, on the 9th of May, 1808, and is the son of Joshua W. and 
Ann Satterthwait. He came to Illinois in the fall of 1854, and set- 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 729 

tied on a farm near Rossville, Vermilion county. He was the third 
postmaster in that place. In the spring of 1862 he removed to Pen- 
dleton, Indiana, near Indianapolis, and lived there ten years, when he 
returned to Illinois and settled at Hoopeston, and resided there until 
his death on the 21st of September, 1877. He was always a strict 
member of the Society of Friends. He left four living children : Mar- 
tha A., wife of Gideon C. Davis, residing at Fairbury, Nebraska ; Esther 
S., wife of J. O. Hardy, living in Pendleton, Indiana; Edith S., wife 
of Isaac T. Lukens, of Hoopeston ; and Anna, wife of Emory F. Birch, 
of Rossville. 

George Steely, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Fountain county, 
Indiana, on the 6th of September, 1830. He is the son of George and 
Elizabeth (Emerson) Steely. He lived on a farm in Fountain county 
until twenty-four years of age, and was educated at Asbury University, 
attending from September, 1852, to June, 1854, taking the scientific 
course, and nearly completing it. In the fall of the latter year he came 
to this county, bought out Thomas McKibben, and settled where he 
now lives, one and a half miles south of Hoopeston. He was married 
on the 22d of October, 1854, to Hannah Hizer. They had ten chil- 
dren, five of whom are living and five dead. Following are those 
living: Harlan M., born November 25, 1856 ; William W., born October 
11, 1858; Clara I., born September 4, 1860; Zaidee, born June 3, 
1864; Mark, born December 6, 1869. Mr. Steely owns six hundred 
and seventy acres of land, worth $20,000. His father was a soldier 
under Gen. Harrison throughout the war of 1812. 

Thomas W. Harris, Rossville, farmer, was born in Woodford county, 
Kentucky, on the 1st of November, 1827, and is the son of John and 
Sarah M. (Davis) Harris. In 1828 his parents removed to Jefferson 
county, Indiana. While living there he went to Clark county, and 
learned the tanners' trade, which he followed five or six years. In 
1 852 he went to Louisiana, and w r orked a year and a half as a laborer. 
In the fall of 1854 he returned there, and remained nine months. In 
1856 he settled in Vermilion county, and has since lived in the vicinity 
of Rossville, and fanned. He was married on the 12th of December, 
1861, to Miss Jane F. Owen, daughter of Thomas and Mary Owen. 
She was born in Warren county, Indiana, on the 21st of July, 1842. 
They have had three children : Mary Luella, born October 27, 1862, 
died December 1, 1871 ; Charles Henry, born March 31, 1869; Francis 
M., born July 19, 1874. Mr. Harris is a republican, and his wife has 
been a member of the M. E. church eight years. 

Thomas Keplinger, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Fountain 
county, Indiana, on the 7th of April, 1829. He is the son of Jacob and 



730 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Nancy (Dedimore) Keplinger. In 1858 he removed to Illinois, and 
settled at Sugar Grove, Champaign county, where he lived till 1870. 
In that year he came to Vermilion county, and bought the S. ^ N.W. 
£ and the N.W. \ N.W. \ section 29, town 23, range 12, six miles S.W. 
of Hoopeston, which farm is now valued at $3,600. He was married 
on the 10th of May, 1857, to Eliza Shaffer, daughter of Daniel Shaffer, 
of Fountain county, Indiana. She was born on the 4th of January, 
1835. They have had six children : James, born June 13, 1858 ; Nancy, 
born February 5, 1860 ; died August 2, 1862 ; George R., born Sept. 

1, 1861 ; Olive, born July 26, 1863 ; Eliza Ann, born April 12, 1865 ; 
Andrew, born March 20, 1867. Mr. Keplinger is an old-style demo- 
crat. Mrs. Keplinger is a member of the Christian church. 

Oliver H. Crane, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Fountain county, 
Indiana, on the 4th of March, 1841, and is the son of Joel and Eliza- 
beth (Jenkins) Crane. His grandfathers, Jonathan Crane and Absa- 
lom Jenkins, both served as soldiers in Virginia in the war of 1812. 
He was reared a farmer. In 1858 he moved to this county, and lo- 
cated where he now lives, in Grant township, on the S. \ S.W. \ sec- 
tion 20, town 23, range 12. He was married on the 7th of February, 
1861, to Charlotte Bowling, daughter of Willis P. Bowling, Esq., of 
Fountain county, Indiana. She was born on the 3d of July, 1843. 
They have had nine children : Luella, born November 13, 1861 ; died 
June 24, 1863; Clara Belle, born July 10, 1863; died October 24, 
1864; Elmer E., born May 28, 1865; John N., born September 3, 
1867; Lilian, born January 6, 1869; Alfaretta, born February 11, 
1871; Winifred, born December 4, 1873 ; Morris S., born November 

2, 1876; Mary Adra, born June 24, 1879. He owns eighty acres of 
land, worth $2,400. In politics he is a greenbacker. 

Abraham H. Gernand, Rossville, farmer and stock-raiser, was born 
in Berks county, Pennsylvania, on the 29th of January, 1829, and is a 
son of Abraham and Catharine (Hain) Gernand. His early life was 
spent on a farm. In 1852 he engaged in the dry-goods trade in Read- 
ing, in partnership with his cousin, George W. Hain, under the firm 
name of Hain & Gernand. In 1857 the firm sold out, and Mr. Gernand 
emigrated with his family to Illinois, and settled in Danville. He was 
a year and a half in the lumber trade there. In the spring of 1859 he 
bought three hundred and twenty acres where he now resides, two 
miles north of Rossville, and has added by later purchases, till his farm 
comprises five hundred and sixty acres of the finest farming land, 
valued at $22,000. His business is largely in stock. He has enjoyed 
a high degree of prosperity, all his operations having been marked by 
signal success. He is out of debt ; is a substantial and esteemed citizen, 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 731 

and christian gentleman. He was married on the 14th of April, 1857, 
to Miss Emma Evans, daughter of John V. R. Evans, a well-to-do 
farmer of Berks count}', Pennsylvania. They have five sons and three 
daughters living and one daughter dead. He is a republican in politics. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. Gernand were in communion with the Keformed 
Church in Pennsylvania, but finding none of that denomination here, 
united, in 1859, with the Presbyterian church in Rossville. 

Charles M. Ross, Rossville, druggist, was born in Cambridge City, 
Wayne county, Indiana, on the 1st of January, 1847, and is the son of 
John M. and Ellen (Hannah) Ross. He removed with his parents to 
Ross township, Vermilion county, Illinois, in 1859. He attended school 
two years at Thornton, Boone county, and two years at Stockwell, 
Tippecanoe county, Indiana. He engaged in the grocery trade at the 
latter place two years ; next was in the employ of the Singer Sewing 
Machine Company at Indianapolis a short time. After this he was in 
the coal trade with his uncle, J. H. Ross, about three years. He taught 
school two winters; then came to Rossville and started in the drug 
business, which he now continues. Mr. Ross is a republican and a 
Methodist. 

Robert D. Purviance, Rossville, farmer, was born in Giles county, 
Tennessee, on the 21st of April, 1817, and is the son of Eleazer and 
Elizabeth Purviance. At. the age of twelve he removed with his par- 
ents to Warren count}', Indiana, where he lived thirty years. In 1859 
he settled about three miles north of Rossville, Vermilion county, 
Illinois, in Grant township. He has served two or three terms as high- 
way commissioner. By perseverance he has acquired an honorable 
competence, and in a truly catholic spirit dispenses his bounty with an 
open hand and generous heart. Mr. Purviance is a republican. He 
owns one hundred and seventy acres of land, valued at $6,500. 

John M. Ruth, Rossville, farmer, was born in Reading, Berks 
county, Pennsylvania, on the 23d of February, 1856, and is a son of 
George and Catharine (Maury) Ruth. In 1861 his parents removed 
to Illinois and settled on their present homestead, one mile north of 
Rossville. He was reared a farmer. He has a fine estate of two hun- 
dred acres, valued at $10,000. He used to be extensively engaged in 
raising hogs, but since the prevalence of cholera, within the past two 
or three years, has curtailed the business. He has gratified his desire 
to travel by an extended tour of the eastern and southern states. 

William J. Henderson, Rossville, merchant, was born in the city 
and county of Sligo, Ireland, on the 3d of April, 1831. His parents 
were James and Jane (Henderson) Henderson. He came to America to 
make his home in 1848, but had previously made several trips across 



732 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

the Atlantic. On his arrival he set to learning the cabinet trade, in 
Lafayette, Indiana, to be used auxiliary to the furniture business, in 
which he designed embarking. This was in the years 1848-9, during 
which the cholera raged with great virulence in that and other northern 
cities. The succeeding three years were spent in work at the carpenter 
trade. In 1852 he opened a furniture store in Waynetown, Mont- 
gomery county, Indiana, where he continued in business till 1862, 
changing, however, to dry-goods in 1856. He removed to Rossville, 
Vermilion county, Illinois, in 1862, and has since carried on the dry-goods 
and grocery trade, adding largely to his business by buying and culti- 
vating an extensive tract of land, and dealing in grain and stock. He has 
had as .many as two thousand hogs in his pens at a time, feeding ; 
owns a large and complete elevator, and is doing a good business in 
running the Rossville Mills, one of the finest flouring establishments 
in this section of the country. Mr. Henderson is a live, thorough- 
going business man, well endowed with the three essentials of success: 
courteous familiarity, foresight, and push. He was married on the 2d 
of November, 1856, to Eliza Dwiggins, who died on the 16th of No- 
vember, 1857. He was married again in October, 1861, to Amelia 
Little, relict of John York. She died on the 10th of September, 1869. 
His third marriage, on the 17th of March, 1870, was to Kate Scott. 
They have four living children : Mary, Jane, Fannie and Nellie. Mr. 
Henderson owns twelve hundred acres of land, worth $48,000. He is a 
republican in politics. 

William M. Thomas, Rossville, tile maker, was born in Delaware 
county, Indiana, on the 3d of August, 1836, and is the son of James and 
Joanna (Bobo) Thomas. He settled with his parents in the spring of 1847, 
in Montgomery county, Indiana. In 1862 he came to Illinois and set- 
tled on a piece of wild prairie, — one hundred and twenty acres, — five 
miles west of Rossville, which he still owns, and has brought under a 
good state of cultivation. The past two j'ears he has been living in Ross- 
ville, where he owns and is operating an extensive factory for the man- 
ufacture of drain tile. He was assessor of Butler township in the year 
1864 ; married on the 10th of December, 1861, to Mary S. Bennett, who 
was born on the 13th of November, 1844. They are the parents of two 
living children: Mellie A., born on the 6th of December, 1862; Or- 
della, born on the 21st of December, 1876. He is a republican in poli- 
tics. He owns one hundred and twenty acres, worth $4,000. 

Lyford Marston, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Plymouth, New 
Hampshire, on the 2d of May, 1817, and is the son of Oliver L. and 
Lavinia Magusta (Ryan) Marston. The Marstons were descended from 
English stock. They were a numerous and prominent family, the 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 733 

greater number of whom led sea-faring lives. The subject of this sketch 
attended the Latin-Grammar school at Cambridge, Massachusetts, one 
year ; then the Newbury Seminary of Vermont two or three years, 
studying the natural sciences and literature. In 1835 he emigrated to 
Bourbon county, Kentucky. There he taught school a year and a half, 
devoting his spare time to reading law under Thomas Elliott, of Paris. 
He was admitted to the bar in November, 1838, at Carlisle, county seat 
of Nicholas county, where he located for practice. He was married on 
the 22d of November, 1838, to Miss Mary Ann Amos, daughter of a 
highly respectable and influential farmer of Bourbon county. He was 
prosecuting attorney for Nicholas county a number of years. He was 
successful in his profession, but having no ambition for legal or polit- 
ical distinction, he accepted, in the fall of 1843, a position on the edito- 
rial staff of the "Lexington Enquirer," a Henry Clay organ. He main- 
tained his connection with this until the spring of 1845, when the 
proprietor failed and the paper went down. He at once succeeded to 
the management of his father-in-law's farm, the latter having deceased. 
Here he led a quiet and uneventful life for several years. The begin- 
ning of the Kansas troubles inspired his pen to active use, and he ad- 
vocated the anti-slavery cause in the columns of the " New York 
Tribune." In 1856, while visiting his native home in New Hamp- 
shire, he made numerous campaign speeches for Fremont. In 1860 he 
was a delegate to the Chicago convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln, 
and an elector on the republican ticket for Kentucky. At the opening 
of the war he opposed, in the "Tribune," Mr. Greeley's crochet that 
the "erring sisters should be permitted to depart in peace." In the 
fall of 1863 he moved to Grant township in this county, and bought a 
farm of one hundred and sixty acres. The next year he increased it to 
three hundred and twenty acres, which property he still owns. In the 
fall of 1878 he was elected by the republicans to the general assembly. 
He served on the committees on Municipal Affairs, Public Printing 
and Public Charities. Mr. M. has always exercised his literary tastes 
by occasional contributions to the press on religious and political top- 
ics. His estimable wife died on the 29th of January, 1879. He has 
five living children: Anna, wife of Cyrus Hartwell ; Mary L., wife of 
Almond F. Perkins; Oliver Nicholas, Laura Clay, wife of Jonas 
Decker ; Ella, wife of E. B. Row. 

"William Glaze, Hoopeston, flax-seed dealer, was born in Brown 
county, Ohio, on the 15th of November, 1837, and is the son of James 
and Mary (Phillips) Glaze. In 1845 his parents moved to Montgom- 
ery county, Indiaua, and in 1847 to Tippecanoe county. He was raised 
on a farm, but having become crippled in his left leg at the age of ten, 



734 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

he was never able to do much farm work. At seventeen he began 
clerking, which he followed nine years. He was married on the 17th 
of February, 1863, to Isabel Young, daughter of Jesse Young, a re- 
spectable farmer of Dayton, Indiana. In November, 1864, he located 
near Blue Grass, Vermilion county, Illinois, and after farming there 
two or three years became engaged in his present business — loaning 
and handling flax-seed. He has been employed in this the past eleven 
years, and enjoys a constantly increasing trade. In Butler township 
he held the offices of assessor and collector from 1866 to 1871 inclusive. 
In Grant he was assessor in 1875, 1876 and 1877. He is at present 
police magistrate. He served as village trustee before the incorpora- 
tion as a city. He has been a director of the Hoopeston high school 
four years. The efficiency of this institution, and the high reputation 
it is rapidly acquiring, is due to the sound judgment and fearless action 
of its officers. He is serving his second term as secretary of the Hoopes- 
ton District Agricultural Society. This is one of the most successful 
and flourishing societies in the state. He is a zealous temperance 
laborer, and the fortunate driving out of the rum demon from Hoopes- 
ton is very largely due to his tireless exertions in that behalf. In 1873 
he was licensed a regular preacher in the United Brethren church, and 
in his sacred calling has since been engaged principally as a local min- 
ister. He has four living children: Laura May, James Alvin, Jesse 
Franklin and William Orne. His political views are republican. 

James W. Crouch, Hoopeston, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Warren county, Indiana, on the 10th of October, 1842. His parents 
were Joseph and Nancy (Watkins) Crouch. He lived in his native 
county until 1864, excepting two years (1857-8) that he was in Prairie 
Green township, Iroquois county, Illinois. In 1864 he came to his 
present homestead, in Grant township, this county. He herded cattle 
the first year for a Mr. Hunter, who subsequently became his father-in- 
law. For five or six years after this the same gentleman gave him the 
use of eighty acres of land in the same place, at the end of which time 
he was able to buy one hundred and sixty acres for himself, for which 
he paid $12.50 per acre. He has made successive purchases, till he now 
owns four hundred and forty acres of choice farming land, valued at 
$13,500. He bu}'s young stock, and feeds and raises for the market, 
which business he has closely pursued for several years past. The 
rearing of Norman horses is a branch of stock industry to which he has 
devoted much attention recently. His tine farm, which is admirably 
adapted to the uses for which he has designed it, is advantageously sit- 
uated, midway between Hoopeston and Arabia, on the L. B. & M. 
railroad. Mr. Crouch was originally a republican, but becoming con- 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 735 

vinced that the class legislation of that party was making the poor 
poorer and the rich richer, in 1872 he joined the liberal wing of that 
organization. By the course of events, he has gravitated to the na- 
tional or greenback party, of whose views he is a fearless and irre- 
pressible advocate. He was married on the 3d of July, 1863, to Miss 
Harriet Hunter, daughter of a respectable farmer and stock-dealer of 
Warren county, Indiana. She was born on the 9th of September, 
1815. They have four living children : Sarah Annas, born on the 14th 
of April, 1865 ; Jessie M., born on the 18th of September, 1868 ; James 
William, born on the 1st of January, 1874, and Horace F., born on the 
23d of November, 1873. 

Edmund Heaton, Hoopeston, farmer and school-teacher, was born 
in Coshocton county, Ohio, on the 7th of September, 1853. He is a 
son of Hugh and Levia (McCoy) Heaton. His mother died on the 
21st of April, 1861, in Holmes county, Ohio. In the spring of 1863 
he came to St. Joseph county, Indiana, and the next spring to Vermil- 
ion county, Illinois, settling in Grant township. Here he has since 
lived. In 1877 he went to Marion county, Iowa, and from thence, in 
1878, traveled in Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and JS r ew Mexico, spend- 
ing the season in those places, sight-seeing, for pleasure and profit, 
returning in the fall to Vermilion county, Illinois. He has been em- 
ployed during several winters past in teaching school. He is a repub- 
lican in politics. His great-uncle, Albert McCoy, a prominent lawyer 
of Missouri, was killed for his Unionism by guerrillas in 1862. 

William Moore, Hoopeston, real estate broker, was born in Cosh- 
octen county, Ohio, on the 30th of November, 1841, and is the son 
of Silas and Mary (McCoy) Moore. He was reared a farmer ; educated 
at Spring Mountain Seminary, Ohio ; was taking a preparatory course at 
the breaking out of the war, with a view to fitting himself for the law; 
volunteered on the 23d of April, 1861, for three months, in Co. D, 
16th Ohio Vols., and promoted to orderly sergeant; mustered out the 
next August. He was commissioned 1st lieutenant by Governor Den- 
nison, on the 3d of October, 1861, with authority to raise a company, 
which he enlisted mostly among the students of Spring Mountain 
Seminary. This was Co. I, 51st Ohio, Col. Stanley Matthews. He 
fought at Phillipi, Perry ville, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Mission 
Kidge and Ringgold. In January, 1863, he was commissioned captain 
of his company. In the battle of Chickamauga he lost nearly every 
man in his command. One half were killed and wounded, and a large 
number captured. All the regimental officers of the 51st having been 
taken prisoners, Capt. Moore, as ranking line officer, assumed com- 
mand, and, with a handful of men, bearing the colors of the regiment, 



736 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

and a stand of rebel colors captured from a South Carolina regiment 
in the last charge, cut through the rebel lines and safely reached Chat- 
tanooga the next day. On two particular occasions he was selected for 
special service of a difficult and hazardous kind. He carried out his 
instructions with signal success, and was warmly complimented by his 
fellow and superior officers and the general commanding the army. 
He was mustered out of the military service in April, 1864. In March, 
1865, he settled in Grant township, this county, having bought a farm 
of three hundred and twenty acres. From 1866 to 1874 he was jus- 
tice of the peace; from 1867 to 1870 collector of Grant township; 
from 1866 to 1872 school treasurer of town 23, range 11. He bought 
fifty acres of land at Hoopeston, and had it laid out in the town plat 
as Moore & Brown's Addition. In April, 1872, he moved into the 
village, and has since been engaged in buying and selling lands and 
town property. In the year from March, 1874, to March, 1875, the 
sales of the firm of Moore, McFerron & Seavey reached $330,000 ; is 
a member of the firm of Moore & McFerron in the real estate and 
loan business. Mr. Moore has been a director of the Hoopeston pub- 
lic school several years. It was through his energy and enterprise 
that the imposing edifice belonging to the city, and used for that pur- 
pose, was erected in the face of much opposition. It cost $25,000, and 
is a noble monument to his good understanding and his able manage- 
ment of the entire scheme from its inception. He has three living 
children : Winfield S., Claude H., Cora M. Mr. Moore is a greenback 
republican. He owns six hundred acres of land, worth $18,000. 

Milton M. Bush, Rossville, farmer, was born in Edgar county, Il- 
linois, on the 24th of September, 1845, and is a son of John and Jane 
(Wallace) Bush. In 1865 he settled with his parents in this county. 
He was married on the 2d of November, 1871, to Mary E. Evans, 
daughter of the late Rev. Thomas A. Evans. The} 7 have four living 
children : Anna M., born September, 1872 ; Franklin, born October 
20, 1874; Jacob P., born April 20, 1876; Mertie, born November 5, 
1878. He owns one hundred and eighty acres, worth $5,000. He is 
a republican, and a member of the U. B. church. Mrs. Bush belongs 
to the Christian church. 

Anderson McMains, Rossville, farmer, was born in Warren county, 
Illinois, on the 10th of January, 1840, and is the son of Robert and 
Mary (Groves) McMains. In 1841 his parents moved and settled in 
Montgomery county, Indiana. In 1861 he went to Mahaska county, 
Iowa, and on the 1st day of September enlisted in Co. H, 8th Iowa 
Inf. He fought at Shiloh, at which battle his regiment was captured, 
and held as prisoners two months, when they were paroled and sent to 





/^^^W? fa$ 



GEANT TOWNSHIP. 737 

St. Louis. On the 1st day of September, 1862, he enlisted for three 
years in Co. C, 40th Ind. Vols. He fought at Stone River and Mis- 
sion Ridge, served throughout the Atlanta campaign, being engaged in 
battle at Buzzard Roost, Resaca and Adairsville, and was wounded in 
the thigh at Pine Mountain, June 18, 1864. He rejoined his com- 
mand at Atlanta on the 6th of September; was on the campaign 
against Hood in his invasion of Tennessee ; was in the engagement 
with Forrest's cavalry at Linden, on the 29th of November, and the 
next day fought at Franklin, receiving a wound in his left wrist at the 
latter place. He was discharged on the 6th of June, 1865, at Louis- 
ville, Kentucky. In the same year he settled in Grant township, this 
county, where he now lives, four miles west of Rossville. He was 
married on the 30th of August, 1866, to Clarissa Comstock, daughter 
of Albert Comstock, sen., an old and highly respected citizen of Ver- 
milion county. They have five living children: Lewis, born May 14, 
1868; Harrison, born January 10,1870; Nora, born November 20, 
1871 ; Guy, born October 7, 1874; Viola, born January 16, 1877. Mr. 
McMains owns eighty acres, worth $2,400. In politics he is a repub- 
lican. Both he and his wife are members of the Christian church. 

James Grove, Rossville, farmer, was born in Hamilton county, In- 
diana, and is the son of Samuel and Ellen (Hays) Grove. His grand- 
father, John C. Groves, was an old Indian warrior, and fought gallantly 
at the battle of Tippecanoe. His father was an ardent Unionist, and 
zealous supporter of the war. He sent his three sons to the army, and 
himself was a member of Col. Morehouse's regiment of Indiana Home 
Guards, and joined in the pursuit of John Morgan on his invasion 
north of the Ohio River. The subject of this sketch enlisted on the 
7th of August, 1862, in Co. K, 70th Ind. Vols., Col. Ben. Harrison. 
He served throughout the Atlanta campaign ; was one of the storm- 
ing force which consisted of the 1st Brig., 3d Div., 20th Army Corps, 
that captured a four-gun battery of twelve-pounders at Resaca, close to 
the enemy's entrenchments, and fought desperately from noon till ten 
o'clock at night in a successful effort to hold their position and retain 
their prize. He fought at Peach Tree Creek, which was an open bat- 
tle, and disastrous repulse to the rebels. He did duty as one of Sher- 
man's " bummers " on the march to the sea, and the campaign of the 
Carolinas, and fittingly terminated his military service on the grand 
review of the army at Washington, on the 24th of May, 1865. He 
was mustered out at that place on the 8th of June, and disbanded at 
Indianapolis. He was married on the 3d of November, 1866, to Sarah 
C. Fred, who died on the 14th of January, 1873. He was married again 
on the 2d of October, 1875, to Sarah Duke, of Montgomery county, 
47 



738 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Indiana. He has three living children : Dora, born on the 18th of 
October, 1867; Amanda Ellen, born on the 1st of September, 1869; 
Laura, born on the 25th of November, 1871. He has an undivided 
one-half of one hundred and twenty acres, worth $1,800. He is a 
member of the Christian church. His political views are republican. 

Michael T. Livingood, Rossville, physician and surgeon, was born 
on the 9th of March, 1825, in Womelsdorf, Berks county, Pennsylvania, 
and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Treon) Livingood, descended from 
German ancestors. His father and grandfather Treon were both physi- 
cians. He began the stud}' of medicine at a very early age, under the 
direction of the former. In the winters of 1847-8-9 he attended lec- 
tures at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, graduating on the 
28th of March, 1849. He located in the practice of his profession at 
Sinking Springs, near Reading, Pennsylvania, and remained there until 
1865 ; in the meantime being for twelve years one of the physicians 
in charge of the Berks County Alms-house Hospital. He removed to 
Illinois and settled in Rossville, where he has since resided and ac- 
quired a large practice. He has been village trustee of Rossville two 
terms; is president of the North Vermilion Medical Society. He was 
married on the 23d of February, 1852, to Hannah E. Ruth. They 
have five living children. In politics Mr. Livingood is a democrat, and 
in religion a Methodist. 

John Bush, the grandfather of John Bush of Rossville, lived on 
Freeman's Creek, in West Virginia. Early on the morning of the 24th 
of April, 1791, he sent his two eldest children, Daniel and Ann, to 
drive up the cows. Immediately on their departure his house was 
furiously assailed by an attacking party of Indians. The screams of 
the children and the shouts of the savages suddenly brought Mr. Bush 
to his feet, and grasping his rifle, he opened the door. The weapon 
was instantly seized by a redskin standing at the threshold, and wrested 
from him. His foe shot him through the body with it, and as he 
dropped to the floor his wife sprang out of bed to his assistance. The 
Indian, while endeavoring to drag his body out, was dispatched by 
Mrs. Bush with an axe. Others also attempted to remove him, and 
she likewise disposed of five in succession. She wounded the sixth, 
and lost her weapon by its becoming fast in his ribs, and not being able 
to disengage it, she then barred the door, and the neighborhood having 
become aroused by the firing and yelling, the discomfited assailants fled 
precipitately, leaving the resolute woman " holding the fort," with her 
five or six children. The two children were carried into captivity, but 
after about two years were recovered. The boy died soon after his 
release, from the effects of the severities he had undergone. Mr. Bush 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 739 

was in a fair way of recovery, when, in a paroxysm of laughter, he 
ruptured a blood-vessel in his wound and died. This incident is related, 
though differing somewhat in its details, in. an old book entitled 
" Chronicles of Border Warfare," a history of the settlement of north- 
western Virginia. The subject of this sketch was born in Harrison 
county, West Virginia, on the 2d of November, 1810. He was the son 
of William and Mary (McCauley) Bush. In 1811 his parents removed 
to .Galia county, Ohio, and in 1816 to Warren county. He was mar- 
ried on the 24th of November, 1830, to Jane Wallace. In 1838 he 
settled in Edgar county, Illinois, where he resided till 1865, and tilled 
a farm of four hundred and sixty-six acres, which he came into posses- 
sion of solely as the fruit of his own toil. He labored irregularly for 
many years at cabinet work and carpentering, but never fully learned 
either trade. In 1865 he came to Vermilion county; lived three years 
a little north of the present site of East Lynn, and in 1868 moved into 
Grant township. In Ohio he was first lieutenant of the Rossburgh 
Independent Rifle Company five years. He has served as constable 
and justice of the peace in different places where he has lived. His 
wife died on the 7th of November, 1877, aged sixty-eight years, five 
months and ten days. He had seven sons and four daughters. Three 
of his sons were in the army in the late war: Franklin L., in the 12th 
111., Col. McArthur, three months; John C, in Co. H, 29th 111., 
wounded at Pittsburg Landing, on the 6th of April, 1862, and died in 
hospital at Keokuk, Iowa, on the 22d of April ; Daniel M., in an 
Indiana regiment about two years. Mr. Bush is a republican in politics, 
and has been a member of the U. B. church thirty-five years. His wife 
was an old member. 

Lafayette Goodwine, Hoopeston, farmer and stock-raiser, was born 
in Warren county, Indiana, on the 27th of February, 1846. His par- 
ents were Harrison and Isabel (Charlton) Goodwine. In 1863 he 
enlisted in Co. K, 11th Ind. Cav. He fought in the decisive battle of 
Nashville, on the 15th and 16th of December, 1864. The previous 
summer he had done duty in guarding the railroad between Stevenson 
and Huntsville, Alabama, his regiment having been assigned the task 
of protecting that line against the irruptions of the enemy. His com- 
mand lay at Eastport, Mississippi, in the spring of 1865 ; from there it 
was ordered to St. Louis, and thence, in the latter part of June, to 
Council Grove, Kansas, where it lay till September, when it marched 
to Fort Leavenworth, where the horses were turned over. The regi- 
ment was soon after mustered out at Indianapolis. In the fall of 1866 
he bought one hundred and sixty acres of his father, who also gave him 
an equal tract, and he settled where he at present resides, on the east 



740 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

half of section 17, town 23, range 11. The value of farm is $10,000. He 
was married on the 12th of October, 1866, to Miss Sarah Ann Wagoner, 
daughter of a respectable farmer of Milford, Iroquois county, Illinois. 
They have two living children : Julia Ann, born on the 3d of April, 
1871 ; Ida May, born on the 7th of May, 1875. Mr. Goodwine is a 
republican. He is a prosperous farmer. Stock-raising engages a large 
share of his attention. 

John C. Grove, Rossville, farmer, was born in Marion county, near 
Indianapolis, Indiana, on the 5th of September, 1837. He is a son of 
Samuel and Helen (Hays) Grove. He was enrolled on the 1st of Aug- 
ust, 1862, in the 86th Ind. Vols., Col. Geo. F. Dick. He fought in the 
battles of Perryville, Stone River and Nashville, the latter occurring 
on the 15th and 16th of December, 1864 ; was present at Chickamauga 
and Mission Ridge, but not engaged. During the latter part of his 
service he was in feeble health. At the battle of Stone River a bullet 
went through his hat and cut out a tuft of his hair. He was drum- 
major of his regiment about one year, when failing health caused him 
to relinquish that position. He was mustered out at Nashville, on the 
6th of June, 1865, and disbanded at Indianapolis. On the 28th of De- 
cember, 1865, he was married to Huldah Plummer, daughter of Will- 
iam and Mary Ann Plummer, of Iroquois county, Illinois. They have 
had four children: Florence, born on the 3d of November, 1867; Le- 
nora, born on the 5th of June, 1870 ; Lilly, born on the 7th of Febru- 
ary, and died on the 17th of February, 1872; Drusilla, born on the 
16th of October, 1873. In 1866, in company with his brother, James, 
he bought one hundred and twenty acres of land in section 31, town 
23, range 12, Grant township. The estimated value of his interest is 
$1,800. His political views are republican. 

The parents of Henry S. Hoover, of Hoopeston, Abraham and 
Mary (Speedy) Hoover, removed in 1831 from Lancaster county, Penn- 
sylvania, to La Fayette, Indiana, when there were fewer than a half 
dozen houses in the latter place, and the Indians were "as plenty as 
blackberries." On the 19th of February, 1833, the subject of this 
sketch was born. In 1846 the family sought a new location at Marsh- 
field, Warren county, where they resided eighteen months, and then 
moved on a farm owned at the time by Perrin Kent, southeast of the 
present site of State Line City. From there, in 1849, they went to 
Oskaloosa, Iowa. In 1854 Mr. Hoover returned, and worked as a 
hand in the neighborhood of Marshfield and of Rossville till 1862, 
when, in February of that year, he went back to Iowa, and on the 13th 
of August enlisted in Co. C, 7th Iowa Inf. He served on the Atlanta 
campaign ; was under fire at Resaca, and fought in front of Atlanta on 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 741 

the 22d of July, 1 864, arid a little later at Jonesborough ; participated 
in the march to the sea, and the still longer and more difficult cam- 
paign of the Carolinas, ending his active and eventful military service 
with the grand review of Sherman's army, at Washington city, on the 
24th of May, 1865. He was mustered out at that place on the 13th of 
June, and disbanded toward the close of the month at Clinton, Iowa. 
In the following September he came to Vermilion county, Illinois. In 
1867 he settled where he now lives, four miles southeast of Hoopes- 
ton. He was married on the 14th of November, 1875, to Mrs. Ellen 
Forshier, relict of Daniel Forshier. Her maiden name was Stone. 
Mr. Hoover owns one hundred and sixty acres of land, worth $4,800. 
He is a republican in politics. 

John L. Starr, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Logan county, Illi- 
nois, on the 5th of April, 1853. His parents were Shelby and Nancy 
(Groves) Starr. His father was from Kentucky, and his mother from 
Pennsylvania. The former died on the 8th of August, 1855, and his 
mother married again to John Brandt. In 1869 the family removed 
to this county, and settled in Blount township. From this time for- 
ward till 1876 he lived alternately in Vermilion and Logan counties. 
In the latter year he moved on the farm he now owns, five miles east 
of Hoopeston, which he had bought the fall before. It consists of 
ninety acres, situated in section 10, town 23, range 11, and is valued 
at $2,700. He was married on the 31st of December, 1874, to Miss 
Sophia A. Fairchilds, who was born on the 20th of April, 1857, and 
was a daughter of the Rev. Daniel Fairchilds, a pioneer Methodist 
preacher of Vermilion county, now deceased. 

Philip C. McMains, Rossville, farmer, was born in Parke county, 
Indiana, on the 15th of February, 1835, and is a son of Robert and 
Mary (Groves) McMains. His grandfather, Frederick Groves, was a 
soldier in the Mexican war. He was married on the 15th of February, 
1858, to Nancy Groves, daughter of Samuel Groves, of Lemon county, 
Kentucky. She was born on the 18th of February, 1832. In 1868 he 
moved to Waynetown, Montgomery county, Indiana; lived there one 
year, and then removed to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled in 
Grant township. He has eight living children : John H., born on the 
21st of February, 1859 ; Zachariah T., born on the 22d of April, 1861 ; 
Charles, born on the 8th of November, 1863 ; Mary B., born on the 
15th of October, 1865 ; Betty, born on the 28th of May, 1868 ; Willie, 
born on the 18th of September, 1871 ; Frank, born on the 24th of Jan- 
uary, 1874, and Almira, born on the 7th of August, 1877. Mr. Mc- 
Mains is an independent in politics. Mrs. McMains has been a member 
of the Christian church about thirty-five years. 



742 HISTORY OP VERMILION COUNTY. 

Lemuel W. Anderson, Hoopeston, physician and surgeon, was born 
in Franklin, Venango county, Pennsylvania, on the 7th of May, 1838. 
In 1844 his parents settled in Huntington county, Indiana. He spent 
one year at Wabash College, Crawlbrdsville ; he studied medicine at 
Zionsville, Boone county, under Drs. Duzan & Anderson, who were 
in partnership. In the winter of 1858-9 he took a partial term of lec- 
tures at the Medical College of Ohio, and in the winter of 1861-2 
attended a full course of lectures at the University of New York. 
During the same period he took a full course of instruction in the Eye 
and Ear Infirmary of New York. After the close of the lecture course 
he practiced a while in obstetrics, under Dr. Wilson, superintendent of 
the Lying-in Asylum. In 1862 he began practice at Huntington, In- 
diana; but in eight months re-located at Mount ^Etna, in the same 
county, where he remained nine and one-half years. In 1851-2 he was 
deputy postmaster at Huntington, and from 1858 to 1860 occupied 
the same position at Zionsville, except the time he was in college; and 
again at the former place in 1861. During the intervals he clerked a 
part of the time in a dry-goods store. In 1857 he worked in a machine 
shop in Fort Wayne, with the intention of learning the trade, but the 
concern broke up and he was thrown out and never resumed it. In 
1871 he moved to this county and settled on a farm of eighty acres sit- 
uated four and one-half miles southeast of Hoopeston, which he still 
owns. In the spring of 1873 he removed to Hoopeston. He is a 
member of the North Vermilion and of the Vermilion County Medical 
Societies. Dr. Anderson not only began poor, but sadly in debt. No 
favorable circumstances attended him from his youth up. He has 
struggled with a high purpose and an invincible will. The result is 
but natural : he now owns two hundred and twenty-seven acres of choice 
farming land, valued at $7,000; also twenty-two lots and six houses in 
the city of Hoopeston. His superior skill and judgment, and extensive 
and constantly increasing practice, have placed him in the front rank of 
his profession. His eminent success has made him widely known and 
deservedly popular; but it is not Dr. Anderson's success as a business 
man and practitioner which is most to be admired : his word is law. 
This is not the least of the means which have operated to give him 
a highly respectable and conservative reputation. He was married on 
the 24th of March, 1864, to Elizabeth J. Blose, who was born on the 2d 
of July, 1842. They have eight children : William Orion, born on the 
28th of November, 1866 ; Norval Otto, born on the 29th of March, 1867, 
died on the 24th of August, 1869; George Oscar, born on the 7th of 
June, 1869, died on the 29th of May, 1872; Edward Ovid, born on 
the 24th of March, 1871 ; Alfred Oglesby, born on the 11th of Septem- 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 743 

ber, 1872 ; Thomas Orlando, born on the 24th of May, 1 874 ; Lemuel 
Orth, born on the 7th of March, 1876 ; Mary Olive, bora on the 4th 
of February, 1878. Both he and his wife are members of the Presby- 
terian church. He has been an elder thirteen years. 

David Bedell, Hoopeston, merchant, was born at Twin Rivers, 
Manitowoc county, Wisconsin, on the 8th of April, 1854. He is the 
son of Jonathan and Jane (Pollock) Bedell ; came to Hoopeston with 
his father in the summer of 1871. He received his education at the 
public schools of Loda and Hoopeston. He is now chief partner in the 
firm of David Bedell & Co., in the general merchandising business. 

Jonathan Bedell, Hoopeston, merchant, was born in Cazenovia, 
Madison county, New York, on the 29th of October, 1827, and is a 
son of Milo and Hannah (Cole) Bedell. His grandfather, Joseph Y. 
Cole, was a veteran of the revolutionary war. At the age of fifteen 
he was apprenticed to the tanner and currier's trade. In 1851 he emi- 
grated to Twin Rivers, Manitowoc county, Wisconsin ; while there he 
learned the carpenter's trade. He was employed by the Wisconsin 
Leather Company four years in tanning leather. In April, 1855, he 
moved to Illinois and entered the last piece of land in Vermilion (now 
Ford) county, which was entered while the register's office was at 
Danville. This was the S.E. J of section 35, town 24, range 8. He 
lived on his farm four or five years ; moved into Loda and lived there 
until 1871, when he settled in Hoopeston and opened the first store in 
the place. He was at first assistant postmaster in the new town, and 
opened the first mail that was received, and mailed the first matter 
that was sent away. He also made the first payment of cash on lots 
which were sold in the place, it being for lots 68 and 69 which he at 
present occupies on Main street. He was the first master of Star 
Lodge, No. 709, A.F. & A.M., of Hoopeston. On the 1st of January, 
1875, he sold his store, and the business has since been continued under 
the firm name of David Bedell & Co. He was married on the 18th of 
September, 1851, to Jane Pollock. They have seven children : Henry, 
born on the 12th of June, 1852, died on the 27th of September, 1853; 
David, born on the 8th of April, 1854 ; Laura E., born on the 8th of Feb- 
ruary, 1857, died on the 24th of April, 1864 ; Wilford, born on the 16th 
of June, 1859, died on the 27th of December, 1863; Jane, born on the 
20th of January, 1864, died on the 20th of September, 1864; George, 
born on the 18th of December, 1866 ; Maggie, born on the 16th of 
January, 1870. He is an independent in politics. 

Miles Odle, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Warren county, In- 
diana, on the 26th of December, 1841. His parents were Nathan B. 
and Frances (Watkins) Odle. He was reared on a farm. He volun- 



744 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

teered, on the 3d of June, 1861, in Co. A, 15th Ind. Vols., Col. G. D. 
Wagner, and was mustered into the United States service on the 14th 
at Lafayette. He was engaged at Cheat Mountains on the 12th of 
September, and at Greenbriar, Virginia, on the 3d of October, 1861, 
both of which were federal successes. He subsequently fought at 
Shiloh, Perry ville, Stone River, Chickamauga and Mission Ridge, be- 
sides having a share in a large number of smaller actions. He was 
mustered out on the 30th of June, 1864, at Indianapolis. He was 
married on the 30th of August, 1866, to Susan Hunter, who was born 
on the 25th of November, 1847, and died on the 17th of May, 1870. 
He was married again on the 12th of January, 1872, to Sarah Hunter, 
who was born on the 22d of January, 1850,. and daughter of John 
Hunter, a wealthy farmer of Warren county, Indiana. In 1871 he 
removed to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled where he now lives, 
in Grant township, four miles east of Hoopeston, on a farm of one 
hundred and twenty acres in section 3, which he bought at that time. 
He now Owns two hundred acres, worth $6,000. Mr. Odle is a staunch 
republican, and a firm advocate of specie resumption. He has five 
living children: Ella Florence, born on the 17th of September, 1867; 
Anna Rossa, born on the 18th of October, 1869 ; Hattie Letitia, born 
on the 21st of February, 1874; John Lindsay, born on the 3d of Au- 
gust, 1875, and Miles Sherman, born on the 2d of November, 1878. 

Thomas J. Bowsman, Hoopeston, farmer and carpenter, was born 
in Preble county, Ohio, on the 14th of November, 1839. His parents 
were James and Rosanna (Strader) Bowsman. His grandfather Strader 
served seven years in the revolutionary war without a furlough, and 
without being once at home during the time. His father was a carpen- 
ter, and from him he learned the same trade. Until he was seventeen 
he had done no other kind of work. In 1856 the family emigrated to 
Pike county, Illinois, and settled near Pittsfield, where he farmed two 
years. In 1858 he returned to Ohio, and finally went to Madison 
county, Indiana, where he enlisted on the 28th of August, 1861, in 
Co. D, 34th Ind. Vols. This regiment became attached in time to the 
1st Brig., 3d Div., 13th Army Corps. He bore a part in the opera- 
tions at New Madrid and Island No. 10 ; fought at Fort Gibson, 
Champion Hills, siege of Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi. In the 
winter of 1863-4 the regiment was ordered to Texas, but returned to 
New Orleans in March and veteraned. On the 13th of May, 1865, a 
portion of the regiment had a sharp fight with the rebels, and sustained 
a loss of two companies captured. This occurred on the Rio Grande 
and on the old Palo Alto battle-ground. In the battle of Champion 
Hills the stock of his gun was shattered by seven bullets, but he was 






GRANT TOWNSHIP. 



745 



unscathed during all his service. He was mustered out on the 28th 
of February, 1866, at Brownsville, Texas, and disbanded at Indian- 
apolis. On his return home he engaged in running first a saw and 
afterward a planing mill, owning a one-third interest in each. Subse- 
quently he worked at his trade, but in the spring of 1869 he became 
interested in a saw-mill in Preble county, Ohio, which he ran to May, 
1871, when he removed it to Vermilion county, Indiana, and set it up 
seven miles southeast of Danville. He operated it till September, 1875, 
when he sold out and bought one hundred and ten acres of land, where 
he now lives, in Grant township. He is a stalwart republican. 

William R. Clark, Hoopeston, hardware merchant, was born in 
Watertown, New York, on the 25th of October, 1832, and is the son 
of Raymond and Lucy (Gill) Clark. When quite young his parents 
emigrated to Washington, Wayne county, Indiana, and in 1840 to 
Adams county, Illinois, settling on a farm near Quincy. He was in 
Missouri a year, returning to Franklin county, Indiana, in the spring 
of 1846. From this time till the spring of 1853 he was steamboating 
on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, most of the time in the capacity 
of steward. He started on the 1st 
of Maj r , 1853, for California by 
the overland route, arriving there 
on the 2d of October. He kept 
hotel at Neal's Ranche, in the 
Sacramento Valley, forty miles 
north of Myersville, during his 
residence in that state. In Sep- 
tember, 1857, he returned to Mar- 
shall county, Illinois, living nine 
years in Winona, engaged in the 
grocery trade. In 1866 he moved 
to Gilnian, Iroquois county, and started a hardware store; in 1870 
removed his business to Loda, and in the spring of 1872 to Hoopeston, 
then an enterprising town just starting. He has continued the same 
business ever since, and now owns and occupies the finest merchandis- 
ing house in the northern part of Vermilion county. He is serving his 
second term as supervisor of Grant township. He possesses good busi- 
ness qualifications, a firm character, unqualified integrity, and is highly 
and universally respected. He was married on the 5th of September, 
1857, to Henrietta Filton. They have two living children : Lilie, born 
on the 8th of May, 1864; Georgie, born on the 5th of May, 1866. 
Mr. Clark is a steadfast republican, at this time popularly termed 
" stalwart." 




CLAKK 8 HALL. 



746 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

John S. Powell, Hoopeston, druggist, was born in New York city 
on the 23d of February, 1840, and is the son of Edward and Harriet 
(Everett) Powell. At the age of twelve he was indentured to Dr. 
William G. Wood, of Harlem, in the drug business, and placed under 
the supervision of the doctor's brother, James Wood, a thorough 
pharmacist. He served an apprenticeship of five years, during which 
time he was required daily to learn a prescribed task and undergo 
examination by the doctor. He became by this means a good Latin 
scholar. When seventeen he went into some of the leading drug 
stores in the city, where he finished his professional education. In 
1860 he immigrated to Illinois, and on the 14th of April, 1861, volun- 
teered in Co. A, 12th 111. Inf., Col. McArthur, for three months. He 
was mustered out at Cairo on the 2d of August. In the following 
month he reenlisted in the 30th 111., and was appointed hospital steward 
of the regiment, and served in that capacity till the expiration of his 
three years' term, when, in September, 1864, he veteraned. He bore 
a part in the battles of Belmont, Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, 
and the Yicksburg campaign, including the actions at Clinton, Jack- 
son, Champion Hills, and finally the siege and fall of the Gibralter of 
the Mississippi. At the battle of Champion Hills, on the 16th of May, 
1863, he fell into the hands of the enemy, but was released on parole, 
when he reported in person to Gen. Grant, and requested to remain 
with the army till the fall of the city. The general acceded to his 
request, and put him on duty as hospital steward in Gen. Logan's 
division hospital. After the capture of Yicksburg he was ordered to 
report to Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, as a paroled prisoner of war, 
where he remained until exchanged ; then returning to that city he 
was placed on detached service in the office of the medical director of 
the 17th Army Corps. Availing himself of the department library at 
command, he resumed and diligently prosecuted his studies. He ap- 
peared before the board of medical examiners, consisting of surgeons 
Patterson, Wilson and Bouschee, and passed a successful examination, 
and in January, 1865, was commissioned assistant surgeon of the 52d 
U. S. Col. Vols. He was given charge of a ward in U. S. hospital No. 
3, at Vicksburg, and also a small-pox hospital. He remained there on 
duty till he was mustered out of the service, in May, 1866. He 
returned to Illinois and engaged in traveling in the wholesale drug 
business. On the 2d of August, 1871, he stopped in Hoopeston, and 
in the following winter purchased the store and stock of drugs belong- 
ing to Frank Hoffman, and has continued the business to the present 
time, having secured a large and increasing trade. He was married on 
the 25th of January, 1874, to Miss Lizzie Webb. They have one child, 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 747 

Robert Lennox, born on the 20th of February, 1876. Mr. Powell is a 
conservative in politics and a Universalist in religion. 

Joseph Dallstream, Hoopeston, merchant, was born in Wenersborg, 
Sweden, on^the 2d of April, 1852, and is a son of John and Elizabeth 
(Anderson) Dallstream. He received a fair education in the public 
schools of the country, and spent one term in Uppsala College. At 
sixteen he was apprenticed to the shoemaker's trade, which he has 
steadily followed since. In 1871 he came to America, and settled in 
Champaign city. He lived there one year, and afterward a few months 
in Rautoul, finally settling in Hoopeston in the fall of 1872. In 1876 
he opened a general boot and shoe store in connection with his manu- 
facturing. He was married on the 6th of September, 1878, to Amy J. 
Given, who was born on the 22d of July, 1849, in Millersburg, Holmes 
county, Ohio. She is a member of the Christian church. He is a 
republican in politics, and a member of the Lutheran church. He is 
also a member of the Blue Lodge of Masons, and of the chapter in 
Hoopeston. 

Jacob S. McFerren, Hoopeston, banker and real estate broker, was 
born in Warren county, Ohio, on the 1st of October, 1845. His par- 
ents were William and Eliza (Snyder) McFerren. He received a busi- 
ness education at Bartlett's Commercial College, Cincinnati. His father 
having always followed the mercantile business, he was reared to the 
same pursuit. At the age of fifteen he quit school to take a half 
interest with his uncle in a store at Level, Ohio, the latter furnishing 
the capital, and he conducting the business and sharing one half the 
profits, the style of the firm being, A. S. McFerren & Co. Two years 
later his uncle ^formed another partnership, and commenced operating 
in grain ; but a heavy decline and other bad speculations caused the 
firm to suspend with heavy liabilities, which so affected the firm of 
A. S. McFerren & Co. that the quite extensive business which the 
subject of this sketch had built up was discontinued, and their affairs 
were settled up, and all their debts paid in full. In his short, indepen- 
dent business career Mr. McFerren had made a clear profit of $3,000; 
but by the unfortunate speculations of his partner he lost all but $800, 
which so reduced his capital that he was obliged to begin on a salary. 
So, in August, 1865, he started west, and located at Paxton, Illinois, 
where he took charge of the books of J. W. Scott, of that place, for a 
short time, and afterward found a permanent situation with R. Clark, 
one of the oldest merchants of Paxton, as book-keeper. At the end 
of a year Mr. Clark's health failing, he offered to turn over his stock 
of goods to his nephew, A. L. Clark, and Mr. McFerren, and loan 
them all needed capital. The proposition was accepted, and the firm 



748 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

became Clark & McFerren. This partnership and enterprise proved 
highly fortunate. Their trade suddenly attained a basis of substantial 
prosperity, and their capital steadily and rapidly increased. Mr. Mc- 
Ferren at length determined to embark in banking and real estate 
brokerage, and, accordingly, associated with himself T. W. Chamberlin, 
under the style of McFerren & Chamberlin. They opened a bank in 
Hoopeston on the 1st of August, 1872, and did a remunerative busi- 
ness, passing safely through the panic of 1873, keeping their doors 
open throughout that trying period. Early in 1874, owing to ill-health, 
Mr. Chamberlin retired from the partnership. Mr. McFerren's bank 
is one of the most safely conducted institutions of the kind in the 
country, and its credit is deservedly high. The business transacted by 
it has constantly augmented in volume. Maintaining his working 
capital at a uniform figure, he has judiciously invested the profits in 
first-class farming lands in "Vermilion, Iroquois and Ford counties, 
which are now valued at $60,000. He attributes his success to careful 
economy, to keeping his own books, and maintaining a close, personal 
supervision over the details of his business, and to strictly living up to 
his contracts, and compelling others to a like exactness in discharging 
their contracts with him. In the spring of 1877 Mr. McFerren was 
elected the first mayor of Hoopeston on the temperance ticket. The 
town had always been controlled by the liquor interest, but at the end 
of his term of two years it was cleared of every saloon and groggery. 
It is not the least of his merits that he has been a consistent and ear- 
nest laborer in the temperance cause, and has thus assisted largely in 
building up the cit} r , infusing life into it, rendering it respectable, and 
contributing to its good name and reputation. He has been treasurer 
and director of the Hoopeston District Agricultural Society, and is at 
present school treasurer of town 23, range 12. He was one of the 
original projectors of the Ford County Agricultural Society, and is 
still a stockholder in it. Having a taste for travel, Mr. McFerren has 
gratified it by an extensive tour of the United States, from the Atlan- 
tic to the Pacific, and from the British provinces to the Gulf of Mexico. 
He was married on the 4th of April, 1871, to Miss Susie P. Clark, 
daughter of P. Clark, who died on the 28th of July, 1871. His parents 
have been life-long members of the Universalist church. He is a re- 
publican in politics. 

Enoch Ross, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Stark county, Ohio, on 
the 27th of December, 1840, and is a son of Isaac N". and Nancy 
(Hewitt) Ross. His parents were native Pennsylvanians, and his an- 
cestors on his mother's side were Irish. His father was the owner of a 
large grist-mill in Waynesburg, and he raised his son a miller. He 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 749 

followed this trade until his removal to Illinois. On the 17th of July, 
1863, he joined the " Ohio National Guard " for five years, and remained 
a member of that body until the 1st of May, 1866, when he was hon- 
orably discharged. He volunteered in the one-hundred-days service, 
on the 2d of May, 1864, in Co. I, 162d Ohio National Guard, as a 
musician, and was mustered into the U. S. service. He did dntv at 
Camp Chase, Ohio, and at Covington and Carrollton, Kentucky, and 
was mustered out at the former place on the 4th of September, 1864. 
He was married on the 22d of September, 1862, to Christina Kara, 
daughter of Adam Kara, a well-to-do and respectable mechanic of 
Waynesburg. She was born on the 27th of December, 1841. In the 
spring of 1868 he removed with his family to Illinois, and located in 
Fountain Creek township, Iroquois county, on land belonging to his 
father. He lived there four years, and then bought one hundred and 
sixty acres in Grant township, Vermilion county, of H. "W. Beckwith, 
of Danville, the same being the southeast £, section 6, town 23, range 
12, where he at present resides. He has a tine homestead, free from 
debt ; is an independent farmer and valued citizen. He has one daugh- 
ter: Lorena, who was born on the 22d of August, 1863. His political 
views are republican. 

Garret J. Pendergrast, Rossville, farmer, was born in Jefferson 
county, Kentucky, on the 24th of February, 1838, and is a son of James 
F. and Dorothea (Miller) Pendergrast. His father was a ph} 7 sician of 
Jefferson county. He was reared a farmer, and also learned the trade 
of brickmaking and bricklaying. In 1856 he emigrated to Keokuk, 
Iowa, and in 1858 returned to Kentucky, and in the fall went to Chip- 
pewa county, Michigan, and entered one hundred and twenty acres of 
land, living eighteen months among the Indians, but growing weary 
of his prolonged separation from w T hite men and civilization, he gave 
his land to his brother, who lived in that section fifteen years altogether. 
He returned to " Old Kaintuck," and after a few months went to New 
Orleans. In 1863 he again wandered back to his native home. Three 
or four years were then spent in farming, after which he went to mak- 
ing and laying brick in Henry and Shelby counties. He was married 
on the 9th of December, 1871, to Delia Hardesty, daughter of a wealthy 
farmer of Henry county, living near Eminence. She was born on the 
23d of November, 1853. In 1872 he emigrated to Illinois and settled 
at Rossville, where he continued his usual employments of farming and 
making and laying brick. He and his brother Patrick built all the brick 
business-houses in Rossville, viz : Deamude's, Henderson's and Put- 
nam & Albright's. He has a pleasant home of sixteen acres on the 
northern confines of the town, valued at $1,500. He was identified 



750 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

with the republican party for a long time, but for the past few years 
has been independent in politics. The Pendergrasts were Irish, and 
the Moores, — his ancestors on his mother's side, — were English. Both 
families were among the earliest settlers of Kentucky ; they emigrated 
from Pennsylvania. His great-grandfather, Jesse Pendergrast, was 
killed at Boonesborough in attempting to enter the fort while it was 
invested by Indians. His grandfather, Jesse Pendergrast, was born in 
the old fort, and a brother, Garret J. Pendergrast, for many years a 
noted practitioner of Louisville and surgeon in the U. S. army, was re- 
puted to have been the first white male child born in Kentucky. His 
birthplace was also at Boonesborough. Garret J. Pendergrast, uncle 
to the subject of this sketch, was a commodore in the U. S. navy, and 
at the breaking out of the war was one of the oldest officers in the ser- 
vice. His wife was a daughter of Commodore Barron who killed De- 
catur in a duel. Austin Pendergrast, brother to the subject of this 
sketch, was a commander in the U. S. navy. He was lieutenant-com- 
mander of the Congress when she was' sunk by the Merrimac at New- 
port News. He commanded the U. S. steamer Waterwitch in Ossa- 
baw Sound, Georgia, when she was captured, and received a severe 
wound in the engagement. He was confined in Libby prison eighteen 
months. He, among others, was placed under the rebel guns at Charles- 
ton during the siege of that city by Gen. Gillmore, to check the fed- 
eral fire. 

Erastus D. Crane, Rossville, farmer, was born in Warren county, 
Ohio, on the 4th of January, 1834. His parents were Silas and Jane 
(Romine) Crane. Soon after his birth his parents migrated to Fountain 
county, Indiana; he lived in that and Warren county till 1873, when 
he moved to Vermilion county, Illinois, and bought the N.E. -J of 
section 5, town 22, range 12, three miles west and three-fourths of a mile 
north of Rossville, where he at present lives. He was married on the 
3d of February, 1856, to Sarah M. Bowling, who was born on the 6th of 
March, 1839. He was assessor four years in Jordan township, Warren 
county, Indiana. He has eleven children living and dead, as follows: 
Mary Jane, born February 13, 1857; Hannah Alice, born August 26, 
1858; HuldahElma, born November 28, 1860; died August 16, 1866; 
William E., born October 21, 1862; Charles, born October 15, 1865; 
Elnora, born January 28, 1868; Ora, born April 23, 1870; Frank, 
born September 3, 1872; Clara, born February 14, 1874; Lulu May, 
born February 13, 1877; Nellie Florence, born April 12, 1879. He 
owns one hundred and sixty acres of land, worth $4,800. Mr. Crane 
is a greenback republican. 

Joseph Green, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Boyle county, Ken- 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 751 

tucky, on the 26th of October, 1826, and is the son of Solomon and 
Mary E. (Randolph) Green. In 1849 he removed to Crawfordsville, 
Indiana. He was married on the 17th of October, 1849, to Elizabeth E. 
Kogers. In 1864 he settled in Prairie Green township, Iroquois county, 
Illinois, where lie purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. 
In 1867 he moved into Stockland township, and bought two hundred 
and forty-one acres ; lived there seven years, and then settled in 
Hoopeston, to avail himself of the superior school there for his chil- 
dren. He has served one term as alderman, and been a director of the 
high school since the spring of 1875. This school is in the front rank 
of institutions of its kind, and its high reputation is due primarily to 
the wisdom of its officers. His judgment has proved no less practical 
in public than in his own private affairs. He has four living children : 
Willis T., Titus T., Henry Clay, Lina Ellen. He owns four hundred 
and one acres of land, valued at $12,500. Mr. Green is a staunch 
republican ; has been a member of the Christian church since 1844. 

Alba Honeywell, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Cayuga county, 
New York, on the 15th of December, 1821, and is the son of Enoch 
and Eliza (Dye) Honeywell. When a youth his parents settled in 
Steuben (now Schuyler) county. He was brought up to the pursuits 
of the farm. At the age of sixteen he began his education, at first attend- 
ing the Groton Academy two years, and, after teaching a year, con- 
tinued his studies two years more at the Oneida Institute. He next 
taught the Pleasant Valley Academy, and labored in this profession 
eight or ten years. About 1843 he went to Seneca Falls, and, while 
engaged in teaching, read law in the office of Ansil Bascom. The next 
year he went to Rochester, and studied in the office of Gilbert & Osborne. 
He resided in that city a year, and while there, was a delegate to 
the Buffalo Convention, which nominated James G. Birney, the aboli- 
tion candidate, for President in 1844. From this time till 1847 he was 
chiefly engaged in the temperance and anti-slaveiy lecture field, and in 
the meantime wrote several plays in the interest of the temperance 
cause. During the same period he contributed a number of poems to 
the Philadelphia " Dollar Newspaper," and employed his pen variously 
on other papers in writing stories and stray communications bearing 
more or less directly on the reform questions of the day. In July, 
1847, he went to New York city, and became editorially connected 
with the "Anglo-Saxon," a phonetic publication, Andrews & Boyle, 
proprietors. Afterward, in company with Josiah Pillsbury and B. P. 
Worcester, the latter a nephew of the lexicographer, he commenced 
the publication of the "New York Eagle," a reform paper, which was 
soon discontinued. In about 1849 he became an attache on the edi- 



752 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

torial staff of the "Standard," the organ of the American Anti-Slavery 
Society. During much of the time he was associated with the "Stand- 
ard " he issued a small monthly of his own, called the "Chromo Press." 
He was thus occupied till April, 1853, when he emigrated to Iroquois 
county, Illinois, and went on a farm of eight hundred acres, which he 
and his father had entered the } r ear before. He lived there three years, 
increasing the farm to fourteen hundred acres. In 1856, having be- 
come dissatisfied, he traveled in Minnesota and Iowa in quest of a 
better location, and in the fall went to Chicago and secured a position 
on the editorial staff of the Chicago "Daily News," a republican paper, 
which ceased to exist when the political campaign of that year ended. 
In the spring of 1857 he went to Logansport, Indiana, and became 
connected with H. H. Evarts in his celebrated patent shingle machine, 
in which venture he lost four thousand dollars. He next formed a 
partnership under the title of Swan & Honeywell, in lumber manufac- 
turing, which lasted two years. In 1860, in company with Charles W. 
Simonds — firm name of Honeywell & Co. — he started a plow-handle 
and bending establishment, but at the end of two years sold out his 
interest to his partner. This same factory has since grown to immense 
proportions. In 1862 he returned to his farm in Iroquois county, and 
in 1864 was elected supervisor of Stockland township, and reelected to 
that office every year until 1869, when he was elected county clerk on 
the republican ticket. During the winters that he was on the farm he 
was engaged in teaching school, and, during the most of his service on 
the county board, was chairman of the finance committee. In 1872 and 
1873 he bought one thousand acres of land adjoining Hoopeston, a 
part of the city being laid out on it. In 1874 he removed there, and 
has since been engaged in improving his fine estate. Altogether, he 
owns two thousand acres of land, valued at $80,000. He is at present 
maj'or of the city of Hoopeston ; has been a stockholder in, and a 
director of, the First National Bank of Watseka since its organization; 
has been prominent in temperance work in Hoopeston. Mr. Honey- 
well has written the text of a manuscript work entitled, "Philological 
Encyclopedia of the English Language," embracing, among the many 
subjects discussed, phonics, and the institutes of grammar, rhetoric and 
logic. He was married on the 3d of April, 1851, to Cornelia R. An- 
drews, of Steuben county, New York. They have four living children : 
Stella, wife of John C. Cromer, editor of the Homer "Enterprise"; 
Florence, Lilian and Sarah E. Mr. Honeywell is a republican in poli- 
tics. 

William S. Leach, Hoopeston, gardener and fruit-grower, was born 
in Lyons, Wayne county, New York, on the 2d of April, 1825. He is 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 753 

the youngest son of Lyman and Candice Stocking, both of whom were 
born and reared in Litchfield, Connecticut. He was left an orphan at 
a very early age, his father dying when he was two and his mother 
when he was three years old. He was adopted by Chauncey W . 
McCall, a distant relation, by whom he was reared and with whom he 
lived till he was twenty-one. At sixteen he was apprenticed to the 
printer's trade, which he learned, but it being too confining for his 
health he abandoned it and went to gardening, which has been his 
life-occupation. In 1847 he emigrated to Coldwater, Michigan, where 
he was married on the 15th of October, 1852, to Miss Harriet E. Dunn, 
daughter of a respectable farmer of that place. In the spring of 1859, 
accompanied by three men named Douglas, Hunter and Sopries, he 
crossed the plains to Denver, Colorado, on foot, they hauling their provi- 
sions in a one-horse cart from Omaha. They were treated very kindly 
by the Indians, among whom they passed without molestation, and 
with whom they traded every day. This was the first party to reach 
Denver that spring ; perhaps a dozen had preceded them the fall before. 
At this time there was not a house in the place ; the few who were 
there burrowed in the ground. He helped to make the first mining 
laws and to hang the first criminal, who was a Mexican that had mur- 
dered his brother-in-law ; he made the first farming claim, a tract of 
one hundred and sixty acres. He went there for the purpose of gar- 
dening, the Pike's Peak emigration being at its height, but a mid- 
summer frost destroyed every prospect for him in that direction and he 
returned home in June. In 1867 he moved to Jacksonville, Illinois, 
where he carried on gardening, farming and stock-feeding till 1874, 
when he settled in Hoopeston, where he opened his Prairie Garden. 
He has been trustee of the town of Hoopeston, and later alderman of 
the city. He is a republican in politics, and has been a member of the 
Methodist church since he was sixteen years old. He has two living 
children : Ida E., born on the 24th of September, 1853, wife of W. W. 
Hobart, of Hoopeston ; and Eddie J., born on the 24th of October, 
1859. 

John P. Livingood, Rossville, physician and surgeon, was born on 
the 27th of March, 1853, at Sinking Springs, Berks county, Penn- 
sylvania, and is the son of Michael T. and Hannah E. (Ruth) Livin- 
good ; attended the Reading Classical Academy from 1867 to 1869, 
then studied medicine with his father till 1871, when he entered the 
University of Pennsylvania, graduating on the 13th of March, 1874. 
He returned to Rossville, where he has since lived and practiced his 
profession with increasing success. He is a member of the North Ver- 
milion Medical Society. He is a democrat and a Methodist. 
48 



754 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Henry H. Dyer, Hoopeston, attorney, was born in Rutland county, 
Yermont, on the 9th of April, 1831. He is the son of Daniel and 
Phila B. (Beverstock) Dyer. When seven years old, his parents removed 
to Richland county, Ohio. He was bred a farmer; was educated at 
Mount Hesper Seminary, in Morrow county, and taught school a number 
of terms. In 1853 he obtained a position in the Bank of Mansfield, a 
bank of issue, as teller and bookkeeper. He was married on the 22d of 
November, 1854, to Miss Sarah J. Wescott; next year settled in Callo- 
way county, Missouri, where, in company with his father, he bought a 
farm of three hundred and twenty acres whereon he built a combined 
steam saw, grist and woolen mill. In 1858 this was fired and burned by 
one Lewis, at the instigation of the slaveholding community, to punish 
Mr. D. for his anti-slavery views. In 1860 he removed to Denver City 
and engaged in the commission business ; in 1861 he went to Nevada 
City, and for two years was mining and running a quartz mill ; in 
1863 moved to Canon City and bought three ranches; followed farm- 
ing and trading ; elected justice of the peace and held the office one 
year. In the fall of 1864 he went to Denver and embarked in the auction 
and commission business, taking a partner, under the firm name of 
Clark and Dyer. In the spring of 1867 he came to Chicago, engaging 
in the hardware trade and the manufacture of tinware ; in 1870 moved 
to Greenup, Cumberland county, Illinois, and went into the real estate 
and contract business; in January, 1875, settled in Hoopeston, and 
began the study of the law privately, which he prosecuted with pro- 
digious zeal and assiduity. He began to practice in July following. He 
did not relax his studies, and in January, 1877, was admitted to the bar 
at Springfield. He has secured a very successful and lucrative practice. 
He is a nephew of Hon. Charles Y. Dyer, of Chicago, a noted anti- 
slavery lecturer, who was formerly judge under treaty with Great 
Britain for the suppression of the African slave-trade, by appointment 
of President Lincoln. He is the father of four living children. Mr. 
Dyer in his political views is a greenbacker. 

Dale Wallace, Hoopeston, publisher, was born in Laporte, Indiana, 
on the 5th of November, 1849. His parents were John Porter and 
Lydia Ann (Winchell) Wallace. In 1855 his parents moved to West 
Union, Fayette county, Iowa, and the subject of this sketch was reared 
and educated there. He began the printer's trade in 1863 in the office 
of the " Fayette County Pioneer," a violent copperhead sheet which 
was published at West Union. This was mobbed the same j'ear by 
a lot of returned soldiers, while he was yet working in the office. He 
next went to Marion, Linn county, and obtained a place in the office 
of the " Marion Register," remaining there one year. In 1865 he en- 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 755 

tered Baylies' Commercial College and learned telegraphy, graduating 
in four months. He next went to work on the Cedar Falls " Gazette," 
and was foreman in that office two years; then went to Eldora, Har- 
din county, and was foreman of the " Ledger " one or two years ; from 
thence he went to California and Oregon and remained two years 
working at his trade in San Francisco, Sacramento, Portland, Salt 
Lake and Virginia Cities. When a poor boy he conceived a passion 
for travel, and saved his money carefully during the long years of close 
application to his trade to gratify it. He has visited every state in the 
Union, except Maine and Texas, and traveled in Montana, Idaho, Utah, 
Washington and Wyoming. In 1871 he returned from the Pacific 
coast to Eldora. A large eight-column newspaper, owned by stock- 
holders, was being published in that place, and he was engaged to man- 
age it, which he did three months. Dictation not proving agreeable 
to him, he gave up his position and came to Hoopeston, and in com- 
pany with G. W. Seavey, established the " Chronicle," on the 1st of 
January, 1872. They sold out on the 1st of January, 1877, to L. F. 
Watson, and on the 1st of July, of the same year, Mr. Wallace came 
into control of it again, this time as sole owner. In February, 1877, 
he visited Washington City, and during that and the following month 
lie traveled extensively in the southern states. In November, 1877, he 
was appointed postmaster at Hoopeston, and on the 1st of January fol- 
lowing took charge of the office, which he holds at the present time. 
He was married on the 14th of November, 1878, to Miss Lucy Viola 
Webb. Mr. Wallace possesses first-class qualifications for his profes- 
sion. His ability to maintain a newsy, racy and pungent paper has 
placed the "Chronicle" in the front rank of the country press, and 
secured for it a generous patronage. He never does things by halves ; 
he contributes no halting support, or interposes no timid opposition — 
he embraces or repels with energy and resolution. He founded the 
" Chronicle " before a business house had been finished in the place, 
and by his spirit, pluck and intelligence has done as much as any other 
to make the name of Hoopeston a byword abroad, and her reputation 
for thoroughness and enterprise a fixed fact. 

Alfred E. McDonald, Hoopeston, attorney, was born in Chatham 
county, North Carolina, on the 10th of May, 1844. His parents were 
Simeon and Anna R. (Elliott) McDonald. When very young his 
parents removed to Clark county, Illinois, and settled on a farm of 
eighty acres, which was subsequently increased to about six hundred. 
He volunteered in the spring of 1861 for three months, in Co. G, 10th 
111. Inf., Col. B. M. Prentiss. At the expiration of his term he reen- 
listed in the same company and regiment ; was employed at New Ma- 



756 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

drid and Island No. 10. His regiment and the 16th 111., under Gen. 
Pope, bagged six thousand rebels at the latter place. He was present at 
the siege of Corinth and the battle of Chickamauga; fought at Mission 
Ridge, and marched to Knoxville; veteraned on the 1st of January, 
1864, at Rossville, Georgia. He was captured on the 27th of August dur- 
ing the movement of Sherman's army to the rear of Atlanta; was con- 
fined first at Andersonville, then at Florence ; and was paroled on the 
13th of December, and delivered to federal authorities at Charleston on 
the 16th. After a respite of nearly three months at home, he rejoined 
his regiment at Raleigh the day before Johnson surrendered ; marched to 
Washington, and went on the grand review of Sherman's army, on the 
24th of May, 1865 ; mustered out on the 4th of July, at Louisville, and 
disbanded at Chicago on the 12th. He was married on the 16th of No- 
vember, 1867, to Miss Mildred Conley. On the death of his father, in 
1867, the management of the estate devolved upon him. In 1870 he went 
to Texas, and was employed on a stock ranche. Returning in the fall 
of 1871, he commenced reading law under Judge A. H. Stutsman ; 
studied afterward with James A. Conley, of Charleston, Illinois, at 
present United States district attorney. In the winters of 1872-3 and 
of 1873-4 he attended the law school of the Michigan University ; grad- 
uated on the 25th of March, 1874, and was admitted to the bar at Lan- 
sing on the 7th of April. Soon afterward he located at Waxahatchie, 
Texas, but in July, 1875, came north and settled at Hoopeston, where 
he enjoys a good reputation and a fine practice. He has one son : Cory. 
Mr. McDonald is a republican. 

Rudolphus R. Taylor, Hoopeston, hardware merchant and imple- 
ment dealer, was born in Peoria, Illinois, on the 5th of April, 1842. 
His parents were James S. and Sarah (Miller) Taylor. At the age of 
fourteen he was apprenticed to the tinner's trade, which he learned. 
In 1859 he went to California, by the way of Panama ; lived there two 
years ; worked some at mining, but most of the time at his trade. He 
enlisted on the 18th of September, 1861, in Co. A, 2d Cal. Cav., Col. A. 
J. Smith. He passed his term of service doing duty at Fort Churchill, 
Nevada, and at Camp Douglas, Salt Lake City, and in scouting after In- 
dians. He was mustered out on the 4th of October, 1864, at Camp Doug- 
las, and disbanded on the 16th. He at once started for home across the 
plains, and arrived in Peoria early in December. He was married on 
the 7th of February, 1865, to Miss Carrie Ash. In 1867 he engaged 
in the hardware trade in Princeville, Peoria county, in company with 
I. Howell, under the firm name of Howell & Taylor. In the spring of 
1872 they sold out and Mr. T. returned to Peoria, and was employed 
by the T. P. & W. Railroad Company. Two years later he formed a 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 757 

co-partnership with James Hulsizer, style of Hulsizer & Taylor, and 
resumed the hardware business in Princeville. In February, 1875, 
they removed to Hoopeston, and in March, 1877, Mr. H. sold his inter- 
est to Mr. Taylor and retired from the firm. Mr. T. is still at the old 
stand, doing a good business. He is an honorable, fair-dealing man, 
worthy of confidence and patronage. He has two living children : 
James A., and Minnie L. Mr. Taylor is a staunch republican in poli- 
tics. 

Joseph Southwick, Hoopeston, farmer, was born at Hoosac Falls, 
Rensselaer county, New York, on the 1st of August, 1833. He is a son of 
John Wesley and Esther (Chapman) Southwick. He obtained his educa- 
tion at the high school at Union Village, Washington county, New York, 
ending his studies there in 1854. He spent the year 1855 in Maine, sur- 
veying and platting the counties of Kennebec and Androscoggin for 
county maps, published by Chase & Barker, of New York. In 1856 he 
was engaged in the same work in Pennsylvania, for Chase & Barker, and 
surveyed the counties of Lebanon and Dauphin. In 1857 he emigrated 
to Woodford county, Illinois, and bought a farm of eighty acres five 
miles north of El Paso. In the fall he returned to New York, and was 
married on the 17th of October, to Elizabeth Joy, daughter of John 
Joy, an influential farmer of Rensselaer county. She was born on the 
29th of October, 1839. In 1875 he removed to Vermilion county, hav- 
ing bought the W. \ of section 6, town 23, range 12. He has a well 
improved and choice farm four and one-half miles west of Hoopeston, 
on the L. B. & M. railroad, valued at $9,600. In 1869 Mr. and Mrs. 
Southwick united with the Methodist Episcopal church in Woodford 
county, but the appointment was dropped and the class went down. 
Since that they have not been identified with any religious society. 
They have three living children : Merritt A., born on the 23d of Octo- 
ber, 1859; Henry, born on the 2d of November, 1863; Arthur, born 
on the 27th of December, 1866. He is a republican in politics. 

Lucius H. Jones, Hoopeston, lumber dealer, was born in Cleveland, 
Ohio, on the 18th of June, 1839, and is a son of Horace and Mary 
(Mead) Jones. In 1853 his parents settled at Princeton, Illinois, and 
the next year moved to Oneida, Knox county. He lived there till 
1868, during which time his principal occupation was farming. He 
then went to Chicago and lived there seven years, contracting joiner 
work. In December, 1875, he located in Hoopeston and engaged in 
the lumber trade. In 1877 he formed a co-partnership with A. H. Trego, 
under the firm name of Trego & Jones, and is doing an extensive and 
profitable business. The gentlemen composing this firm are straight- 
forward, obliging and reliable men. He was married on the 20th of 



758 HISTOKY OF VEKMILION COUNTY. 

December, 1863, to Miss Frances Bailey, daughter of Benjamin Bailey, 
then of Oneida, now of Hoopeston. She was born on the 19th of Au- 
gust, 1813. They have two living children : Bertie, born on the 1st of 
December, 1861; Maud E., born on the 11th of August, 1871. Mr. 
Jones is a republican. He had a brother, William Orlando, in the 
army during the late war, who served in Co. 1, 102d 111. Reg., through- 
out the Atlanta campaign, the march to the sea, and the campaign of 
the Carolinas. On the march to Washington City he rode off from the 
column (he was a mounted orderly at the time) to view the Wilderness 
battle-ground, but he never returned, and no tidings of his fate were 
ever received. He was probably slain by guerrillas. 

Henry Frankeberger, Hoopeston, druggist, was born in Hendricks 
county, Indiana, on the 27th of October, 1842, and is the son of Samuel 
and Rhoda Jane (Smith) Frankeberger. He enlisted on the 3d of August, 
1861, for three years, in Co. H, Harris' Light Cavalry. Gen. Judson 
Kilpatrick was lieutenant-colonel, and finally colonel of this regiment. 
The subject of this sketch served entirely in Virginia and under Kil- 
patrick until the transfer of the latter to Sherman's army in the spring 
of 1864. He did not miss a day's service, and participated in all of 
Kilpatrick's scouts and engagements, including the notable raid begun 
on the 28th of February, 1864, for the purpose of releasing Union 
prisoners in Richmond. He was captured on the 5th of May, 1864, at 
the battle of the Wilderness, and was confined at Andersonville, Flor- 
ence and Charleston, until .March 1, 1865, when he was exchanged at 
the latter place. It was two years before he recovered sufficiently from 
the effects of his inhuman treatment to do any labor. He has not 
entirely regained, and never will, his former robust constitution. He 
was married on the 6th of September, 1866, to Martitia Swisher. From 
1870 to 1876 he traveled in the patent-right business. In the latter 
year he came to Hoopeston, where he now keeps a drug store. He has 
one child, Judson Kilpatrick, born on the 12th of November, 1869. 
Mr. Frankeberger is a republican in politics. 

Thomas B. Bird, Hoopeston, teacher, was born in Holmes county, 
Ohio, on the 24th of October, 1841, and is the son of Thomas B. and 
Mary (Williams) Bird. He was reared a farmer; received his early edu- 
cation at Hiram Academy, Portage county, Ohio ; began teaching when 
seventeen, and subsequently attended Spring Mountain Academy, in 
Coshocton county; also a select school at Millersburg. He enlisted for 
three months under the first call for troops, in Co. G, 16th Ohio Vols.; 
engaged in action at Phillipi, and mustered out at the end of four 
months' service. He reenlisted in 1862 in Co. G, 102d Ohio, for three 
years ; did post duty most of the time ; was promoted from private to 



GRANT TOWNSHIP. 759 

third-sergeant, and in the spring of 1863 mustered second-lieutenant of 
his company. In the winter of 1862-3 he came home to Millersburg, 
Ohio, on recruiting service; mustered out on the 8th of July, 1865. 
In the fall of 1865 he entered upon the classical course at Bethany Col- 
lege, and graduated in June, 1869. Since that time he has been an 
instructor ; was principal of the Newark (Ohio) High-school four years ; 
in 1875 went to California; visited, that summer, the Yosemite Valley, 
in company of a horse-back party of ladies and gentlemen, who crossed 
the Sierra Nevada Mountains, consuming six weeks in the journey. 
After visiting Salt Lake City, and teaching school one year, he returned 
home via the Panama route, and was present at the opening ceremonies 
of the Centennial. In the fall of 1876 he became superintendent of 
the Millersburg High-school, and the next year principal of the 
Hoopeston High-school. His reputation as a skillful and efficient 
teacher is wide and well deserved. A more successful and popular 
graded school cannot be found in the state. He was married on the 
22d of May, 1879, to Miss Mary Strauss. He belongs to the Christian 
church, and is a republican in politics. 

Samuel Rodman, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Muskingum coun- 
ty, Ohio, on the 4th of November, 1842. His parents were Scammon 
and Eliza (Wolf) Rodman. His father was for many years an active 
and exemplary member of the Methodist church. His great-grand- 
father was a veteran of the revolutionary war. In 1854 the family 
emigrated to McLean county, Illinois, and located in Bloomington 
township. He was bred to farming, but received a fair education. He 
was in attendance at the Wesleyan University at the outbreak of the 
rebellion. He volunteered on the 7th of August, 1862-, in Co. D, 94th 
111. Inf. ; was mustered into the United States service on the 22d, and 
started for the seat of war on the 25th. The regiment was uniformed, 
armed and equipped at St. Louis. He fought at Prairie Grove, Arkan- 
sas, on the 7th of December, 1862, and a few days later at Van Buren. 
He served throughout the siege of Vicksburg, taking part in a number 
of sharp engagements with the enemy. He was at Port Hudson, Fort 
Morgan, Spanish Fort, Morganzia and Mobile, and participated in sev- 
enteen battles, all told. He was mustered out of service on the 9th of 
August, 1865, at Galveston, Texas, and disbanded at Springlield, Illi- 
nois. The first colonel of his regiment was W. W. Orm, and the sec- 
ond, John McNulta. In 1872 he became station agent on the Wabash 
railway at Padua ; also agent for the United States Express Company, 
and postmaster at that place. In addition, he sold goods the first year. 
In the spring of 1877 he resigned his position at Padua, and moved to 
Hoopeston. The next year he bought a farm of eighty acres, valued 



760 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

at $2,500, four miles southeast of that city, the same being the N. -£ 
N.E. ^ section 30, town 23, range 11, on which he is living. He was 
married on the 13th of August, 1867, to Miss Josephine Nelson, of 
Hardin county, Ohio. They have rive living children. He is a Uni- 
versalist in religion, and a stalwart republican in politics. 

Jesse McQuade, • deceased, was born in Green township, "Wayne 
county, Ohio, on the 2d of July, 1845. He was the oldest son of 
Alexander and Nancy McQuade. In 1857 he immigrated, with his 
parents, to Oneida, Knox county, Illinois. His early life was passed 
on a farm. He volunteered in Co. 1, 102d 111. Inf., on the 9th of August, 
1862, and was mustered into the United States service on the 2d of 
September, at Knoxville, county seat of Knox county. He served 
throughout the Atlanta campaign, and fought in the general engage- 
ments at Resaca and Peach Tree Creek ; marched to the sea ; was one 
of Sherman's " bummers," in which capacity he acquired a high repu- 
tation among his comrades. He resumed the same exciting and peril- 
ous duty at the beginning of the campaign of the Carolinas. On the 
28th of February, 1865, while foraging, he and a single companion dis- 
covered and surprised a party who were guarding the Bank of Camden, 
South Carolina, which had been removed and secreted in the woods. 
They were fired upon and both wounded. McQuade's left shoulder, 
arm and side were filled with small shot. Their command coming up 
speedily, the prize was secured. He was discharged at Grant United 
States General Hospital on the 24th of May, 1865. His left arm 
became almost useless, and he carried to his grave the charge of shot 
which had been lodged in his body. After the war he was postmaster 
at Oneida five years. From 1870 to 1877 he was in the employment 
of the C. B. & Q. Railroad Company as station agent and operator. In 
the latter year he settled in Hoopeston, and was employed in selling 
lumber and keeping books. In April, 1879, he went to Dakota for his 
health, which had been declining for several years, and while home- 
ward bound, died on the cars at St. Cloud, Minnesota, on the 19th of 
the following month. His body preceded the intelligence of his death. 
He was married on the 21th of December, 1866, to Miss Harriet Bai- 
ley, whom he left with two children : Minnie, nine years old, and a 
babe, born after his departure for the west. 

Andrew J. Bowman, Hoopeston, farmer, was born in Coshocton 
county, Ohio, on the 18th of July, 1840, and is a son of John and 
Susanna (Nowel) Bowman. His father came from Lancaster county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1813, and settled in Coshocton county. At the age 
of nineteen he was apprenticed to the blacksmith's trade. He was 
enrolled on the 18th of November, 1S61, in Co. C, 67th Ohio Vols., 



CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 7(il 

Col. A. C. Voris. He served in the Shenandoah in the summer of 
1862, under Gen. Shields, taking part in numerous minor actions, and 
in the battle of Winchester, April 23. His command having been 
transferred, he fought at the terrific battle of Malvern Hill. He was 
subsequently in front of Charleston, South Carolina, during the siege 
operations against Forts Wagner and Sumter under Gen. Q. A. Gill- 
more ; next on the James River in front of Richmond ; fought at 
Chafin's Farm ; was present throughout the siege of Petersburg, and 
participated in the grand assault on that place on the 2d of April, 
1865, which hastened Lee's retreat from Richmond. He was in the 
pursuit after Lee, and present at the surrender of his army. He was 
in thirty-two engagements. In February, 1863, he veteraned. He 
was mustered out on the 18th of December, 1865. On the organiza- 
tion of his company he was appointed fifth sergeant, and was regularly 
promoted to second sergeant. In March, 1863, he was advanced to 
quartermaster sergeant of his regiment, and on the 9th of Januaiy, 
1864, was commissioned first lieutenant of Co. E, in which capacity he 
served the remainder of his term. On his return from the war he 
engaged in mercantile pursuits at New Bedford, Coshocton county, 
Ohio, and continued thus employed twelve years. In 1877 he emi- 
grated to Vermilion county, Illinois, and bought a farm of one hundred 
and twenty acres in Grant township, worth $4,500. He was married 
on the 25th of October, 1866, to Elizabeth Dellenbaugh, who was born 
on the 23d of February, 1841. They have four living children: Emma, 
born October 8, 1868; Oliva, born December 22, 1871; Susanna E., 
born July 25, 1874; John H., born January 30, 1877. He is a repub- 
lican in politics. N 



CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 

At the second meeting of the county commissioners' court ever held 
in the county, on the 18th of March, 1826, the county was divided into 
two townships, all that was south of the center of town 18 was called 
Carroll, all north of that line, Ripley. This was twenty-five years be- 
fore township organization was adopted, and just what this division 
was adopted for, and what end was accomplished by such division, is 
not apparent, or why those names were changed is not definitely known, 
but some allusion is presumed to have existed in the minds of the com- 
missioners to former places of residence. It is believed by some that 
the name was selected from a feeling of respect and reverence for 
Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, then ninety years old, and the last to 



762 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

sign the Declaration of Independence, as he was also the last of that 
patriot band to die. 

Carroll, as now constituted, has for its northern boundary the same 
line which was designated in 1826. Georgetown and Elwood have 
been taken off from the eastern side, and Sidell from the western, and 
it now embraces the western two-thirds of town 17, range 12 ; the east- 
ern half of town 17, range 13 ; the western two-thirds of the south half 
of town 18, range 12, and the southeastern quarter of town 18, range 
13, is nine miles long by seven miles wide, and contains sixty-three 
sections, or nine less than two congressional townships. The Little 
Vermilion runs across its southern end, which, with its numerous 
branches, gives free watering to nearly all its territory, making it one 
of the most desirable for stock farms in the county. Originally the 
water in this stream was sufficient for mills during a considerable por- 
tion of the year, now, however, it has materially lessened. The timber 
along this stream was magnificent, and covered about sixteen sections, 
or about one-quarter of its territory. There is quite a high ridge along 
its southern boundary which marks the southern line of the valley of 
the Little Vermilion. Water and timber, the two prime necessities for 
early settlements, were here found in such quantities and of such good 
quality, that it early afforded a home for those coming into the new 
country. 

EARLY SETTLERS SOUTH OF THE RIVER. 

As in all new places, a majority of those who first came were of that 
roving, uncertain class of people, who sell out and move on the slight- 
est provocation; who never know when they are well off; or who, on 
the other hand, never know how to make a home anywhere, — squat- 
ters, who stay in one " neck of timber " one winter, and then go on to 
the next. 

One account makes John Myers — " Injin John" — the first settler 
in Carroll. This is probably incorrect, but there is no doubt that he 
came among the first. He was a character. Free with what he had, 
brave, self-willed, and on the water would have become a buccaneer. 
He had little- love for property which was his own, and less for the 
rights of others. 

About the year 1820 Mr. Starr, an uncle of Barnett and Absalom, 
bought, at the land sales at Palestine, eight hundred and eighty acres 
of land near Mmere Mr. R. E. Barnett now resides, and proposed to 
make his home there. He was then living at or near Palestine, where 
Henry Johnson and his nephews were living. If he ever came here to 
live it was only temporarily, for, either that year or the following, he 
traded the entire tract to John Myers for his eighty-acre farm in Ohio. 



CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 763 

" Injin John " came on here to live, and on the way here came across his 
brother-in-law, Joseph Frazier, in Indiana, and offered to give him a 
quarter-section if he would accompany him. Frazier agreed to this, 
and the two came on here in 1821. This particular tract which he 
gave Frazier is now a portion of the Sconce farm. Frazier sold to Sul- 
livant in 1853. It had on it the most beautiful growth of black walnut 
timber in this section. The Sullivants cut it off and made it into rails 
to fence " broad lands." The timber, if standing there now, would be 
worth a fortune at the rates now given. About ten years before Myers 
came here he had an Indian hunt in Ohio, which shows the character 
of the man. A man and his two sons were out in a sugar bush, in the 
spring of the year, at work, and were killed by three Indians. Myers 
at once raised a company of avengers, and started in pursuit. They 
struck the trail in the new snow, and followed until all but three gave 
out from sheer exhaustion. The great physical endurance, pluck and 
determination of Myers, whetted by a keen desire for revenge, now as- 
serted itself. His two remaining comrades threatened to leave him, 
and he told them that he would shoot them if they turned back. This 
"nerved their courage," and soon they came in sight of the smoke of 
the Indians' camp. All three men shot at once and killed two of the 
Indians. The third escaped and hid in a hollow tree. Myers soon 
"treed him" and shot him, and recovered the three scalps of his white 
neighbors. Myers was one of the first to go to the Black Hawk war, 
and there made a great deal of trouble by his insubordination. By 
this time habits of intemperance had grown on him, and about the first 
thing he did after arriving in the Indian country was to get drunk and 
go to abusing the officers and everybody else for not going into the 
fight at once. He knew no such thing as discipline; abhorred tactics; 
did not believe in waiting for orders or for supplies. He came there to 
" fight Injins," and fight he was going to. He was ordered under 
arrest for conduct unbecoming a soldier and a gentleman. He had 
told some of these new-fiedged officers that they did not know any- 
thing about "fighting Injins" more 1 !) a bear did about a camp meetin'. 
His brother-in-law, Davis, was killed there at the block-house. Myers 
was a powerful man. He could crack a black walnut with his teeth, 
and in his fights had disfigured more than one face. He once offered 
Jack M'Dowell, then a spruce and lively young chap who was striving 
to get along in the world, a half-section of land if he would marry his 
daughter. Jack wanted the land, but was afraid of the incumbrance. 
He gave away or fooled away all his land, and went out to the Illinois 
Kiver and died. While here he had a hand in all that was going on. 
He used up a portion of his means in helping Simon Cox to build that 



764 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

mill that never would run for any of them. Frazier went to Iowa. 
Barnett Starr settled here in 1821, or about the same time his brother 
Absalom did. 

Moses Bradshaw came here from Virginia in 1821 and cleared a 
place in the timber, near b} r Mr. Barnett's present residence. He had 
several sons, two of whom, Daniel and William, were able to help him 
in making a farm in the timber-land ; but it was sickly here, and he 
took the first opportunity to sell out, and went back to Virginia. The 
Richmond family lived in the timber here one winter and summer. 
The boys were William, David, James, John, and Lewis, " the squealer," 
and there were four girls. They went to Douglas county before there 
was a house in Charleston. Simon Cox came in 1822 and took up land. 
He and Myers commenced to build a mill. First they tried a water- 
mill, and then put in steam ; but neither were practical millwrights, 
and did not succeed in their enterprise. Peter Summe assisted in 
building the mill. It was both a grist and saw mill, and, like all these 
old ones, the stones were cut out of boulders found here. It stood 
where the first county road running from where Abraham Sandusky's 
house stands, south across the stream, and about one mile southeast of 
Indianola. 

Though not next in chronological order, William McDowell settled 
next in this neighborhood, south of the creek. He came from Ken- 
tucky in 1823, with four sons, John, Archie, James and William, and 
two daughters, Mrs. Starr and Mrs. Ayers. He lived seven years in 
Palestine, in Crawford county, before coming here, wrestling with 
poverty before his children had become able to help him. When he 
had saved enough to enter eighty acres ($100), he entered land here in 
sections 35 and 36, range 13, and came here to live, with little else than 
his own hands and his brave, though not very strong, boys. When he 
arrived here he built his cabin on a piece adjoining what he had 
bought, intending, as soon as he was able, to enter that also. He 
learned one day that Peter Summe had gone to Palestine to enter him 
out. Without a dollar in his pocket, he started on to try to save his 
land. Riding all night, he got there before business hours in the 
morning, and went directly to the house of the register, with whom he 
was acquainted, and told him his trouble. To save him, the register 
agreed to do "what would have lost him his position if it had then been 
known, which was to let McDowell have the land, trusting him to pay 
for it in sixty days, although Summe was there with the gold in his 
hand. McDowell came back in triumph, but it cost him dearly. He 
was in such constant anxiety over it, working night and day, scheming 
and contriving how to get that hundred dollars, finally having to sell 



CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 765 

part of the land to get it, that it threw him into a fever, from which he 
died. Several members of the family died at the same time. The 
death of his father left John McDowell to care for the family, and work 
out his fortune as best he conld. He had not a dollar, but he was 
plucky. He worked as he could find employment, which in those days 
was not very steady or lucrative. He split rails for Mr. Barnett a few 
years later, to pay for the land he is on, and worked away — did not 
propose to sell out and move away — until he had bought and paid for 
eleven hundred and fifty acres of land, most of which he has given to 
his children, and still lives on the land which his father made that 
night ride to Palestine to buy on trust. 

" Old Abel Williams," as he is familiarly called, came to this neigh- 
borhood from Tennessee in 1824, and made his home two miles south 
of Indianola. He was a man who could not well have had an enemy ; 
singularly pure in his life, and free from even the appearance of evil. 
His house was early the home of the itinerant preachers, and at his 
house their first services were held, or at least some of the early ser- 
vices were held there. He was early interested in securing the build- 
ing of the first Methodist church in the county, the " Lebanon," which 
stood across the stream from his house. Mr. "Williams still lives with 
his son about twelve miles west of his former home, in Champaign 
county, at the advanced age of ninety-seven years, full of years and full 
of the good esteem and love of all who know him. He was so anxious 
to go to the Blackhawk war that he went without a gun, trusting that 
one would be supplied him. 

The first person buried in the Frazier grave-yard was Mr. Hel- 
venston, who was a son-in-law of Bradshaw. He went over to 
Hickory Grove on a hunting excursion; he treed the game and cut 
down the tree, and while the tree was falling, his dog, who had a habit 
of running for the falling game, made for the tree. In trying to get 
the dog away the tree fell on him and killed him. His widow married 
Mr. Clayton. 

Robert Dickson came from Kentucky when his son David was only 
eighteen years old, in 1824. Their journey here was made by keel- 
boat to Coleman's Prairie, thence across the country with teams. They 
made their first home near where David now lives. Mr. Dickson had 
four sons : David, who still resides here and is well known over the 
county ; John, Amos and James. He died here, much respected, 
where his children and grandchildren grew up around him. The 
young man David worked around as he could find employment; went 
to the salt works and worked a while ; walked to Galena at a time 
when nearly all the money that came to these parts came from there in 



766 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

payment for produce and cattle, and when it was popularly supposed 
to be a place where money grew on every bush. On the 3d of August, 
1829, he was married to a daughter of Mr. Silas Waters, who had re- 
cently followed on from Kentucky, with some just as tine girls as the 
" blue grass" region ever presented to the world. A few days since, 
this pleasantly married and well preserved couple celebrated their 
golden wedding in a becoming and pleasant way. The little matter of 
a houseful or two of their friends got together under the grateful shade 
of their grounds, and there told over old facts and pleasantries, incidents 
of early life here, which might fill a book. Neither were the substan- 
tial of life forgotten ; if the tables did not groan it was because they 
are better material than are used in most of our dining-rooms. The 
historian will only find room here for one among the many remi- 
niscences which came out on that occasion, and selects as the best one: 

JOHN STARK'S DREAM. 

It was late in the forties (so runs Jack}' McDowell's version) that 
Johny Stark, Moses Scott and some others of our good neighbors who 
have since got away, were the active makers of history on this side of 
the Vermilion. They were neighborly people, and would turn out to 
a logging-bee or a horse-race, kindly, without a second invite, as readily 
as they would go to a meal's victuals or any other ordinary duty. Of 
course there were the usual little banters among them, as to who could 
rake and bind the most wheat or shuck the most corn. Their women 
folks would lend a drawing of tea, or the best brass kettle, without 
snarling about it; and the young misses never thought of turning up 
their noses at each other because they happened to wear a better frock. 
Politics was about the only disturbing influence, when some good dem- 
ocrat would shout " fifty -four-forty-or-fight," and his whig neighbor 
over the way entered a protest a little too vigorous in reference to the 
last syllable, we soon managed to smooth it over. One day a matter 
occurred that came near dragging the whole posse of us off to Danville 
to court, but for the timely and wise counsel of good old Father Will- 
iams and Parson Ashmore, who had more sense than any of us. We 
were all out to a "Fourth of July " on a liberal scale, before that pesky 
word "picnic" was invented, when Johny Stark, who had never been 
accused of knowing more than the law allowed, said he had the curi- 
ousest dream the other night he ever heard tell of. He said he dreamed 
he was wandering around one dark night, and came upon a great lot of 
men who were molding men and all kinds of animals, out of material 
that was especially prepared for each. The work was progressing finely 
when, through a mistake of the molding-boss, he got some of the hog 



CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 767 

metal and run it into a man mold, when out jumped Mose Scott, as 
large as life and twice as natural. He was making for the timber as 
fast as his new-made legs would let him. " Catch it, catch it," shouted 
half a dozen of the molders at a breath. " No," said the molding-boss, "let 
the d — d thing go, and let's see what it will amount to." After telling 
this " curiousest dream," Scott threatened to sue him for slander, but 
old Abel Williams told him he never heard that you could sue a man 
for what he dreamed ; and Mr. Ashmore told him that if he was called 
on as a witness he would be obliged to swear that Johny Stark never 
had wit enough to make up such a yarn, and the probability was that 
the fellow actually dreamed it, — probably had more sense asleep than 
awake. Scott took the advice of the two sensible men, and saved us 
all a trip or two to Danville. 

LATER SETTLERS. 

Silas Waters came from Kentucky in 1828, and took up a farm just 
east of where Mr. Dickson lives. Mr. and Mrs. Waters died here, but 
the nine children they brought with them are still living. The mother 
of this family of old folks was for many years a member of the Meth- 
odist church, and inspired their young steps in the paths she delighted 
in. The eldest of this remarkable family is eighty-one, and the 
youngest is sixty-five. The united ages of the nine is six hundred 
and fifty-seven years. The remarkable instance is so much more re- 
markable in view of the liability to sickness which those who came 
here fifty years ago were under. There were few families who re- 
mained here during the pioneer times without having their circle shat- 
tered by the hand of death. The children of old Silas Waters, Silas, 
Mrs. Niel, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Crumbaugh, live at LeRoy, in McLean 
county, where the former has, for almost fifty years, been the stay and 
strength of the Methodist church at that place. John is in Shelby 
county, James in Georgetown, Mrs. Wright in Middlefork, Mrs. Dick- 
son and Mrs. Sconce here. 

John Reed, familiarly called "Dasher," came from Kentucky in 
1829, and after living a few years at Hickory Grove came here and 
lived on the McDowell farm. He afterward wandered off to Nauvoo, 
and joined the Mormons, among whom he found more congenial so- 
ciety than here. Aaron Mendenhall came here in 1827, and took up 
land in section 31, near the eastern line of the township. He had 
eight children. He died in 1810. Two sons live in the vicinity yet, 
and three daughters, Mrs. Baird, Mrs. Mills and Mrs. Lawrence, live 
near by. 

George Barnett came here from Bourbon county, Kentucky, in 



768 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

1828. He was a man of considerable experience in the affairs of the 
world, and had some means — enough to get a fair start in a new 
country. He had got tired of the influences of the institution of 
slavery, and, while not an abolitionist in sentiment, like many of the 
Quakers who came here at that time, was not so in love with the insti- 
tution as to remain with it any longer. He had purchased a part of 
the farm of Mr. Bradshaw before removing here, and entered more 
after coming. He had a family- of eight children. He came in those 
old-fashioned four-horse wagons of that day, bringing such goods and 
other things with him as he needed. He commenced farming opera- 
tions, and soon engaged in raising stock, having bought the farm with 
especial reference to that business. He bought some "prairie rooters" 
of Mr. Bradshaw, who was to deliver the sow and pigs to him in the 
pen, and, as they were as wild as young deer, Robert felt a little 
anxious to know how Bradshaw was going to deliver the "goods." He 
went along with him into the timber to see him capture them. It was 
a new business to the lad just from the blue-grass pastures. Brad- 
shaw provided himself with the "implements" of chase — a pony and 
a bob-tailed dog — and took for the timber. As fast as "bob" would 
catch the pigs, Bill would tie them on to the pony, and then the "nurs- 
ing mother" of the litter was made fast to the same patient horse, 
two of the pigs were tied together and slung over his own shoulder, 
and, thus loaded with the trophy of the chase, he made his way back 
to the pen. As fast as he could he got his land into blue-grass pasture. 
He was early elected a member of the legislature. Of his children, 
Albert and George are in Oregon ; Robert E. lives on the place his 
father first purchased ; James lived near Indianola, and died there ; 
William died in Douglas county ; the girls are dead, except Mrs. Mor- 
ris, who lives in Edgar county. Indian wigwams were plenty in the 
timber when he came here ; they were made of poles slanting up to a 
peak, and covered with bark and bushes. 

John Stark came from Bourbon county in 1831, and lived at Brooks' 
Point a while, and then came to Mr. Barnett's place and worked his 
farm several years. He had fourteen children. The old folks died 
where William lives now. They were industrious people, and did 
their fair share, for the opportunities they had, toward settling this 
part of the country. Five of their children are in this county, two in 
Indiana, three in Colorado. 

Robert E. Barnett taught the first school here, in 1829, in a little 
log house on his father's place. He had received a good education in 
Kentucky, and was competent for the work. He used Webster's Spell- 
ing Book, the English Reader, Murray's Grammar, Pike's Arithmetic 



CAKROLL TOWNSHIP. 7^9 

He got along so well the first term that he commenced a second. Jusl 
after he got started he went with his father to Eugene to butcher their 
hogs. In those days they drove their hogs to Eugene and butchered 
them there, and sold them to Mr. Collett in that shape. While weigh- 
ing and figuring he attracted Mr. C.'s attention, and he engaged him 
to clerk for him. He remained there thirty years, giving strict atten- 
tion to business, and investing his means, as he could spare them, in 
land here. The first $100 he ever earned he used to enter eighty acres 
of land. He has here, running along south of the stream, fifteen hun- 
dred acres of as good land as one need wish. For forty years those 
portions which are intended for pasture have been in blue-grass. The 
theory in regard to pastures is, that they grow better with age. More 
particularly is this true of blue-grass. Its roots penetrate farther into 
the ground, thicken up the growth, and make two blades of grass 
grow where only one grew before. When white folks came to live 
in those points of timber where the Indians had made their little vil- 
lages, and had, by killing out the prairie grass, caused nature to supply 
its place with the more nutritious and valuable blue-grass, they found 
a rich and luxuriant growth, which spread all through the edge of the 
scattering timber. In their ignorance, they did not know that these 
patches of pasture were the richest legacy left us by the aborigines, but 
went to work and plowed it up, thereby destroying at least half its 
value. 

EARLY SETTLERS NORTH OF THE RIVER. 

Some of the earliest settlements in the county were made on the 
northwestern edge of the timber which skirts the Little Vermilion in 
this and the adjoining township. John Hoag and Samuel Mnnnel are 
the first who are now remembered. They came the same year that 
Henry Johnson did (1820), who made his home just across the line in 
what is now Georgetown. If there were any others along that line 
they were in all probability only temporary, and have now even disap- 
peared from the memory of those who are now residing here. Harvey 
Luddington, as quoted by Coffeen in his "Hand-Book of Vermilion 
County," p. 27, says that only eight families resided in the county in 
the spring of 1822, and does not name any of these in Carroll. He 
was probably in error, for while it is not so certain as to the date of the 
arrival of Hoag and Mnnnel, there cannot be any doubt as to the date 
at which Win. Swank, the " father of Dallas," came. His recent death 
deprived the writer of an opportunity to collect many interesting facts, 
but his neighbors all know that he was here as early as 1820. Mr. 
Hoag owned the place now owned and occupied by Dr. Ralston, just 
southwest of the village of Indianola. He died there. Mr. Mnnnel 
49 



771) HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

took up land near him and remained here until 1831. Win. Swank 
made his home where Michael Fisher lives, and his farm covered a part 
of the town of Indianola. He afterward owned a farm in section 5, 
two miles north of the village. He died in 1876, being at the time of 
his death the oldest resident of the county. 

Alexander McDonald came to this town in 1822. He, in company 
with his father-in-law, J. B. Alexander, entered considerable land in 
and around what for a long time was known as the McDonald neigh- 
borhood. Mr. Alexander did not come here to live until about four 
years later. His son, Col. Alexander, was in the mercantile business 
at Paris, in Edgar county, and the old gentleman remained there until 
this county was organized, in 1826, and then came here. He was 
elected one of the first county commissioners. He was a man of con- 
siderable acquaintance with public affairs, and made his influence felt 
in putting the machinery of the new county into running order. When 
he came here to live, his sons-in-law, McDonald and I. R. Moore, had 
preceded him. Two daughters came with him, who afterward married 
Cunningham and Murphy, who were long among the leading business 
men of Danville. Alexander and Moore sold to Abraham Sodowsky 
when he came here in 1831, and Moore went to Oregon, where he died. 
Mr. McDonald made the farm where Abraham Sandusky now lives. 
He was a man of strong mind and good judgment. It was at his 
house that the first Cumberland Presbyterian church was organized, he 
being elected the first elder, an office in the church he continued to 
hold till his death. He was also very early a justice of the peace, and 
at his house was the first post-office (Carroll), next to Georgetown, in this 
part of the county. His daughter Elizabeth — Mrs. Harmon — was one 
of the first-born in the county. It is possible that some of those good 
families who were in here in 1820 and 1821 may have produced an heir to 
the title and inheritance of first-born in the county, but if such is the case 
an absence of any record of it must be Mrs. Harmon's justification for 
appropriating the " lapsed title." Mr. McDonald, later in life, removed 
to Georgetown, where he died. His sons became merchants at Dan- 
ville, where they have long maintained the honor and good name of 
the ancient name of the McDonald clan. His widow lives with her 
children, and is, next to her old neighbor out on the road leading from 
the McDonald neighborhood to Georgetown, Mr. Jones, probably the 
oldest resident in the county. 

Dr. Thomas Madden was the first physician in this township. He 
was born and educated in South Carolina, and while pursuing his stud- 
ies there, was teaching school. Zimri Lewis, who afterward was one 
of the leading citizens of Elwood, was among his pupils. He owned 



CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 771 

about two hundred acres of land near Josiah Sandusky's, and died 
there. He was for some years the only physician in this vicinity. 

Dr. Thomas Heywood, though long known as the leading physician 
here, did not live in this township until some years later. He came 
from Ohio in 1828, and after a few years spent at Georgetown, he 
bought a farm south of Indianola, and made his home there, continu- 
ing the practice of his profession. To a thorough knowledge of his 
profession he added, by reading and study, a fund of information, not 
only in the line of his profession, but in general intelligence, which 
made him one of the best educated men in the township. He married 
a sister of Mr. R. E. Barnett. He always took a lively interest in pol- 
itics. In early days a whig, a follower of the political fortunes of the 
"Mill boy of the Slashes," his firm anti-slavery convictions made him 
one of the earlier members of the republican party, and his large ac- 
quaintance with public affairs, his earnest devotion to the doctrines of 
that party, as well as his strong adherence to the personal political for- 
tunes of the " rail-splitter," made him one of the first members of the 
legislature after the great anti-slavery, or " an ti -Nebraska," as it was 
then called, revival in the state. Dr. Heywood and his wife both died 
in 1878, at nearly the same time. His family still reside in Vermilion 
and Edgar counties, where his long medical career had made him so 
well known and greatly respected. 

LATER EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 

Among the men who have made Carroll noted as one of the finest 
farming towns in the county are the Sandusky family, or, as more prop- 
erly spelled, Sodowsky. The name has become anglicized, though one 
branch of the family retain the former spelling. The family is of Polish 
origin, and the head of the family was banished from Poland in 1756, 
and was sent to Richmond, Virginia, where he married the sister of 
Governor Inslip. He was killed by Indians while on his return from 
a trip to the vicinity of Lake Erie, where he had been sent in an official 
capacity. The stream and the city there received its name from that 
occurrence. His three boys grew up, and two of them followed the 
lead of Simon Kenton into the wilds of Kentucky, They were driven 
out, but returned to the " dark ground " with Daniel Boone and about 
one hundred others. They made Fort Jefferson, where Louisville now 
stands, and went back into the interior, where they helped to make the 
dark ground bloody by continual contests with the Indians all during 
the revolutionary war. Here James Sodowsky was the companion of 
Daniel Boone in all his adventures. He settled in what is now Bour- 
bon county, married Miss Brown, and raised a family of six children : 



772 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Thomas, Andrew, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Abraham. With two of the 
last three we have to do in this sketch. Isaac was engaged in the war 
of 1812, and, being taken prisoner in Hull's treasonable surrender, he 
escaped and made his way back to Kentucky, passing across this county 
in his return. As soon as he could, after the admission of Illinois into 
the union, he came here to live. His younger brother, Abraham, had 
in the meantime acquired a fair property, and become interested in 
thoroughbred cattle, or English cattle, as they were then called. Al- 
most the first importations from England came into the famous blue- 
grass region of Kentucky. In 1831 he sold out there and moved to 
Indiana. He brought with him ten head of the Patton stock, which 
were, as far as known, the first importation of shorthorns into that 
state. It is not easy to calculate the value to the stock-raisers of this 
region from this timely movement. It not only brought here the only 
strain of blood which could improve the existing herds, but it put into 
the minds of everyone who had aught to do with the cattle business the 
idea of improving what they had. In 1834 he came to live where his 
youngest son, Josiah, now lives. By this time his herd had increased 
to twenty-seven. He purchased the farms of Alexander McDonald, 
Col. I. R. Moore, and their father-in-law, Mr. Alexander, besides en- 
tering a large amount of land. He is spoken of by the old residents as 
a man of strong convictions, of untiring energy, good judgment, and 
an excellent manager, strictly honest in all his dealings. One of the 
best things that can be said of him is that he brought up his boys to 
work. He was a Presbyterian in his religious views. He gave his 
children as good education as the opportunities of the times permitted, 
and as soon as they were old enough to know a short-horned calf from 
a sheep, he put them to the work of taking care of the young stock. 
In that way they grew into a knowledge, as by intuition, of the line of 
business which they were to make their life's work. He became well 
off financially, — rich, perhaps, for the times; was kind, hospitable and 
careful of what he had. He left four sons, who all still live on the 
lands their father divided among them. Harvey, the oldest, lives on 
" Wood Lawn Farm," near by Indianola. He married Miss Susan 
Baum, by whom two children were born to him, one of whom is liv- 
ing, — the wife of James S. Sconce, Esq. A son died after having 
grown to manhood, in 1873, and is buried in the cemetery at " Wood 
Lawn." With his death went out the fondest hopes of parents, whose 
hearts were bound up in a worthy only son. 

Mr. Sodowsky is largely engaged in the raising of thorough-bred 
cattle, and in his herd are some of the most perfect specimens of well- 
developed short-horns that can be found in the country, — perfect 



CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 773 

beauties, which one never tires of looking at or living among. "Wood 
Lawn Farm," with its hospitable roof, is one of the beauties of rural life 
in Vermilion. Splendidly located, its adaptability to the line of farm- 
ing which he follows is perfect. During the long course of breeding 
he has aimed to reach perfection in cattle. 

Mrs. Sodowsky is a daughter of Mr. Charles Baum, who came here 
in 1839, and who left a large family at his death, who have been more 
than usually prospered, both in worldly affairs and in the esteem and 
love of those among whom they dwell. He lived to the advanced age 
of ninety-seven, and died in 1871. He was for many years a firm and 
consistent member of the Methodist church, and his faith and good 
works were known and read of all men. Of his children, Samuel, who 
lived here, is dead, but his children are still here, his daughters being 
married to William Sandusky, Mr. Pugh and Mr. Rice. Dr. John 
Baum, another son, was the physician here for a long time, and died here. 
Charles, another son, lives south of Indianola, in this township, and 
has five sons. Gideon, another son, lives in Missouri with all his 
family except one son, Charles, who is a partner with Mr. Green in the 
extensive mercantile business here. Of Mr. Baum's six daughters, 
three are living: Mrs. Sodowsky, Mrs. Carter, who has two sons who 
are at work at "Wood Lawn," and Mrs. Weaver, who lives in Kansas, 
having twelve children, all grown up, for her heritage. 

Abraham Sandusky lives about three miles northeast of Indianola, 
on the farm which formerly was McDonald's. The old McDonald 
house still stands on the place, and is in use. He has a fine farm of 
seven hundred and seventy acres, and an elegant house, which stands 
just outside of a fine grove of second-growth native timber. The house 
is one of the finest country residences in the county, and, like all the 
farmers hereabouts, he has made cattle-raising and feeding the principal 
business, but also engages largely in grain-raising. Josiah, the youngest 
son of the family, lives on the old homestead, where his father first 
settled when he came to the county. He has about one thousand acres, 
and has gone extensively into cattle-raising and feeding. 

" Old Michael Weaver," as everyone seemed to call him, who died 
here in 1875 at the age of one hundred, came here from Brown 
county, Ohio, in 1828. Past the meridian of life when he came here, 
he had in mind only the welfare of a large family at heart, and desired 
to provide for them farms such as he had heard, but did not more than 
half believe, lay along the Little Vermilion in this new country. He 
entered all the timber land that was left subject to entry, along this 
stream, and bought out McClure, who went west, and Sam. Mundel, 
who went over on the Embarras, and Hoag and Enoch Pugh, who 



774 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

went to Yankee Point. Here were four of the early settlers that 
seem to have left the very finest farming country in the world, and 
have gone to some other places, apparently in the expectation of bet- 
tering their condition. And thus it has ever been in the history of 
this and other counties. Where you find one famity like the Sandus- 
kys, who are willing, and to all outward appearance satisfied, to re- 
main here, grow rich, raise children to add to the census as well as to 
the wealth and enterprise of the community, you will find a hundred 
like those just above named who will stay just long enough to get 
what is needed to pa} 7 the expense of moving. This is not the view 
Mr. Weaver took of the matter. He put his children on the land 
which he had bought, and made both the land and the children useful. 
Of his nine children, seven were daughters ; three became Baums by 
marriage, two Fishers, and one was the wife of James Gains, and one 
the wife of John Cole. John Weaver went to Kansas, where he has 
had the good luck to place twelve grown-up children on farms or in 
business. With the exception of deafness, Mr. Weaver's faculties were 
retained till near his end. He is everywhere spoken of as a man of 
great force and management, but singularly unassuming; and though 
he became, both in his lands and in his children, one of the wealthy 
men of the town, it did not seem to put any pride in him ; and it is 
told to his credit by his neighbors that he never would take more than 
six per centum for money loaned. A rare old man ! the reader says. 
His death occurred after he had completed his one hundredth year. 
What is that which an old author says about " that thy days may be 
long in the land"? 

David Fisher came here from Indiana in 1834. He had been at 
work a season or two at what is now Chicago, a city of some note near 
the head of Lake Michigan. The river there, or creek, as they usually 
called it, appeared to be a very good place for a harbor, but no boat 
drawing more than three or four feet of water could get into it, on 
account of the sandbar running across the mouth. The government 
had made an appropriation to open a channel through this bar, and 
build a breakwater of stone to keep the passage open. He had a job 
on this work, his business being to load seven cords of stone six miles 
up the south branch, and bring it to the harbor each day. This was 
done seven days in the week. It is well to call the attention of those 
who mourn over the degeneracy of the age to the fact that no Sunday 
was recognized on public works in those days. Contractors seemed to 
believe that they had the right to use the Lord's day, and did use it. 
When Mr. Fisher came here he bought one hundred and sixty acres of 
school land, at $3.31 per acre. He built there, and married Jane 






CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 775 

Weaver. With the habits of industry which he possessed he soon 
became one of the leading farmers of the town. He acquired one 
thousand acres of land, and engaged in feeding cattle and hogs. He 
usually sold his cattle at home to drovers, and, following the custom 
of the day, he drove his hogs to Eugene, where they were slaughtered 
and packed. Eugene was a busy town in those days. For a few years 
people generally went there to trade. The business prostration of 
1837 came at a time in his affairs when Mr. Fisher could ill afford it. 
Prices depreciated fearfully; good three-year-old steers being onlv 
worth about eight dollars per head, wheat, twenty-five cents per bushel. 
A silver dollar looked as big as a cart-wheel, and ten or fifteen of them 
paid for a pretty large store bill. There was an}' amount of hard work 
to do, and the conveniences were of a decidedly primitive nature. The 
plowing was done with the "bare-shear" plow, or the Carey plowf 
which was considered a great improvement, having an iron point and 
wooden mouldboard. Afterward the shovel plow came into use for 
'tending corn. It did good work, but we had to go three times in a 
row. Wheat was all cut with a sickle, and the man who could cut and 
bind an acre a day had to be up with the sun. The women folks did 
not can fruit, but they did dry a great deal. Withal, they seemed to 
enjoy life better than they do now. Anyone who had health, and per- 
severance enough, could get rich in time in this country. Four of 
his five children are now living. Michael lives near him in a neat 
brick house, and has long been recognized as one of the most enter- 
prising business men. He was educated at Georgetown Seminary in 
its palmy days, married a daughter of Dr. Baum, and has been fairly 
successful in his business enterprises. John Fisher lives here, and 
George, the other son, in Edgar county. His only daughter is the 
wife of L. C. Green. 

Gabriel Neal is one of the old settlers, and was probably the first 
colored child born in the county. His mother, "Aunt Polly," had 
been the property of Abraham Sodowsky, in Kentucky, and preferred 
to take her chances with the family here than to remain on the " dark 
and bloody ground," which, incredible as it may seem, appears to have 
grown darker and bloodier during the entire century of its history. 
We had in this state certain laws which later came to be known as 
" black laws," which, in the mild form then, required that any one 
bringing a colored person into the state should give a bond against 
the said colored person becoming a public charge. We had besides 
this a law taxing, "slaves and servants of color." It is generally sup- 
posed that the right of propert}' in human beings was never recognized 
in this state. This is a mistake, for the revenue law of fifty years ago 



776 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

provided that county commissioners should levy and raise a tax on a 
schedule of personal property, and among the items of this schedule 
were "slaves and servants of color." Mr. Neal, with very poor oppor- 
tunities for schooling, for it was against the law of this state to send a 
colored child to school, became a careful, shrewd business man. He is 
a dealer in stock, and a man of good judgment and business habits. 

Samuel Porter came from Woodford county, Kentucky, in 1834, 
and staid the first night where his son William lives, on section 19, 
one mile southwest of Indianola. Joseph Purkins was then living on 
the place. He had eight children, four of whom are still living. Mr. 
and Mrs. Porter were members of the Baptist church, and were 
earnest, devoted christian people. The good mother, whose greatest 
care was the welfare of her children, died in 1838, and did not live to 
see what would have been the fulfillment of her heart's desire, the estab- 
lishment of a church of her choice, which occurred only a year after her 
death. All her children followed her footsteps, and became members 
of christian churches. Mr. Porter died in 1847, aged eighty-five, strong 
in the faith in which he had so long lived, and in the love of his chil- 
dren and of the community in which he had lived. He was buried by 
his wife at the Weaver grave-yard, and was the first adult person buried 
there. William, who yet lives on the old homestead, raised a family 
of seven children. 

There is no railroad in Carroll, but the Danville, Charleston & 
Tuscola railroad has been graded through the township. No township 
aid was voted, but local subscriptions of right of way and notes were 
given, on condition that the road should be completed and the cars 
running by a given time. The grading was done by Mr. Brown, who, 
with his brother, had the contract for building it; but his death put a 
stop to the work. Plans are now being matured for its completion. 

CHURCHES. 

Some of the earliest preaching services of the Methodists in this 
county were held in Carroll township. By reference to the history of 
Blount township the reader will see that credit is there partially given 
to the published statement that Rev. Mr. McKain was the first regular 
preacher of that denomination laboring in the county in 1829. Since 
that was written facts have come to light which render the doubt there 
expressed well founded. Certainly three years before that date, pos- 
sibly as early as 1824, — the date cannot be certainly fixed, — Rev. Geo. 
Fox preached at the house of Mr. Cassady, who was a local preacher of 
that church, and the house of Abel Williams was an "appointment" at 
about the same date. "Brinks' Historical Atlas of Vermilion County" 



CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 777 

gives the date of the first organization as 1826, and the building of the 
first meeting-house as 1827. Notwithstanding the glaring inaccuracies 
of that work, there is other evidence which fixes these dates as very 
nearly correct. Mr. David Dickson says that the meetings were held 
at Cassady's in 1S26, and that is undoubtedly the time the class was 
formed, which is the earliest organization of that church, and was only 
antedated in the matter of organization by the Friends at Vermilion 
Grove and the Newlights in Henry Johnson's neighborhood. Mr. 
Dickson, whose recollection of early matters has been freely drawn 
upon, and whose accuracy is admitted, says that Mr. Fox was the first 
preacher that he knew here. Two preachers from Kentucky held 
meetings at the house of Mr. Williams. Meetings were held at the 
camp-meeting grounds near Mr. Cassady's, and the old log meeting- 
house, which was the first building erected for a house of worship 
(except the one built by the Friends at Vermilion) in the county, was 
erected through the exertions of Mr. Williams and Mr. Cassady, as 
early as 1830, and possibly a year or two sooner. Every effort has 
been made to learn the real facts, so as to state them with historical 
accuracy, and the above is as near the truth as it is possible at this time 
to reach. This old log meeting-house stood on the north side of the 
creek, southwest of Dallas, near the present residence of Andrew 
Martin. Rev. John E. French, the father of Mrs. Reed, of George- 
town, had an appointment here in 1829, and Collin James in 1830, at 
which time these appointments in this county belonged to the Eugene 
circuit ; but all endeavors fail to get any information as to what circuit 
it belonged previous to that date. The meetings continued to be 
held at the old log meeting-house until about 1850, when the two 
churches were built in this appointment, one at Dallas, which is still 
occupied, and one on Mr. Williams' land, which has disappeared. This 
was from the first known as Lebanon. Among the early preachers 
here were Mr. Harshey, Mr. Fairbanks and Mr. Bradshaw. During 
the latter period Mr. Charles Baum was one of the most earnest friends 
of the church. His house was the home of the itinerants, and himself 
and the members of his family were free in support of the institutions 
of religion. Since the above was written a letter has been received 
from Mr. Elvin Haworth, to whom, more than to any other one man, 
the writer is under obligations for many interesting facts. Not only is 
his memory accurate, but his judgment so unbiased and his mind so 
methodical, that the writer is certain that full dependence can be placed 
on his statements. The portion of his letter which refers to this par- 
ticular appointment is given: "In the year 1824-5 John Cassady set- 
tled five miles west and Abel Williams six miles west, near Indianola. 



778 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

They were two substantial Methodists. In the winter of 1825-6 Rev. 
Elijah Yager, my school-teacher, held meetings near here. Mr. Cassady 
used to come down to his meetings. Pretty soon Messrs. Cassady and 
Williams built a church near their places, say in 1827 or 1828, so that 
the Methodist church, with all its vicissitudes, has been a church from 
the first." In regard to Mr. Yager, he adds: "The second school was 
taught by Elijah Yager, a Methodist preacher from East Tennessee, in 
the winter of 1825-6, in a cabin, one mile northeast. He introduced 
more studies and taught declamation." This, of course, was over in 
Elwood township, but is introduced here to show that these men, who 
were building up religious institutions, had a healthy belief in the 
efficiency of common-school education. Some of the preachers whose 
names are now recalled were Mr. McReynolds, Mr. Buck, Mr. Crews, 
Dr. Butler, Grenbury Garner, Dr. Davies, Mr. Davidson, Mr. Minier, 
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Hopkins. Most of the old members have gone; 
Mr. Abel Williams only, of the old band who helped to establish re- 
ligious institutions here, is alive, but has left the county. This appoint- 
ment is now known as Indianola circuit, with four appointments: the 
Dallas church, Dickson's school-house, and Gilead and Barnett school- 
houses. Flourishing Sabbath-schools are maintained at each of the 
appointments. The new church at Indianola is one of those beauties 
in proportions and architectural beauty that one meets seldom in the 
country. Situated on the beautiful hill just west of the village, its 
elegant spire pointing heavenward, a constant reminder of the hopes 
and aims of religion, over-looking one of the plainest and unsightly 
villages, its beauty, and especially its perfect proportions, its substantial 
workmanship and its tasty appearance are a constant surprise and de- 
light. If it is not the handsomest church edifice in Vermilion county, 
it may well be taken for a model for those which are j r et to be built. 
It is 37x65, brick, and finished off in the neatest style, and has cost 
$5,000. 

The Baptist church was organized in 1839 by the Bloomfield Asso- 
ciation, and was called the Little Vermilion church. Those members 
of the Bloomfield church who lived on the Little Vermilion, met on 
the Saturday before the fourth Sabbath in August, 1839, and agreed to 
be constituted a church. On Saturday before the fourth Sabbath in 
September, Elder G. W. Riley and Stephen Kennedy constituted a 
presbytery for the purpose of organizing the church. Then several 
members of the Bloomfield, Middlefork and Brueletts Creek churches, 
who were present, were invited to sit in council. Mr. Kennedy acted 
as moderator and Elder Riley as secretary. The following members 
were then constituted a church, council agreeing thereto : John Rich- 



CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 779 

ards, Samuel Porter, Wm. Porter, Elisabeth Waters, Mrs. M. Eiehards, 
Jane Yarnell and Sarah Barnett. Mr. Malichi Mendenhall, who would 
have been of the number, and who was in many respects one of the 
fathers of this pioneer organization, was absent in Ohio. Mr. Porter, 
Mr. Mendenhall and Mr. J. Parker were elected trustees, and Mr. 
Mendenhall, deacon. Elders G. W. Riley and John W. Riley and 
Freeman Smalley preached for the infant church, and the former was 
chosen the first pastor in 1844. This organization took place at a log 
school-house known as the Yarnell school-house, which stood on the 
land now owned by Mr. Barnett. The church, which is still occupied, 
was built in 1843, is 30x35, and cost $600, and is supplied with a bell. 
J. W. Coffman, is the present pastor. A Sabbath-school has been main- 
tained nearly all the while. It numbers eighty, and W. T. Butler has 
acted as superintendent for twenty years. The church numbers eighty- 
one members. E. B. Willison, W. PL Adams and Wm. Porter are 
deacons. The church is at Indianola. 

The " Prairie church " of the Cumberland Presbyterians, usually 
called the Miller church, was organized in 1866, by Rev. James Ash- 
more, with fourteen members, at the Miller school-house. Silas Clark, 
Albert Voores and John Carter were the first elders. Mr. Ashmore 
continued to preach for this congregation ten years. Rev. H. Van Dyne 
followed him and served the church two j^ears. Rev. J. H. Hess, of 
Fairmount, is present supply. The church edifice was erected in 1870, 
on land donated by John Carter — a frame building, 40x50. Sabbath 
school is maintained summers. The present church membership is 
about fifty. 

The old "Newlights" or Christians, were the first to hold religious 
services of a general or protracted nature in this county. In 1824 Rev. 
Samuel Magee held a camp-meeting in the neighborhood where Henry 
Johnson and Absalom Starr settled, which was on the line between 
this township and Georgetown. He could command but few hearers, as 
all that is known as Vermilion county was a howling wilderness, with 
here and there a little log-cabin. He showed, however, a large amount 
of religious zeal and enthusiasm, and collected into his fold nearly all 
who were not of the Friends persuasion, and under his ministration 
this branch of Zion grew and multiplied. The old gentleman was a 
master in organization, and did not fail to make friends wherever he 
went. He was succeeded by his son, who had lacked the ability or dis- 
cretion of the father, and in a few years succeeded only in scattering 
the fold his good father had collected, and this first church organiza- 
tion was blotted out and forgotten, except by a few of the old residents. 

Below will be found a list of officials for the township since 1851 : 



780 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 



Date. 

1851., 

1852., 

1853.. 

1854. . 

1855 

1856. 

1857. . 

1858. . 

1859.. 

1860. 

1861. 

1862. 

1863. 

1864. 

1865. 

1866. 

1867 

1868 , 

1869. 

1870 , 

1871. 

1872. 

1873. 

1874. 

1875. 

1876. 

1877. 

1878. 

1879. 

+ 



Vote. Supervisor. 
. 67... Wm. Spicer. 



100. 



.156. 
.234. 
.208. 
.313. 
.226. 



.182. 
.176. 
.183. 
.274. 
.287. 
.315. 
.261. 
.305. 
.316. 



. .Wm. Spicer. . . 
. . James Parker . 
. . James Parker . 
. .G. M. Yapp. .. 
..G. M. Yapp... 
. .D. B. Stockton 
. .D. B. Stockton 
. .L. Patterson . . 
. . J. S. Sconce. . . 
. . John Gilgis . . . 
. .John Gilgis . . . 
. . John Gilgis . . . 
. .John Gilgis . . . 
..A. H. O'Bryant 
..A. H. O'Bryant 
..A. H. O'Bryant 
..R. E. Barnett.. 
..A. H. O'Bryant, 

. -F. Gains 

..A. H. O'Bryant 
..A. H. O'Bryant 
..A. H. O'Bryant 
..A. H. O'Bryant 
..A. H. O'Bryant 
..A. H. O'Bryant 

. .E. Snyder 

..L. C. Green;... 
..A. H. O'Bryant 



This column gives the name 
J. R. Newkirk, Collector. 
A. B. Coggshell, Collector. 



Clerk. Assessor and Collector. Com. of Highways.* 

.J. B. McHaffie Samuel Sconce. . . A. H. O'Bryant. 

. .J. B. McHaffie Samuel Sconce. . .A. Mendenhall. 

. . J. D. Purkins Samuel Sconce. . . Wm. Spicer. 

. . J. B. McHaffie Samuel Sconce. . .James Niccum. 

. . J. D. Purkins J. D. Purkins A. Sandusky. 

. .0. E. D. Culbertson . Samuel Sconce. . .G. M. Yapp 

.L. E. Parker James Parker E. B. Willison. 

.L. E. Parker James Parker John Weaver. 

. .T. G. Wibley James Parker. . . J. A. Gilkey. 

. .0. S. Calvert James Parker D. Dickson. 

. .0. S. Calvert James Parker S. H. Black. 

. .0. S. Calvert James Parker H. Hedges. 

. .0. S. Calvert James Parker Wm. Holliday. 

. .0. S. Calvert James Parker T. R. Moreland. 

. .0. S. Calvert James Parker. . . .Adam Jackson. 

..J. H.Wells Michael Fisher. ..C. B. Baum. 

. . J. H. Wells Michael Fisher. . .James Parker. 

. .Michael Fisher Michael Fisher. . . J. S. Sconce. 

. .Michael Fisher Michael Fisher. . .John Mann. 

. .S. F. Butler J. R. Newkirk. . .G. N. Baum. 

. .S. F. Butler J. R. Newkirk... J. M. Smith. 

. .S. F. Butler J. R. Newkirk. . .F. Gains. 

. .S. F. Butler J. R. Newkirk. . . J. B. McHaffie. 

. .J. B. McHaffie J. H. Wellsf . . . .H. L. Miller. 

. . J. B. McHaffie J. R. Newkirk. . .D. A. Baird. 

. . J. B. McHaffie W. F. ManityJ . .J. M. McKee. 

, .J. B. McHaffie J. R. Newkirk. . .E. Snyder. 

.Geo. Heileman J. R. Newkirk. . .R. E. Barnett. 

. .Geo. Heileman J. R. Newkirk. . . J. M. Boman. 

of those elected without reference to date. 



Justices of the peace : Abel Williams, J. D. Purkins, J. Fisher, 
James Parker, E. James, Wm. Spicer, Wm. McMillen, D. B. Stock- 
ton, M. Fisher, R. E. Barnett. 



INDIANOLA. 

The town of many names and few historical incidents which now is 
known as Indianola, is situated on section 17 (17-12), and is about one 
mile from the Little Vermilion, about seven from Georgetown, and 
sixteen from Danville. It was laid out and recorded on the 6th of 
September, 1836, as Chillicothe. David Baird platted a part of the 
east half of the southwest quarter of 17,. and William Swank a part of 
the west half of the southeast quarter, making one hundred and four 
lots. The public square in the center had on its north side, North 
street, on its south side, Main street, on its east side, Vermilion street, 
and on its west, Walnut street. These four streets extended through 
the plat, were four rods wide, and were the only streets in the original 



CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 781 

town ; all others were alleys. In 1865 John Grilgis, who had become 
proprietor of the town, caused a re-survey, which did not change its 
geography. John Weaver, John Gilgis and W. B. Foster have laid 
out additions. It was named Chillicothe, probably from Mr. Swank's 
old home in Ohio, until it came to demand a post-office in 1844, when, 
owing to there being a town of that name on the Illinois River, a change 
was necessary, and the citizens then selected the name of the popular 
candidate for vice-president. After it had been so named, another post- 
office in the state was named Dallas City, which had the effect of an- 
noying the postmaster, Mr. Culbertson, who, without the knowledge or 
consent of the citizens, requested the department to change the name to 
Indianola. This was very unpopular, and it has never been accepted, 
thus giving rise to the confusion of names which still attaches to the 
village. Indianola has never had railroad facilities, and has never out- 
grown its primitive backwoods appearance. There are more old shabby 
little houses, with huge out-door chimneys and old-fashioned slab-sided 
shanties, than in all the other villages in Vermilion county. Sur- 
rounded on all sides by the wealthiest farming community in the 
county, it stands, with here and there a notable exception, a memento 
of days gone by, an architectural phenomenon, which time and taste 
have had no impression to remove. Its early growth was retarded by 
the circumstances which, in 1837, overthrew the hopes of all men, and 
deranged all plans. Mr. Atkinson built, in 1837, a small log house 
with a frame addition, and kept a few goods there. After his business 
days ceased, Guy Merrill became the center of business activity. Mr. 
A. H. O'Bryant came here in 1839, after having lived a year in 
Georgetown, and commenced the business of shoemaking, which he 
has carried on here nearty forty years. He is now the pioneer resident, 
business man and statesman of the village. Besides this Merrill build- 
ing, there were three log cabins here. Dr. J. W. Baum, the pioneer 
physician, lived in the one now occupied by Rockbill, where he dis- 
pensed calomel and ague medicine to all applicants. David Whittaker 
lived in a cabin which stood where the hotel now stands, and another 
stood on the hill east of where the Baptist church now stands. Mr. 
McMillen lived in a little frame building opposite Dr. Baum. Mr. 
O'Bryant bought the Guy Merrill building in 1841, and for a number 
of years carried on the most extensive business in this part of the 
county. Sale shoes had not yet come into fashion, and people must 
have shoes. He used to keep three or four hands most of the time. 
He usually bought his stock in Chicago. The custom then was, 
among those of the farmers and pioneers who had sufficient skill and 
mechanical ingenuity, to make their own shoes and even lasts. Some 



782 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

tanned their own leather; but, as tanneries grew up the customs 
changed. For many years it was common to do custom work at the 
tan-yards, and every frugal family had their roll of leather laid by, 
made from the skins of their slaughtered animals, from which the 
shoes for the family were made by the nearest shoemaker. The farmer 
no more expected to buy shoes for his family than to buy pork or lard. 
Mr. Folger had a tan-yard over at El wood, and there the "slaughter" 
hides went, and the honest leather returned. Nearly everything went 
to Chicago in those days, and the wide-awake shoemaker soon learned 
that he could turn an honest penny by taking horses or produce to 
that new mart, and buy his leather. He says that he has camped at 
the Kankakee when there were a hundred teams there. Teams were 
constantly going there with grain, bacon, apples and produce of every 
kind. The hogs were usually driven to Eugene or Perrysville, in 
Indiana, where large packing establishments cut up nearly the entire 
hog crop of this country. The hogs from all the country west to the 
Sangamon went through here to the Wabash on foot, and troops of the 
pioneers, with coon-skin caps with tails hanging down the back, from 
over on the Embarras, used to come through here going to mill. They 
were a rough-looking set, and did not belie their looks. 

Mr. Atkinson was, in all probability, the first to go into trade here, 
but he was not heavy enough to carry on trade as was then the custom. 
Twelve months' time was the rule with merchants, and nobody expected 
to give any less. There was no crop which would bring money till 
about Christinas. Some would carry off their wheat to Chicago, but 
whatever small proceeds came from that was seldom brought back in 
money, but usually in some commodity which was needed in the fam- 
ily. No one bought hogs or cattle till fall, and usually it was mid-win- 
ter before any one had any money to pay a debt at the store or shops. 
Mr. O'B. once, before he had become acquainted with prices, agreed to 
take his pay for shoeing a family, in pork. When winter came, the 
farmer brought in a wagon-load of dressed pork to pay the bill. 

Mr. Wm. Swank put up a house to live in, and had a still-house 
down in the bottom where he used to make an occasional barrel of 
primitive cure-all and health-preservative, for the neighborhood. He 
had attached a little corn-cracker which was run by tread-mill power, 
which served to do the neighborhood grinding. The post-office was 
established in 1844, with Dr. Baum, postmaster. That this little neigh- 
borhood was soundly democratic, in a political sense, is sufficiently at- 
tested by their choice of a name — Dallas. They held strongly to all the 
doctrines held dear by the party of Jacksor and Douglas ; were for 
" Polk and Dallas and the tariff of '42 " ; were for " fifty -four-forty-or- 



CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 783 

tight," and "extending the area of freedom" by marching on Mexico. 
The township retains its democratic majority to this day. Dr. Baum 
kept the office at his house. The office was served from Georgetown 
twice a week on foot or horseback, cross-lots, or wherever Hall — who 
carried the mail for a given amount a trip — could find his way. Hall 
was a very successful mail-carrier. He used to go by Dave Fisher's 
house, and David wanted him to leave his mail there as he went by. 
Willing to accommodate the neighbors, he asked the Doctor to let him 
carry the key with him so that he could distribute the mail as he came 
along the road. The worthy postmaster could not do it, as at that time 
congress had not provided a distributing railroad postal service. At 
that time every letter had to be way-billed, and entered upon the list 
kept in the post-office, as express packages are way-billed now ; and every 
letter cost twenty-five cents postage, usually payable by the person who 
received it, for it was thought to be the writer's part to write the let- 
ter, and the receiver's to pay for it. 

John Williams kept a general store for a while, and Mr. O'Bryant 
added a stock of harness, saddlery and clothing to his business. John 
Gilgis came here about 1842, and commenced selling goods where Dr. 
Ralston lives. About 1844 he changed his location to where Frank 
Foos lives, north of the square. Samuel Sconce came here soon after. 
He had lived on the farm west of town where his son James lives, since 
1831. His wife was one of the famous Waters family before alluded 
to, and is still living. He was a wide-awake business man, and was 
really the first to work up a large mercantile trade. The country was 
filling up by this time, and Mr. Sconce found plenty to do in the busi- 
ness he had undertaken. His son commenced business life in this store, 
and the characteristics which made the father a leader in business cir- 
cles, and would have brought success in any business enterprise any- 
where, have had a controlling influence on the son. For a time Mr. 
Sconce had as partners in the mercantile business here, Mr. Joseph Bailey, 
long a prominent business man of this county, and Mr. Gilgis. Mr. 
Bailey retired in 1857. During the business operation of Bailey, Sconce 
& Co., it was not an uncommon thing to sell five hundred dollars' worth 
of goods a day. It was before railroads were built, and this was as good 
a point to trade as in Danville. This was the golden era of mercan- 
tile business in Indianola. Sconce and Gilgis are both dead. Dr. Baum 
continued to live and practice here until his death. William James 
was in business here a few years. John U. Grace has had the longest 
experience of any now here. Mr. O'Bryant is still " pegging away," as 
the shoemakers would say. The first school-house was built in 1843. 
This was a log house, and answered every purpose until about 1850, 



784 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

when the seminary was built. This was built by donations, and for a 
number of years a successful school was carried on. Some of the best 
educators in the country were employed here, and the institution was 
a success. Among those whose work here was strikingly successful, 
were Prof. Brownell and wife, and Prof. Marshall and wife. After the 
state adopted the plan of levying a school-tax, it became evident that 
this school could not be carried on as it had been, and the building was 
sold to the district, with the understanding that the upper story might 
still be at the disposal of the seminary. The present high school sys- 
tem has taken the place of all these seminaries. 

Vermilion Lodge, No. 265, A.F. & A.M., was instituted on the 6th 
of October, 1858. The charter members were O. P. Wilson, W.M. ; 
Joshua Van Fleet, S.W. ; W. T. Dickson, J. W. ; J. S. Sconce, M. M. 
Redford, John Gilgis and Hiram Brown. The Masters in succession 
have been: J. S. Sconce, four years; J. Van Fleet, two years; H. B. 
Whittington, four years; J. H.Williams, A. H. O'Bryant, four years; 
W. T. Butler, three years ; J. R. Newkirk, J. R. Grace, two years. 
The present officers are: J. R. Grace, W.M. ; E. J. Newkirk, S.W. ; 
F. B. Barnett, J.W. ; George Heileman, Secretary ; S. Dickson, Treas- 
urer ; M. F. Cummings, S.D. ; Oliver Julian, J.D. ; L. C. Rockhill, T. 
The Lodge owns its hall, and meets first and third Saturdays in each 
month. It has a large membership, and is otherwise in a prosperous 
condition. 

The Iola Lodge, No. 584, 1.O.O.F., was chartered in October, 1875, 
with the following charter members : H. E. P. Talbott, N.G. ; J. H. 
Whartly, V.G. ; R. R. Worthington, Secretary ; Bernard Lamcool, 
Treasurer; George Heileman and J. L. Rowan. The Lodge has built 
and owns its hall. It numbers sixteen members, and meets Friday 
nights. The present officers are : William Mavity, N.G. ; George 
Heileman, V.G. ; S. Stevens, Secretary; L. C. Green, Treasurer; R. 
R. Worthington, Deputy. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

J. B. McDowell, Indianola, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Christian county, Kentucky, on the 26th of January, 1802, and lived 
there about fourteen years. He then, with his parents, settled in what 
is now Crawford county, Illinois, and lived there seven years. They 
then, in 1823, came to his present place, and he has lived here since. 
On the 20th of March, 1834, he married Miss Eleanor Yarnell. She 
was born in Harrison county, Kentucky, and died here. They had five 
children, four living: Jane, Win. R., John A. and Sarah. On the 20th 
of April, 1850, he married Miss Nancy Ellis. She also died here. His 
present wife was Miss Sarah Purley. Mr. McDowell was in Capt. 




^c^nn^^^(>rUcr7i^ 



CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 785 

Hult's company, Col. Kossmore, during the Winnebago war. They 
marched to Joliet and built a fort, and scouted along the Fox Kiver. 
He has hauled produce to Chicago by team as early as 1836. Winn 
he first came to this county they had to camp out, and they did con- 
siderable hunting. He has owned over eleven hundred acres of land, 
but has given all to his children except one hundred and ninety-five 
acres in this county and one hundred and sixty in Douglas, which he 
reserves as a competency for his old age. His father died in Crawford 
county, Illinois, on his return from a visit in Kentucky, in 1824. His 
mother died here on the present place about 1849. 

David Dickson, Indianola, farmer and stock-raiser, whose portrait 
appears in this work, was born in Lewis county, Kentucky, on the 13th 
of December, 1806, and lived there until March, 1824, when he came 
to Illinois with his parents, and settled on his present place, locating 
in Carroll township, Vermilion county. At the age of twenty he began 
working for himself, going to the salt works, where he worked until 
the 15th of February, 1827. He then went to Galena and worked in 
the lead mines until the fall. While there he saw the vessel on which 
the Winnebagoes fired and caused the war that followed. On the 3d of 
August, 1829, he married Miss Margaret Walters. She was born in 
Stafford county, Virginia, and moved to Kentucky with her parents in 
1824, and to Illinois in 1828, settling at Brooks' Point, this county. 
They had four children, three living: Silas, Parmelia J. and Jamina; 
Robert died. Mr. Dickson being one of the earliest settlers of this 
part, knows well the meaning of pioneer life. He has hauled produce 
to Chicago as early as 1835. He has driven stock to New York and 
Philadelphia, going on foot, making the trip in eighty-five days, and 
the fat cattle he fed in 1839 were probably the first ever fed on the 
Little Vermilion. His three living children are married, and live near 
by. He has four hundred acres of land, which he reserves as a compe- 
tency for himself and wife, having given one thousand acres to his chil- 
dren. Among the many pleasant incidents of his life was the golden 
wedding celebrated by himself and wife, on the 3d of August, 1879. 

J. P. Swank, Indianola, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, on the 18th of December, 1824, on a farm on 
the present site of Indianola, and lived there with his parents until the 
18th of February, 1850, when he married Miss Phebe Dickson. She was 
bom in this county on the 27th of May, 1829. After his marriage he 
engaged in farming on his own account, and in 1855 came to his pres- 
ent place. They had five children : Albert D., Gilbert, Robert P., 
Nancy S. and Edward. He owns three hundred and thirty acres in 
this county, which he has earned by his own labor. His parents, Capt. 
50 



786 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

William and Polly Lloyd Swank, were natives of Putnam count}', 
Ohio. He served in the war of 1S12, enlisting as a private, and was 
promoted to captain. In 1823 he settled in Younts Grove, Vermilion 
county, Illinois. They had eight children. 

John Mendenhall, Ridge Farm, farmer and stock-raiser, is one of 
the early settlers of this county. He was born in Greene county, Ohio, 
in 1809, and lived there fifteen years. He then w r ith his parents came 
to Illinois and settled near his present place. He lived with his parents 
twenty-two years. On the 24th of November, 1831, he married Miss 
Rebecca Mills, who was born in Tennessee. After his marriage he 
began farming on his own account, improving some wild land belonging 
to his father. In 1834 or 1835 he hauled his first load of produce to Chi- 
cago. He is no office seeker. He owns two hundred and twenty acres 
of land in this county, which he- has earned by his own labor and man- 
agement. By his marriage there have been eleven children born, seven 
living: Miliken, Jane, Sarah, Aaron, John, Rebecca E. and Louisa. 
His parents, Aaron and Lydia Horney (Anderson) Mendenhall were 
natives of North Carolina and Nantucket Island. The}' were married 
in Greene county, Ohio, and settled here in 1824, where both have 
since died. 

Wilson Swank, Indianola, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native of 
Vermilion county, Illinois, born on the 15th of July, 1825, in Elwood 
township, where he lived twenty-five years. He then went to Wiscon- 
sin, and lived there five years. On the 25th of January, 1825, he mar- 
ried Miss Mary Jane Dickson. She was born in this county, and died 
in 1856. In 1858 he went to Minnesota, thence to Texas, and in 1859 
he returned to this county. On the 20th of March, 1865, he married 
Miss Eliza Bay less. She was born in Mason county, Kentucky. They 
have four children, three living: Emerson, Rosa A. and Annie. He 
is no office seeker, and has held no offices except those connected with 
the schools. He owns one hundred and seventy acres of land in this 
county, which he has earned by his own labor. He has hauled produce 
to Chicago as early as 1838, and is well acquainted with the hardships 
of early days in the county. 

Samuel P. Donovan, Indianola, farmer and stock-raiser, was born 
in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 27th of August, 1829. His 
father died when he was about sixteen years of age. He continued to 
live with his mother until the 17th of March, 1860, when he went to 
Colorado, and took up a claim and worked it three months, clearing $700. 
He then went prospecting. At one time he was one of a party of 
fifty -two commanded by Kit Carson, and for one year of the time he 
did not see a white woman. They traveled in Colorado, Arizona, 



CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 787 

New Mexico, Utah, California, and at the end of two years he returned 
to Central City, and worked by the day for one year, receiving eight 
dollars per day, thus saving $2,000. He then went in partnership with 
Mr. Charles Jones, of Brandon, Vermont. They worked thirty hands 
two years, then sold out for $25,000. Mr. Donovan then came home 
and bought his present place. On the 28th of September, 1865, he 
married Miss Lydia A. Stnnkard. She was born in Indiana, and died 
on the 10th of November, 1872. On the 8th of February, 1874, he 
married Miss Sarah Jane Pollard:, who was born in England. They 
have two children : Martha L. and William O. Mr. Donovan owns 
two hundred and eighty-eight acres of land in this county. 

Silas Dickson, Indianola, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native of Ver- 
milion county, Illinois. He was born on his father's farm in Carroll 
township, on the 25th of May, 1830, and lived here until he was 
thirty-five years of age, when he moved to Edgar county, and lived 
there seven years. He then came to Indianola, and has lived here 
since. On the 13th of October, 1864, he married Miss Frances Foos, 
who was born in Ohio, and came to Vermilion county, Illinois, with 
her parents. They have three children : Evalena, Robert and Alburtus. 
Mr. Dickson is no office-seeker, and has held no offices except those 
connected with the schools. He owns six hundred acres of land in 
this and Edgar counties, part of which adjoins the village of Indianola. 

James S. Sconce, Indianola, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native of 
Vermilion county, Illinois, born on the 14th of November, 1831, and 
has always made his home in this county. He lived with his parents 
until he was twenty-four years of age, during which time he received 
a libera] education, and at the age of twenty-three he took a drove of 
cattle to Wisconsin, and sold out the same during the summer. In 
1855 he took a position as clerk in the store of Bailey & Sconce, at 
Indianola, Illinois, and remained in this until 1859, when he went to 
Kansas, and preempted one hundred and sixty acres of land in Lyon 
county. At the end of three months he returned to Illinois, and 
traded his Kansas farm for land here in Illinois. He then engaged in 
stock business — buying, selling and shipping — which he continued 
until fall of 1860, when he married Miss Emma, daughter of Harvey 
Sodowsky. She was born in this county. After his marriage he lived 
one year with his father-in-law, and then came to his present place, 
and has lived here since. They had three children, two of whom are 
living: Anna and Harvey J. The farm contains twenty-one hundred 
acres, well located, and upon which is a very elegant brick residence. 
His parents, Samuel and Nancy (Waters) Sconce, were natives of 
Bourbon county, Kentucky, and were born on the 29th of October, 



788 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

1802, and on the 2d of September, 1808, respectively. He came to 
Illinois in 1828, and settled in this county in 1829. Mrs. Sconce came 
here in 1829 with her parents. The marriage took place at Brooks' 
Point in this count) 7 , in 1S30, at the residence of Mr. Waters. They 
engaged in farming, and continued this until 1852, during which time 
he was very successful, and was one of the prominent and well-known 
farmers of this section of the county. In 1852 he engaged in the 
genera] merchandise business in Indianola, the firm being Bailey & 
Sconce, which continued until 1858. Mr. Sconce continued until the 
big fire in the village, since which time he lived a retired life until his 
death, on the 9th of January, 1874. Mr. Sconce was one of the early 
settlers of this township, in which he served a number of years as 
assessor and collector. In 1849 he drove about two hundred fat cattle 
to Philadelphia, where he sold about half the lot, and drove the balance 
to New York, going afoot the entire trip. He also hauled produce to 
Chicago in early days. Mrs. Sconce is living here with her son. 

Abraham Sandusky, Indianola, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native 
of Bourbon county, Kentucky, born on the 24th of March, 1833. In 
the fall of the same year he with his parents came to Vermilion county, 
Illinois, where he lived with them until he was thirty-five years of 
age. On the 16th of December, 1869, he married Miss Ella Baird, 
who was born in this county. After his marriage he began improving 
his present place, and in 1871 he settled on the same, and has lived 
here since. He owns seven hundred and seventy acres here in one 
body, located fourteen miles southwest of Danville, and three and one 
half miles from Georgetown or Indianola. It is well adapted to stock- 
raising, in which he is largely interested. 

David P. Fisher, Indianola, retired, was born in Brown county, 
Ohio, in 1809, and lived there until he was eighteen years of age. He 
then moved to Indiana. He lived there seven years, and in 1834 he 
came to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled on his present place. 
In 1833 he worked in Chicago. On the 22d of April, 1834, he mar- 
ried Miss Jane Weaver. She was born in Clermont county, Ohio, 
and was raised in Brown county, of the same state. In 1828 she came 
west with her parents, who settled in Vermilion county. Mr. Fisher 
owns thirteen hundred and twenty-five acres of land in this county. 
They had five children, four living: Michael, John, George and Lu- 
cinda. Mr. Fisher knows Chicago from the very earliest periods, for, 
in addition to having worked there in 1833, he has hauled produce 
there, having made his first trip as early as 1835. 

The parents of Mr. J. M. Ross, of Fairmount, came to Vermilion 
county in 1830. Here he was born on the 19th of June, 1834, and 



CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 789 

this has been his home since. On the 22d of March, 1861, he was 
married to Rebecca Carter, daughter of Harvey and Charlotte (Clark) 
Carter. She was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1839. 
They have a family of four sons and five daughters : James T., Will- 
iam C, Victor L., Frank, Yea A., Dolie M., Minervia, Lottie C, Lydia. 
Mr. and Mrs. Ross are members of the C. P. church, and own a fine 
stock farm of four hundred acres, with good improvements. 

James A. Dickson, Fairmount, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 5th of December, 1834. His father 
died in 1837, and he lived with his mother until he was twenty years 
of age. He then moved near his present place and improved a farm. 
Afterward he moved about three miles south, thence to his present 
place. In November, 1860, he married Miss Amanda J. Sheppard. 
She was born in this county. They had four children, three living : 
John W., Simon A. and Charles E. Mr. Dickson owns four hundred 
and forty acres in this county, which he has principally earned by his 
own labor. He hauled apples to Chicago as early as 1857. He is no 
office seeker, his only office being connected with the school and road. 
His parents, John and Elizabeth Doyle Dickson, were natives of Ken- 
tucky. They were married in Kentucky, and came to Illinois in the 
spring of 1824, and settled in Vermilion county, where they lived 
until their death. 

Josiah Sandusky, Indianola, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Vermilion county, Illinois, on his present place in Carroll township, on 
the 11th of September, 1837, and has always lived on this place. At 
the age of twenty-two he began doing business on his own account, 
farming and raising stock, and has followed the same since. By the 
death of his parents his present, the old homestead, farm became his 
property. On the 18th of December, 1873, he married Miss Margaret 
Moreland. She was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky. They had 
two children, one living : Pearl. He owns one thousand acres in this 
county. He is largely interested in stock-raising, and confines his 
business to the finest breeds. At the present time he has eight trotting 
horses, among which is Denmark, with a record of 2.40, and promises 
2.20 at no distant day. The group also includes Black Cloud, who has 
made 2.40. 

E. B. Willison, Sr., Indianola, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Alleghany county, Maryland, on the 15th of December, 1804, and 
lived there until 1831, living on the farm twenty-one years. He then 
learned the carpenter's trade. In 1831 he moved to Ohio and engaged 
at his trade. In 1835 he married- Miss Deborah Bryan. She was born 
in Ohio, and died on the 17th of April, 1849. In 1839 they came to 



790 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled near Indianola. On the 4th of 
November, 1849, he married Mrs. Briggs, formerly Miss Ruth Davis. 
She was born in Ohio. By his first marriage there were six children, 
three living : James B., John C. and Mary E. ; and by the second mar- 
riage six children, five living: E. B., jr., Joseph A., Elmar A., Nancy 
M. and Deborah R. He owns two hundred and ninety-eight acres of 
land in this county, which he has earned by his own labor. He has 
held the offices of justice of the peace, road commissioner and school 
trustee and director. He is a well known and highly respected citizen. 

W. H. Adams, Indianola, tile manufacturer and farmer, was born in 
Carroll township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 17th of January, 
1840, and lived with his parents twenty years. He then learned the 
wagon manufacturing trade, and in 1862 enlisted in the 25th 111. Reg., 
Co. D, and remained in service over three years. He was in the bat- 
tles of Chickamauga, Nashville, Atlanta campaign, etc. etc. He was 
wounded at Murfreesborough ; again at Chickamauga and Mission 
Ridge. After his discharge he returned to Vermilion county, and fol- 
lowed his trade for four years. On the 1st of February, 1866, he mar- 
ried Miss Lydia Mendenhall. She was born in this county. In 1869 
he engaged in farming, and has continued the same since. In 1878 he 
erected a kiln and a 200 x 20 shed and 40-foot drain mill, and engaged 
in the manufacture of tile, and has now facilities for making five thou- 
sand 4-inch per day. 

J. A. McDowell, Indianola, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native of Ver- 
milion county, Illinois. He was born in Carroll township, on the 16th of 
November, 1841, and has here always made his home. He lived with his 
parents until 1863, when he took charge of his sister's farm, and in 1864 
he moved to a place of his own. On the 25th of April, 1865, he mar- 
ried Miss Mary Ramsey. She was born in this county, and died on the 
26th of November, 1866. On the 18th of November, 1869, he married 
Miss Emma C. Porter. She was born in this county, on the 3d of 
April, 1849. They had six children, five living: Gracie P., Jennie E., 
Carrie, Freddie W., and Ray W. In November, 1869, he came to his 
present farm, and in 1875 he occupied his present elegant brick resi- 
dence. He owns six hundred acres of land in this county, located in 
the southwest part of Carroll township and the southeast part of Sidell 
township. 

John B. Hildreth, Indianola, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 19th of March, 1S42, and has always 
lived in this county. At the age of twenty-one he began working for 
himself, farming part of his father's farm until 1870, when he got con- 
trol of two hundred acres. On the 10th of October, 1869, he married 






CARROLL TOWNSHIP. 791 

Miss Philette Koss, who was born in Indiana, and died here on the 
20th of March, 1875. They had four children, three living: Carrie A., 
Alice and Philette. On the 26th of August, 1875, he married Miss 
Eliza Barnett, who was born in this county near their present place. 
They had two children, one living, Daisy. Mr. Hildreth owns live 
hundred and thirty-three acres of land in this and Edgar counties. His 
parents, Alvin K. and Sarah E. (Ritter) Hildreth, were natives of Bour- 
bon county, Kentucky. They came to this county about 1832, and 
lived here until their deaths, on the 19th of July, 1874, and on the 
4th of July, 1877, respectively. 

M. L. Hill, Catlin, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Wayne 
county, Kentucky, on the 15th of October, 1828, and lived there two 
years. He then, with his parents, moved to Crawford county, Illi- 
nois, where he lived until he was twelve years of age. They then 
moved to Clark county, where his mother died. He next moved to 
Owen county, Indiana, thence to York, Illinois, where he learned the 
carpenter's trade, and in 1848 he went to Danville, Illinois, and lived 
there until 1853. He then moved to Georgetown, where, in the spring 
of 1854, he married Miss Nancy E. Hewitt, who was born in this 
county. They have seven children: James W., M. L., jr., Charles W., 
Eli E., George, Oscar W. and Archie H. In 1859 Mr. Hill en- 
gaged in farming on his present place. In 1862 he enlisted in the 125th 
111. Reg., Co. D, and remained in the service till the close of the war. 
He was in the battles of Perryville, Chickamauga, the Atlanta cam- 
paign and the march to the sea. He owns two hundred and thirty-four 
acres of land in this county. He returned to his farm after the war, 
and has lived here since. 

Dr. J. W. Ralston, Indianola, physician, was born in Williamson 
county, Tennessee, on the 12th of February, 1S34, and lived there 
twelve years, when, with his parents, he moved to Indiana, and settled 
in Rockville, where he lived until 1855. In 1852 he began reading 
medicine under Drs. Rice and Allen and Dr. Strieker. He next at- 
tended the Ohio Medical College, of Cincinnati, for about six months. 
He then attended the Rush Medical College, of Chicago, and then 
came to Indianola. He began practice on the 1st of June, 1855, and 
has practiced here since. In the winter of 1867-8 he graduated at the 
Rush Medical College. On the 15th of October, 1S56, he married 
Miss Permelia, daughter of Mr. David Dickson, one of the early pio- 
neers of this county. She was born in Vermilion county, Illinois. 

Johnathan Gaines, Indianola, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Greene county, Ohio, on the 23d of May, 1827, and lived there nine- 
teen years. He then came to Illinois, and settled in Edgar county, 



792 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

where he lived until 1856, when he came to Vermilion county, and 
settled on his present place. In September, 1854, he married Miss 
Lucinda Gilkey. She was born in this count} 7 . They had twelve chil- 
dren, ten living : Laura A., William, James S., Ralph, Eva, Charles, 
Walter, Ernest, Fred, and Gracie G. In 1848 Mr. Gaines drove cattle 
to Philadelphia, going on horseback, and made the trip each of the 
following eight years, and has shipped cattle every year since. He 
took cattle to Chicago in 1852, and has been in that city every year 
since. He owns eight hundred acres of land, which he has earned by 
his own labor and management. 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 

The town of Middle Fork, as its name indicates, lies in that part of 
the county where the three main branches unite and form the stream 
of that name. It is bounded on the north by Butler, east by Ross, 
south by Blount and Pilot, and west by the county line; is parallelo- 
gram in form, and geographically embraces the north half of town 21, 
range 13 ; the southern four tiers of sections of town 22, range 13 ; 
the northeast quarter of town 21, range 14, and the southern four tiers 
of the east half of town 22, range 14. 

At the time of township organization it included not only all of 
Butler township, but all of what is now Ford county, running up to 
the Kankakee River, and was more than sixty miles long. At that time 
(1851) there was not an inhabitant north of what is known as Blue 
Grass Grove, until you reached the vicinity of the Kankakee River, 
where a few families had collected around Horse Creek, who, in their 
pioneer independence, were unwilling to recognize the authority which 
held its seat of justice at Danville, seventy-five miles to the south. 
Uncle Richard Courtney, who, by the untrammeled and virtuous suf- 
frages of the honest yeomen of Middle Fork, in the year 1852, was 
elected to the lucrative office of assessor, relates a little incident which 
occurred to him in the official discharge of his duties, with these 
"Horse Creek" denizens, which is laughable enough, but which did 
not strike Richard as at all funny when it happened. With a due 
regard for the sanctity of his oath, and determined to leave no property 
unassessed, after he had carefully noted down all the wealth which lay 
scattered between Blue Grass and Higginsville, he bestrode the best 
horse he had, and, taking three days' rations of dried venison and cold 
corn-cake, he took his lonely way across the grand prairie to search out 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 793 

the tangible property, moneys and credits of these few families whose 
vast accumulations of filthy lucre and hidden treasure were proble- 
matical, to say the very least. Courtney was no novice at this business 
of hunting out 

" Things that were palpable to sight and touch, 
That he could measure by the test, 'how much,' 
And grasp securely in his mental clutch." 

Indeed he was a man of large experience in financial affairs, having 
early, when even yet a boy, engaged in trade, and had bought and sold 
a great deal of land. A hard day's drive brought him to the cabins on 
Horse Creek, and, taking a night's rest, at the first he proceeded to 
unfold to the inhabitants, in "a few well-chosen remarks," the objects of 
his mission. They theoretically placed their thumbs on their noses 
and wagged the extended fingers of their hands, which was pioneer 
parlance for " you can't come it." He expostulated, reasoned of the 
righteousness of his cause, the temperance of his manner, and the 
judgment which was sure to come upon them if they resisted his meek 
measures ; but, unlike Felix, they did not tremble worth a cent. They 
told him they never heard of Middle Fork ; had never attended her 
town meetings, and utterly repudiated her authority ; that the year 
before a Kankakee assessor had come prowling around nosing into their 
affairs, wanting to assess them, and that they would bring to grief any 
Vermilion assessor who undertook to do what the Kankakee chap 
found he could not do. To make matters worse, a Protestant Methodist 
preacher, whose name is forgotten, or he certainly should have the 
benefit of a first-class notice, fell on poor Richard, who was only a 
Methodist Episcopal christian, and brother of a preacher of that per- 
suasion, and told him he did not expect anything better from such as he ; 
that his entire church was a priest-ridden, bishop-ruled, elder-dictated, 
poor, despised, crushed community, and poured a flood of light into 
the benighted mental vision of the publican, which an entire course in 
a Methodist theological seminary could hardly have equaled. He 
pointed to Courtney in fiery language, highly touched off with a flavor 
of sulphurous smoke, what a religion which pinned its faith to the 
surplices of a bench of bishops must inevitably lead to, and plainly 
intimated to the crowd that this assessor was a minion of the Episcopacy 
thinly hid behind the gauzy veil of township organization. Assert- 
ing that it was what he had long expected, and slapping his hands to- 
gether, said that this expectation was the very thing which had in- 
duced him to break with the priest-ridden M. E. church. To make 
the matter short, they set the women on him with brooms and mop- 
sticks to drive him from their midst. He was not in the habit of 



794 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

giving up at trifles, but the array of armed women was no trifle in 
Courtney's estimation, and he betook himself to contemplative study. 
There stood his oath, recorded in heaven, that he would assess the 
value of these people's property. What was he to do ? A bright 
thought struck him. There resided in their midst a sort of backwoods 
lawyer, whom they called 'squire, whose words and opinions had 
come to be considered law in the settlement. As he had no property 
of his own, he could well afford to offer his services to help Courtney 
out. His kind offer was thankfully accepted, and " Richard was him- 
self again." So it was arranged that the heads of the dozen families 
living there should come to the '"squire's" cabin that night, and he 
would make known their duty under the law. " Law is law ! " sen- 
tentiously said the accommodating " 'squire," " and I cannot let these 
neighbors of mine be dragged away from their families a hundred 
miles by your sheriff in Danville, if I can be the happy means under 
Divine Providence of preventing it." The convocation was held, and, 
in an orderly manner, Courtney explained the situation. He had a 
fair share of eloquence for a young man of limited word power, and 
presented his side of the case in a masterly manner. After long dis- 
cussion the 'squire decided that their little property was liable to assess- 
ment, and the faithful assessor felt as a great general does when a great 
victory is won. He felt different, however, a few moments later, when 
the kind 'squire charged him $2.50 for his friendly counsel. It was 
not safe to leave that county without paying the bill, and it took all the 
money he had. He got back to Blue Grass, however, without losing 
his horse or throwing up his commission. The board of town auditors 
allowed and paid him $3 for that part of his services. It was several 
long years before he was induced, by "the urgent request of his friends," 
to accept the office of assessor again, and for many years he has held 
to the opinion, pretty strongly, that until the unwelcomed advent of 
that horde of Chinese barbarians upon our Pacific slope there was not 
in America a class of people who had darker ways or vainer tricks than 
the lawyers. When the collector went there the following winter to 
make collections, he found a few parties who would not pay their tax, 
and he levied upon the only articles he could transport ; and, thinking 
he could not find any bidders in that neighborhood, he carried a shot- 
gun and a log-chain all the way to Danville, out of which to make the 
tax. 

The township contained, originally, about twelve sections of timber 
land, which was more in the form of pretty, well defined groves, with 
little of undergrowth, and hazel-brush patches which have since grown 
into timber land, than of what is generally called timber. The main 



MIDDLE FOKK TOWNSHIP. 795 

branch of the Middle Fork, which comes into the township from the 
direction of Oliver's Grove, passes nearly through the town till its 
junction with Bean Creek, when it turns southwest and passes out. 
Along this, after leaving the main body of timber on the south, were 
Collison's Point, Colwell Timber, Partlow's Timber, Douglass Moore 
Timber and Buck Grove. The Blue Grass branch, which comes from 
the north, joining the main branch near Marysville, had on it Bob 
Courtney's Grove and Blue Grass Grove. Bean Creek, which, so far 
as its name is concerned, has a history. It had Merritt's Point, and 
numerous clumps, which were early the homes of those who, like Al- 
bright, wanted the advantages which shade and shelter gave to grow- 
ing herds and fatting cattle. Of all the localities in northern Vermilion 
none offered a finer opportunity than the town of Middle Fork for 
early settlement and comfortable homes. In truth of this, the fine 
farms, the nice residences, the general prosperity,' and the uncommon 
prosperity of a few, all show the town in the best possible light. There 
were drawbacks, however, that some other localities did not have. 
Man} 7 of the first settlers made their homes along the creek bottoms, 
seeking protection from the real or imaginary prairie blasts, and trying 
to use the water of the streams. Without one known exception, such 
families were the subjects of frequent, severe and fatal sickness. In the 
light of the present it seems strange that they should have selected such 
places for their homes. The families which made their homes on the 
edge of the prairies were not more troubled by sickness than others in 
new countries. An early settler, when asked why the rich prairies 
were so long left vacant, replied : " Why ! if we had known that any- 
body could live out there, we would have saved ourselves a great deal 
of trouble." It was really believed that they would only be of use as 
pastures for the great herds of cattle that would roam over them, as the 
herds do over the vast pampas of South America. 

The streams through the pieces of timber were peculiar in one re- 
spect. When first found they seemed to have worn no channels for 
the water-courses. Every little rain spread them out into great ponds. 
Whether it was owing to the peculiar nature of the soil, or whatever 
may have been the cause or causes, they did not wear channels deep in 
the soil. Wherever there was an obstruction, as a fallen tree, the water 
poured over and made a deep pond-hole, which remained deep the year 
around. In these deep places large fish were caught. A gentleman, 
whose word is entitled to the utmost credit, says that he has known of 
the catching of a pike in the township fully four feet long. This might 
be set down by some as a "fish story," but the writer believes it to be 
true. 



796 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

The Bine Grass tract, which lay around and through the Blue Grass 
Grove, covered several thousand acres, and has been the subject of 
much speculation. It was originally supposed by some to have been 
the growth of seeds brought here in some way by the Indians. This 
view, however, has been pretty generally abandoned, as the history and 
phenomena of grasses have become better known. One of the most 
singular things about these great prairies is, that the native grass which 
was found growing everywhere when man came here, and which for 
ages has maintained itself against all the natural elements of extinction, 
has neither seed nor any other organs of propagation. When once 
killed or circumscribed in any way, it could not by any process again 
spread. It was not merely comparatively, but positively impossible to 
spread it. So far as the writer's knowledge goes, it was in this respect 
anomalous. Nature does not seem to have furnished another case of 
actual absence of the quality of propagation. Wherever this was de- 
stroyed nature supplied its place with another grass, and in this part of 
the state that natural growth was blue-grass, which was, and is, just as 
much a natural growth as was the prairie grass. The Pottawatomie 
and Kickapoo Indians had long had a home in this grove. They had 
cultivated in their own rude way a small patch of corn, which had de- 
stroyed the prairie grass not only where they had actually planted, but 
all around where they lived and where their horses stayed. Blue-grass 
"run in," as the saying is, or more correctly, was furnished by nature 
according to a not well understood natural law. And this is all the 
mystery there is in regard to the great blue-grass pasture that was found 
here. 

The first settlers found corn growing here. Their method of plant- 
ing and cultivating differed somewhat from that in vogue since Brown 
invented his corn-planter, and can be easily described. No plow was 
known to Indian farming. The corn was planted in hills, little less 
distant than now, and was hoed by the women, and hilled up about as 
we do potatoes. The next year the hills were planted between the 
rows of last year's stalks, and the earth which had been hilled up 
around the former was removed, as needed, to the growing hills, to 
"hill them up." The only variet} 7 of corn they were known to use 
here was the peculiarly spotted ears, red and white. When the corn 
was harvested it was not cribbed in pine lumber brought from Green 
Bay, but caves were dug in the dry knolls, in which it was buried until 
it was wanted. 

The earliest settlements were made in what is now Middle Fork, in 
1828. Mr. Partlow and wife came from Kentucky in 1829 with their 
four sons, Samuel, James, Reuben and John, and their son-in-law, Asa 






MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 797 

Brown. The}' were all married and had families, and were all earnest 
members of the Methodist church. The}' made a cabin at Merrill's 
Point, and the sons took claims in sections 5, 6, 7 and 8 (21-13), south 
of where Armstrong now is. John and James were licensed preachers, 
and were probably the first ones to make a residence here. The par- 
ents died the first year, and the family had to bury them themselves. 
They brought a number of cattle with them from Kentucky, and the 
migration bid fair to prove a prosperous one ; but the first year was 
followed by the memorable winter of the deep snow, the like of which 
has never been seen here since. It was to the new-comers a most un- 
expected and disastrous winter. The depth of the snow prevented 
getting around to do anything. They had to live on what they could 
pound up in their mortars. Deer, the principal meat-producing game, 
were easily captured, but they soon became so poor that their meat was 
not fit to eat. There was no such thing as going to market, and their 
cattle died from lack of food and care. The winter filled up the 
measure of their disappointment, and the next year they took the back 
track and went to Kentucky, all but Asa Brown, who said he had 
nothing to go to there, and he " could but perish if he staid." They 
afterward returned and settled on the land they had taken up. which 
has been known from that day to this — now fifty years — as the Partlow 
neighborhood. They all lived to bring up families, some members of 
whom still reside there. Samuel and Keuben died in Danville, where 
their children live, and are among the most respected and worthy 
citizens. John and James died here in Middle Fork. "When they 
came here they brought the institutions of religion with them, and 
never allowed the altar to grow cold. About 1840 they built the first 
meeting-house in this part of the county — a rude cabin on the bank of 
the stream on Reuben's land. There is no family which has exercised 
a greater or better influence on the town — an influence for good which 
will be felt till the last. 

Michael Cook was one of the first to settle here. He died soon, 
and was buried in a little graveyard a half mile from Meneely's mill on 
the hill. William Bridges came here in 1830, and settled one and a 
half miles south of Marysville. He resided there seven years. He 
was a man of strong good sense. He sold and went to Wisconsin, when 
the rush was in that direction. Mr. Gray bought the place. He was 
not much of a farmer, and gave his time largely to the chase. His 
family had much sickness, and his place deteriorated, and part of the 
clearing again grew up to trees. Passing by it to-day it is not difficult 
to see in the timber the place where, forty-five years ago, wheat was 
waving in the June breezes. This man Gray was a character. He 



798 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

used to come in out of the timber every election day as regular as a 
tea-party, following the blazed trees out to civilization — he seldom 
came out at any other time — voted the democratic ticket as regularly 
and unanimously as if he had been brought up to it; defended the 
good name and statesmanship of Jackson ; shouted for fifty-four-forty- 
or-fight; for "extending the area of freedom," by the Mexican war, 
whooped for the repeal of the Missouri compromise, and peddled 
tickets until the boxes were closed, as energetically as any man in the 
business; then stayed to see the ballots counted out by candle-light. 
For ten years, Gray and John Smith (plain) were the only democratic 
voters in town. After ten years of energetic electioneering, this pa- 
triarch of democracy saw with joy the advent into town of George 
Copeland, and felt better. He lived to see as many as half-a-dozen 
democratic votes cast in Middle Fork. The town is still republican, 
though it is through no dereliction on the part of Gray. 

There was a very considerable emigration at one time from here to 
Wisconsin. After Gurdon Hubbard had left Danville, where he had 
in vain endeavored to get his former partners to invest with him in 
"water lots" in Chicago, he became rich by his speculations there, and, 
following the same direction, some of the leading men of the county 
fancied they could see as rich speculations in Milwaukee and Galena, 
and other places in those vicinities. The prevailing sickness here gave 
a strong impetus to the movement, and quite a number went out from 
this town. Few bettered themselves, however. Asa Brown, A. Kel- 
ley and William Bridges went to the northern home. 

Charles Bennett settled at Collison's Point in 1828, and was one of 
the first settlers in here. He came from Ohio. He entered land on 
Sullivan's Branch (called so till 1851), eighty acres at first, and after- 
ward forty more, and was really the first settler on the now famous 
Bean Creek. Mr. Bennett died in 1840 on the farm half a mile east 
of the iron bridge in Marysville. He left six children, who have all 
moved away except Caleb and a daughter, now dead. His son Caleb, 
now residing in Marysville, is believed to be the "oldest inhabitant" 
now residing in the town, having lived here continuously for fifty-one 
years ; — at least, if any person disputes his right to the belt with the 
cabalistic letters, " O. I." marked on it, he wants such an one to come 
and take it, if he can. Caleb says, in speaking of those "good old 
times," (?) "We did not fail, under any circumstances or provocation, 
to have the ague every summer as regularly as that solar season came 
around. People had not got to living out on the prairies then, and 
those who lived on the creek bottoms nearly all died. We thought it 
a 'severe dispensation of Divine Providence,' but now the general 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 799 

opinion, after a half century of additional light on the subject, is, 
that it was the 'milk-sick,' whatever that may be." They raised 
their own flax, com, wheat and hogs, the real "hazel splitters," 
called so from a very general belief that they were so thin, and had 
such sharp noses, that they could go through a hazel bush or any like 
substance which stood in their way. A great many ludicrous stories 
have been told about this much-abused breed of "prairie-rooters," 
which were in many respects a very valuable, probably the most profit- 
able, "farming implement" the early settlers had. The impression is 
common now that they were a worthless thing. This is very far from 
being true. The writer, who has the greatest respect for the "im- 
proved breeds of hogs," now so famous here, wishes to record a plea in 
favor of the old stock. In the then condition, of the fields and farms, 
they were the only kind that could be kept ; they did not require any 
grain or grass pasture ; they lived in the woods till corn was ripe, and 
when fatted to the extent that they were good bacon hogs, would 
travel as fast as a man could walk. In any ordinary weather they 
could make twenty miles a day, and could stand the long drives of one 
or two hundred miles to market without giving out; were not subject 
to any disease. Nothing could kill them short of the knife of the 
butcher or the ball of the rifle, and they were about the only crop the 
farmer raised which would always bring cash. Caleb Bennett went 
out on the prairie and took up the fine farm now owned by Zack Put- 
nam, and improved it. He sunk three artesian wells, one of which is 
the finest in the county. By boring thirty feet he got a permanent 
three-inch stream, which is carried up high enough to furnish a good 
water-power to drive a churn. Several other farms in that vicinity 
have artesian water. He carried on stock-raising and feeding exten- 
sively, with fair success, for several years. Disaster overtook his opera- 
tions, however, and he lost his property. He has been a hard-working 
man, and is respected by all that knew him. The farm which he 
brought into cultivation is owned by Mr. Putnam, who carries on a 
butter dairy of twenty-five cows, the only one of the kind in the town. 
He uses the water-power to run a small turbine wheel, which drives 
the churn and runs the water through the milk-house, to keep it cool. 
With this care in keeping cool, and with absolute cleanliness in the 
management of the dairy, he has no trouble in getting the highest 
market price for his product, and has solved the problem of profitable 
butter-making on these prairies. 

Richard ' Courtney was born and grew up to early manhood in 
Franklin county, Ohio. The family came on here in 1835, and it was 
so rainy, and the streams so swollen, that they could not get farther, 



800 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

so they concluded to enter land here on the famous blue-grass tract, 
which the Indians had just abandoned. There were then standing, 
where his pasture now is, the stalks of a former year's crop of corn. 
The untouched grass of thousands of acres grew rank around and 
through the grove. The underbrush of young trees had been kept 
down by prairie fires, and where now forest trees stand, as fine winter 
pasture as ever was known furnished feed enough for thousands of cat- 
tle. The few cows that the settlers kept came in at night loaded down 
with milk, and almost every hollow tree in the grove was the home of 
bees. There never was a land which, to the immigrant seeking new 
homes, flowed more literally with milk and honey than this. The 
Courtney family at once went to breaking prairie, and hired a hundred 
acres turned and planted to sod corn. They got a good crop, but did 
not know what to do with it. It was only worth six cents a bushel, 
and no market for it at that price. They did not raise much wheat. 
They went to Perrysville for their grinding. Deer, geese, turkeys and 
prairie chickens were numerous. They kept a few sheep, but the 
wolves were so troublesome that it was almost impossible to protect 
them. They have sold pigs for one dollar per dozen, and once sold 
Mr. Gilbert twenty good fat hogs for fifty dollars. Mr. Courtney was 
once on a trip to Chicago, and having in his wagon some corn of the 
large white variety, such as he was in the habit of raising, to feed on 
the road, a couple of Yankees, who were looking for the first time at 
the prairie wonders of Illinois, after intently examining the ears of 
corn, and comparing them mentally with their own little hard-shell 
nubbins down east, commenced asking questions, Yankee-like. They 
asked Courtney what it cost to raise such corn. He told them that he 
did not calculate that it cost him anything to raise it, and explained 
that the land had to be broken before it was fit for any crop. Then, 
while the prairie sod was rotting for the next year's crop, one of the 
boys who had nothing else to do dropped the corn in the crevices 
between the sods, and they went on about their business, allowing the 
corn to have its own way until it was ripe ; then they picked what corn 
they wanted, say twenty to forty bushels to the acre, and left the rest 
for the cattle to live on during the winter. " But don't you hoe it and 
manure it in the hill, and hill it up, and stick up scare-crows made out 
of your wife's last year's petticoat or your cast-off drawers, and put hats 
on 'em ? " inquired the suspicious Yankees. He assured them that 
nothing of the kind' was done in raising the particular corn they then 
held in their hands. They questioned his veracity. "Well," said 
Courtney, " if you don't take my word, if you will just come back to 
the next wagon, I have got a minister and a class-leader there who will 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 801 

swear to it. This satisfied the incredulous gentlemen, for they knew 
what religion was, and down in Massachusetts a class-leader's word is 
taken everywhere. Mr. C. says that he has gone a whole year without 
handling thirty dollars in money. Their wants were few. They made 
their own cloth, sugar and shoes ; rarely bought store-tea ; did not take 
music lessons, or buy spring bonnets. Taxes were nominal, and no 
school bills to pay, and no mortgages to eat up the substance of the 
people. He used to keep a plat of the township, so that people who 
came to Took for land could find it, and would stop his plow any time 
to go to show them the corners. There were no settlements on the 
prairies until 1849, when the rush of immigration came in in anticipa- 
tion of the passage through congress of Douglas' Illinois Central Rail- 
road bill, by the discussion of which attention was directed to the great 
fertility of the prairies, which only needed the aid of railroads to bring 
their products into market. The people here had supposed that the 
prairies back of them were their heritage for " range " as long as they 
should want them, but waked up suddenly to the fact that all this land 
was being taken np, and had to buy at increased rates to secure them- 
selves against being hemmed in. Richard Courtney sold his farm to 
John Bodley, who recently died at Paxton, and purchased another. 
Mr. Bodley remained here some time, carrying on a farm of four hun- 
dred acres, trading, feeding cattle, and driving to market. He kept a 
store at Blue Grass for awhile, which he lost by lightning. He after- 
ward went west, and then settled at Paxton, where he became one of 
the leading business men of that place. He took a lively interest in 
public affairs, and was long on the board of supervisors. He closed a 
long and busy life a few weeks since, leaving a name for integrity and 
business activity which will long be kept green in the memory of his 
many acquaintances. Mr. Courtney still resides on the farm which he 
bought at that time. He has brought up a family of five children, who 
live with or near him, and who enjoy the aid and assistance of his wise 
counsel and the pleasure of his society. He has saved a comfortable 
property, though by no means rich, and quietly receives the benefit of 
his early thrift and energy. There is no more pleasant sight connected 
with the history of these townships than the one of these good old 
parents, who, having passed through the trials, the hardships, the fears, 
the dangers of pioneering, the fatigue and labors of a well-rounded life, 
throw care and work on willing children, whose early feet they have led 
in paths of peace, truth and veneration for God and man. Mr. Court- 
ney's mother died here, at the age of eighty-three. 

James, an elder brother of Richard, had very early joined the 
church, and was licensed to preach at the age of eighteen. Ten 
51 



802 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

years later he came into this county to live, having received a good 
education and studied medicine. He used to preach while here, but 
finding his health failing, he resumed the study of medicine to learn 
his own case. He removed to Danville, where he remained several 
years, spending his winters in Cincinnati, attending lectures and ac- 
quainting himself with the science of medicine and surgery in all its 
details. He was elected to the legislature in 1854, and in the single 
winter he served saw many things to convince him that everything was 
not pure and honest in the politics of that " good old time." He re- 
moved to Indianapolis, and was appointed to a professorship in the 
medical college at Cincinnati. He was a man of great energy and in- 
dustry, with small physical strength to back it. The successive steps 
of advancement from the cabin of the backwoodsman to the important 
position of lecturer in an important medical college, shows the stuff of 
which he was made. 

None of the other members of the Courtney family reside in Middle 
Fork. Robert Courtney, who was not a relative of the family heretofore 
spoken of, came here before they did some four years. He was an 
arbitrary man, and cared little for the rights of others or the peace of 
his family. He claimed all the land that joined him, and when Mr. 
Cross came up from Danville and staked out a piece of blue-grass pas- 
ture to put his cattle on to feed, Robert undertook to drive him off. 
He was even crosser than Cross, and went for this intruder in a very 
unamiable manner. He never gave much attention to farming, but 
hunted and watched a few cattle. He lived here about twenty-five 
years, until 1856, and then went to Champaign. John, Dixon and 
Hamilton Bailey, three brothers, settled in 1832 on land where Marys- 
ville now stands. They were industrious men and good citizens; re- 
mained here until 1839, and sold to Robert Marshall, and went, in 
company with Miller, Stillwell, Brown, Layton, and others, to Wis- 
consin. Mr. Marshall was not in sufficient health to work on a farm, 
and undertook to keep store in one part of his dwelling, two or three 
years. He died, and thus ended what is supposed to have been the 
first mercantile venture in town, about 1850. Robert Young bought 
the farm Stillwell had entered, and lives on it still. 

James Colwell bought the claim of a Mr. Long, just west of where 
Marysville now is. He remained on the place until he died. 

Douglas Moore came from Ohio in 1834, and took up land still 
farther west, south of where Armstrong now is. He was a man of 
very positive views and strong character. He has a reputation among 
the neighbors for truthfulness, honorable christian character, and was 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 803 

a good farmer. He is dead, and his family is scattered. His wife re- 
mains in the vicinity. 

Mr. Meneley, who was himself a millwright, built a saw-mill a little 
way down stream from Marysville in 1837. He afterward sold to 
Smith, and it burned ; Smith rebuilt it and sold it. In 1872 a run of 
stone was put in. This is the only water-mill ever built in town. 

Bean Creek, the eastern branch of the Middle Fork, was first known 
as " Sullivan's branch," but it afterward came to be known by its 
present name, from certain yarns that Albright spun in regard to the 
peculiarities of the people who lived along its banks and the qualities 
of the stream itself. The land along its border was well adapted to 
cattle farming, and the men engaged in that line got possession of the 
land. Albright, as one of them, used to tell his friends back east of 
the excellent country that we had here. He said that the stream run 
bean-soup, and the banks were supplied with a natural growth of this 
nutritious vegetable, ready baked to a beautiful brown for the table ; 
that the settlers just naturally collected it daily (except Sundays), as 
the wandering tribes of Israel gathered manna in the wilderness; that 
he was at first surprised at finding such delicious baked beans on every 
table, when he traveled through there buying up the fat steers that he 
found in endless numbers in that vicinity, and that he was more sur- 
prised when he found the generous supply with which nature had pro- 
vided them. The yarn was enough to give the name to this stream. 
In regard to some other locality he used to tell that when he was stay- 
ing one night with his hands, he lodged in the house and they in the 
barn. During the night the bedbugs rolled him over and over until 
he thought to escape them by going to the barn, but before he got 
there he heard a terrible racket, which sounded more like a thrashing- 
machine than anything he could think of, but it proved to be the boys 
fighting fleas. The first settlers along this creek were Mr. Bennett, 
Mr. Allen, W. H. Copeland and Mr. Albright. Farther up the creek 
were George Copeland, John Mills, who now lives in Fairmount, 
David Copeland and John Smith (English), who settled there about 
1845. All the John Smiths in America, so we are assured, did not 
live in Middle Fork; but there were three, which, by way of designa- 
tion, were called John Smith (English), John Smith (Ticky) and plain 
John Smith. The former of these, who is one of the most successful 
farmers and capable managers of large business affairs in town, was by 
birth an Englishman. With no advantages of early education he came 
to this country, and for a time was in the employ of Abram Mann. 
When he married, in 1814, it is said that he had nothing but a strong 
constitution, good natural abilities, and a willing disposition. He soon 



804 HISTORY OF VERMILLON COUNTY. 

commenced operations on his own account on Bean Creek, and his his- 
tory from that time lias been a continued business success. He owns 
three thousand acres of land, which lies for three miles up and down the 
stream west of Marysville, and has been, and still is, largely engaged 
in cattle feeding, turning off two hundred head a year. 

John Smith (plain) came here from Pennsylvania about 1845, with 
a four-horse team, which he traded for a piece of land, and soon got 
hold of a prairie team — a lot of steers and a plow — and went to work. 
He accumulated a considerable property around and in Marysville ; 
was the first to build a store there ; was postmaster for awhile, and 
had a large influence on its early prosperity. 

The first school taught in the town was by Rev. Mr. Byman, in a 
house built near Douglas Moore's, four miles west of Marysville, about 
the year 1842. Here the men and women, who afterward made their 
impression on the affairs of the pioneer neighborhood, received from a 
careful instructor the rudiments of school education, which have never 
been effaced from their minds. He is spoken of with great i*espect by 
those who knew him, and although the conveniences were not such as 
the children of the present day enjoy, they made the most of such ad- 
vantages as they had. 

In 1832, a county road was established through Rossville and Blue 
Grass, from the state line west. A few years after this was known as 
the Attica road. Thomas Owens, now of Streator, bought a farm and 
moved a house on section 16, and commenced "keeping tavern." 
From this fact it became a center for the people around, and a store 
and post-office soon followed, and that universal convenience, — a black- 
smith shop, — was "started." Out of this grew, in course of time, the 
famous " city " which did all the mercantile and commercial business 
for ten miles around. It was a busy little burg until that leveler of 
great anticipations, the railroads, came. With railroad to right of it, 
railroad to left of it, railroad to front and rear of it, what could Blue 
Grass do but surrender % 

CHURCHES. 

A complete record of the religious doings of the self-denying labors 
of the early evangelists, the interest in religious matters, and the church 
enterprises of Middle Fork, would be a chapter of great interest, and 
show a unanimity of christian purpose, almost without a parallel. A 
gentleman, whose long acquaintance with the town, running back almost 
to the first settlement, says, that fully three-fourths of the adult popula- 
tion were, during most of the fifty years of its history, professors of 
religion and ardent supporters of its institutions. Indeed, there have 
been times when the proportion was even greater. During the early 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 805 

times nearly all its inhabitants were members of those pioneers in reli- 
gious effort and instruction, the Baptists and Methodists. Even at that 
day a chord of christian sympathy ran through the members of these 
churches which has never been effaced. The good brothers, Demorest, 
Helmic and Fairchild, who sounded the sweet notes of free salvation in 
the humble cabins of the poor pioneers, were seconded, not antago- 
nized, by Elder Freeman Smalley, whose Calvinism took on the lovelier 
shade that toned its stern doctrines and decrees in sympathy with the 
christian unity of the day. No record which the human hand can make 
can hope to give full justice to these faithful laborers. They have 
gone to their reward where the record is full, kept by the hand which 
notes the sparrows fall, watched by the eye which seeth in secret. 
These men had no anticipation of earthly reward. An earnest chris- 
tian, who was himself a member of the Baptist church, but whose reli- 
gion took on the broader glow of unity, says : " It was one of the pleas- 
antest sights to see these good Methodist brethren, the local preachers, 
going out two by two to hold their two days' meetings in the cabins, 
the barns or the groves ; working together like Paul and Silas, one 
preaching while the other prayed for the blessing of God upon their 
labors. It was one of the strongest forces in the work of Methodism, 
and I wonder that they have let it fall into disuse." 

There are now eight churches in town, four of which are Methodist. 
The first religious exercises in the town were probably held at the 
houses of the Partlow family, who were religious people and came here 
determined to maintain the cause of the church. In 1829 we find that 
Reuben Partlow accompanied John Johns, who lived ten miles south- 
east of the Partlow neighborhood, to Danville to attend meeting, and 
to ask that the preacher, Mr. McKain, send an appointment to their 
neighborhood. This was gladly complied with by the good man, who 
continued to preach for the class formed at John's house in Blount 
during his year. Coffeen's Hand-book of Vermillion County, pages 
25 and 26, says : " A man by the name of McKain was the first Meth- 
odist circuit rider of this county. Harshey was the next, and by his 
preaching a great influence was exerted in favor of Methodism in this 
vicinity." It is believed that the circuit which was extended to John 
Johns in 1829 was also the same year made to reach out into Part- 
low's neighborhood, but if such was the fact, verification of it is not 
now at hand. This, then, was in the Eugene circuit, and extended to 
Big Grove (Champaign). Under the preaching of Mr. Harshey, who 
was the second circuit preacher in the county, regular appointments 
were made at Mr. Partlow's, which in time grew into the Partlow 
church ten years later. This became, then, the Danville circuit during 



806 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Mr. Harshey's preaching. For at least ten years preaching was had in 
the houses, and if there were two rooms in the building it was so 
arranged that the preacher conld talk to those in both rooms. Blue 
Grass, Partlow's and Morehead's were the three earliest preaching 
points. After Harsheycame Risle} 7 , Bradshaw, William Moore, Buck, 
Crane, Littler and others. Mr. Risley was an able preacher and a 
good man, but fell into trouble ; he was thought to have been carried 
away by a too great anxiety to see one party in a very bitter political 
contest elected, and lost his influence. Mr. Littler was a talented man 
and a very acceptable pastor, bat got into debt and had not the bravery 
to face his creditors. Few of them had received any special education 
in schools for the work they had, but were men led by the spirit of all 
wisdom. Rev. Mr. Harshey lived and died in Danville, and is every- 
where spoken of as a man of superior abilities and great power ; his in- 
fluence in favor of Methodism was very considerable. Rev. James 
McKain, the pioneer, is more fully spoken of in the record of Blount. 

In 1840 the brethren put up the first building specially intended 
for religious worship in this part of the county, on the land of Reuben 
Partlow, who begged the privilege of donating, which, taken in con- 
nection with his visit to Danville to ask Mr. McKain to come up here 
to preach for the new settlers, gives him the right to be called the 
pioneer of that which we now call Methodism in this town : really the 
pioneer in religious preaching. This little church down on the bot- 
tom has long since been replaced by a more convenient one, and one 
which the people naturally feel proud of. It was a very plain affair: 
the studding, beams and rafters were poles; the laths were rived out 
and the shingles home-made ; in fact, it was all home-made material 
except the door, windows and siding. The seats were slabs with legs 
stuck in them. This building was used for the first school which was 
held in this part of town, and the second one in town. The people 
here did not have the school fever very much ; it was not until about 
1848 that they seem to have been awakened by the advent of a new 
wave of immigration to an interest in schools. There seem to have 
been none but the two already spoken of until the Ingersolls objected to 
sending their children three miles to school. The present Partlow 
chapel was built in 1865. 

For a long time this was attached to, or was a part of Vermilion 
circuit. In 1865 the four appointments were set off and became Blue 
Grass circuit. In 1877 the parsonage at Marysville was built, and since 
that time it has been known by that name. The present membership 
in the circuit is : Marysville, 80 ; Partlow's, 50 ; Wallace Chapel, 52 ; 
No. 1, 45; total, 227. The trustees of the Partlow church, at the time 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 807 

of its being built, were John Smith, John Wright, Ersom French, Benj. 
Cross, Win. Hornbeck, J. B. Courtney and Wm. Crable. A Sabbath- 
school was established as early as 1840. The Partlows, Reuben, James 
and John, were leaders, as in every good work. J. B. Courtney, now 
of Marysville, was superintendent for many years, during which time 
it often numbered a hundred. 

The church at what was called Blue Grass charge was built in 1854, 
during the ministration of Rev. Mr. Wallace, and was named from him 
Wallace Chapel. It stands on section 28, one half mile south of Blue 
Grass post-office. The trustees were Eli Starr, J. H. Duncan, Joseph 
Moss, and the pastor. It is 34x46, and cost $2,100. 

The chapel called "No. 1," built in 1867, is the same size, plain, 
and cost $2,200. The trustees under whose care the church was built 
were Jesse Piles, William Lefever, J. A. Beals, J. M. Rice and J. 
Collison. 

The church at Marysville was built in 1870. It is a fine building, 
36 x 50, with a steeple, well seated and finished off. It cost $3,000. 
Messrs. Jameson, Tuttle and Bennett were active in the work of getting 
up this building. Sabbath-schools are maintained in all the appoint- 
ments. Some of the most efficient and active members in the Sabbath- 
school work are J. B. Courtney, W. Hornbeck, L. A. Bnrd, Joseph 
Moss, J. H. Duncan, Eli Starr, Mr. and Mrs. Chester Potts, and Oliver 
Postal. The parsonage at Marysville is a good two-story house, and is 
as comfortable as any minister could wish. It cost $1,500. 

The old Middle Fork Baptist Church was organized in 1834, by 
Elder Freeman Smalley, with about twenty members. Freeman, 
Benjamin and James Smalley and their wives, Mr. Herron and wife, 
Polly Stearnes, Levi Asher and wife, Mr. Pursell and wife, Mr. 
Stephens (a licensed preacher of English birth) and wife, Mr. Sowders 
and wife, Mr. Pentecost and wife, Samuel Copeland and wife, and 
Mrs. White, were all either original or early members of this church. 
This old church maintained its position and its unity until 1864, when 
questions and causes growing out of the war caused a division which 
proved disastrous. 

As early as 1852 a church organization was effected, including those 
of the parent church who lived about Blue Grass Grove, and others 
who had recently come in, which was called Hopewell, but by common 
acceptation was known as Blue Grass Church. The pastors of the old 
church succeeding Elder Smalley were Revs. Mr. Dodson, A. C. Blankin- 
ship and Benjamin Harris. Mr. David S. Halbert, whose life has been 
intimately connected with the Baptist church, and through whose safe 
memory and kindness the writer has been enabled to rescue what would 



808 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

soon have been among the things forgotten, in regard to this important 
branch of the church, came to this county in 1836, and in 1840 united 
with the church. He removed to this neighborhood in 1848, and 
has since lived here, except the four years which he spent in "Dixie" 
in the service of his country, in the time of her sorest trials. He 
returned, broken in health but strong in the spirit, to his home, and 
now lives near Marysville. The new church commenced holding 
meetings at the residence of Mr. Halbert. Rev. Mr. Harris organized 
this church, with about seventeen members, including on its roll Mr. 
and Mrs. Halbert, Miss Cossart, John Lawler, wife and daughter, Will- 
iam Lawler and wife, and Mrs. Glascock. Mr. Harris' pastorate was 
followed by that of the brothers Martin and Alexander Blankinship 
and David French. Under their ministration the church prospered, 
and at one time numbered over a hundred members. Their meetings 
were held in the school-house at Blue Grass. 

The Point Pleasant Church was organized in 1866 by Elder C. B. 
Seals, who was then a licensed preacher. At the time of its organiza- 
tion it numbered fifteen, and has had seventy at one time. Under 
Elder Seals' labors the church was built in 1867, on section 14 (22-14), 
near the Methodist, " No. 1," Church. It is a plain building, 34 x 46, 
and cost about $2,000. Since the close of Seals' pastoral labors, Elder 
Clark Fleming has preached, supplying the church half the time. A 
Sabbath-school is maintained in summer, but the congregation is so 
scattered that they have not tried to maintain it in winter. The church 
numbers about forty-five members. 

The United Brethren Church was organized, as is recorded in the 
history of Ross township, which it is unnecessary to repeat here. 
Rev. John Hoobler was the pioneer preacher of this denomination 
in the county. The Marysville circuit has five appointments : Mr. 
Knight's, at Knight's Branch, five miles southwest ; Bean Creek, three 
and a half miles northeast ; Murphy's School-house, seven miles north ; 
Sperry's, five miles southeast, and Marysville. Rev. J. R. Scott is the 
present preacher in charge, and preaches at each of these appointments 
once in two weeks. Rev. J. S. Cooper was his immediate predecessor, 
and is now a presiding elder. Rev. T. M. Hamilton is presiding elder 
of this district of the upper Wabash conference. The church edifice 
at Marysville is 30x45, with belfry and bell. It was built in 1873 at 
a cost of $1,800, under the ministration of W. F. Coffman. This 
charge numbers fifty members. 

The Church at Bean Creek (in Ross) is a neat building, 35x45, 
with cupola and belfry, and cost $2,000. The Albrights, Putnam Cook, 
and others, were interested in putting up the building. The plain church 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 809 

edifice at Knight's was built in 1865 under the management of Elon 
Sperry, John Selsor and Eev. P. A. Canady, a local preacher. 

The appointment at Murphy's School-house (in Butler) expect to 
build this summer. Interesting and thriving Sabbath-schools are main- 
tained at these general appointments. A pleasant parsonage with two 
acres of ground is furnished the pastor at Marysville. 

The Christian church was organized here by Elder Eawley Martin, 
preaching in the school-house about 1860. Preaching was maintained 
irregularly until 1874, when Elder A. R. Owen preached here once a 
month and perfected the organization. Elder Smith and Elder Stipp 
have preached here since. In 1874 a very neat and tasty brick church 
was erected at a cost of $2,500. It is 35 x 56, with a well-proportioned 
steeple rising from the front center. 

The early preachers through this country did not see much money 
for a yearly salary. They expected little and got less, but it seldom 
happened that these devoted preachers returned home without some- 
thing to show for their circuit ride. The good sisters generally had a 
brace of chickens, a roll of butter, can of honey, pail of eggs, strip of 
bacon or dried meat, a little roll of cloth, which the pastor gladly re- 
ceived in lieu of bank notes, which he feared would not be a legal ten- 
der by the time of his return home. Thus did they " return again 
in joy, bringing their sheaves with them." 

BLUE GRASS. 

The hamlet which has been so long known by the name of Blue 
Grass, or " Blue Grass City," as some ambitious ones chose to call it, 
received its name naturally enough from its surroundings, as has been 
already explained. After the county road — or state road, as it was 
called — came into general travel, and Owens had got his tavern into 
running order, the people began to want a post-office and store. The 
post-office was established in 1843, and John Carter appointed post- 
master, a position which he retained until Archi McCormick com- 
menced keeping store, about 1845, when he was appointed. Five years 
later he sold to John Bodly. Bodly continued in business some years 
and was quite prosperous, and sold to Wilson, and he to Thomas Owens, 
the post-office following these changes. Edmund Hartwell, who did 
not believe in doing anything by halves, built the mammoth store now 
standing there, dark, "gloomy and worthless," 30x65, two stories high, 
which he occupied for store, carrying a large stock of general merchan- 
dise, the upper story being rented to the Masonic order, which had a 
thriving lodge there in those days. This was the only post-office in 
the northwestern part of the county, and it was no uncommon thing to 



810 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

see a hundred persons there for their mail at times. In 1859 John 
Carter and George Small laid out and platted a "town." It consisted 
of two blocks, one on either side of the county road. Hartwell, Scott 
& McDaniels, Groves & Brother, Henderson & Lee and Davis & Hall, 
successively sold goods there. During and after the close of the war 
these parties who were engaged in trade sold $25,000 worth a year. Now 
the shutters are up on the big store, and no one would take it rent free. 
Berry Ellis started a blacksmith shop about 1S45. The La Fayette Oil 
Mill Company built a flax warehouse there, and for some years Hart- 
well run that and did a thriving business. After the railroad was built 
it was moved to Rankin. The only business carried on there now is 
the two blacksmith shops by Wilson and Artrun, a little grocery and 
notion store, and the post-office now kept by Mr. Butler. " Killed by 
the railroads," is the epitaph that might be written over Blue Grass 
City. 

The Havana, Rantoul & Eastern railroad (narrow-gauge) runs 
through the township from east to west, a mile south of its center. 
Mr. Gifford, the president of the company, lived at Rantoul. He came 
and called a meeting in 1874, and explained what he proposed to do. 
He wanted a stock subscription of $2,000 per mile. The citizens had 
heard a good deal of railroad talk before, and had not much confidence 
in this, but subscribed some $16,000. He built it, and got it through 
from Rantoul to Alvin, Christmas, 1876, and from Alviu to Lebanon 
in 1878, and from Rantoul west to Le Roy in 1879. It has proved a 
great success — has all the business it can do. 

Below is a list in tabular form of those who have been elected to 
township offices since township organization in 1851 : 

Date. Votes. Supervisor. Clerk. Assessor. Collector. 

1851 M. Oakwood M. G. Courtney. . . . W. C. Merrill ... .J. Partlow. 

1852 M. Oakwood R. Marshall R. Courtney P. Copeland. 

1853 M. Oakwood R. Marshall M. G. Courtney ..M.G.Courtney. 

1854 W. C. Merrill W. C. Merrill J. S. Webber ... .J. S. Webber. 

1855 M. Oakwood S. P. Starr S. P. Starr S. P. Starr. 

1856 J. S. Webber ..... S. P. Starr P. Copeland P. Copeland. 

1857 J. S. Webber S. Clapp N. L. Griffin W. Chambers. 

1858.. J. S. Webber S. Clapp R. Marshall S.Hornbeck. 

1859 John Bodly S. Clapp T. S. Maxey S. Hornbeck. 

1860 John Bodly S. Clapp W. J. Leonard . . .S. Hornbeck. 

1861 Win. Chambers. . .D. Thomas Geo. Morehead. . . W. J. Leonard. 

1862 Wm. Chambers. . .S. P. Starr D. Thomas W. J. Leonard. 

1863... 177... W. M. Tennery...S. P. Starr D.Thomas J. B. Courtney. 

. W. M. Tennery . . .S. P. Starr D. Thomas D. Thomas. 

. W. M. Tennery . . .S. P. Starr R. Courtney D. Thomas. 

. W. M. Tennery . . .S. P. Starr S. Clapp D. Thomas. 

-D. Copeland S. P. Starr J. B. Courtney . . . J. D. Brown. 



1864.. 


.175. 


1865.. 


. 76. 


1866. 


.137. 


1867., 


..126. 






MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 



811 



Date. 

1868. 

1869. 

1870. 

1871. 

1872. 

1873. 

1874. 

1875. 

1876. 

1877. 

1878. 

1879. 



Votes. 
..139. 
..108. 
..158. 
..179. 
..151. 
..139. 
..249. 
..200. 
..239. 
..330. 
..277. 
..260. 



Supervisor. 
.D. Copeland 

.S.Clapp 

.W. H. Copeland 
.E.H.Grant.... 
.M. V. Robins... 
.M.V.Robins... 

.C.Albert 

.M. V. Robins... 
.W. H. Copeland 
. W. H. Copeland 
.W. H. Copeland 
.W. H. Copeland 



Clerk. 
..S.P.Starr 

• S. P. Starr 

.L. C. Messner. . . 

..C.B.Sargent... 
. -C. B. Sargent. . . 

• W. L. Sargent. . 
.W. L. Sargent . 

. .L. D. Hornbeck. 
. .L. D. Hornbeck. 
. .C. La Grange. . . 
..P. B. Moreland. 
. .P. B. Moreland. 



.J. B. Courtney 
.J. B. Courtney 

• D. Thomas . . . 

• E. H. Beals... 

• E. H. Beals... 
.E. H. Beals. . . 
.E. H. Beals. . . 
.E. H. Beals... 

• H. C. Wright. 
. Wm. Cossairt. 

• Wm. Cossairt. 
.Wm. Cossairt. 



Collector. 
. . . J. D. Brown. 
. ..E. H. Grant, 

..E. H.Grant. 

. .C. E. Pressey. 

. .C. E. Pressey. 
. . .C. E. Pressey. 
. . .C. E. Pressey. 

..C. E. Pressey. 

. .C. E. Pressey. 

. -C. E. Pressey. 

. .C. E. Pressey. 

- .C. E. Pressey. 



The justices of the peace have been Robert Marshall, James Casse- 
dy, Septimus Smith, J. P. Button, Ferry Copeland, N. L. Griffing, 
James Courtney, M. Oakwood, S. Hornbeck, H. H. Gunn, L. A. Burd, 
D. Thomas, S. M. Johnson, W. W. Smith, D. Jameson, D. A. Cox, C. 
B. Sargent, T. Ellis, M. W. Salmons, W. M. Tennery, S. T. Wright. 



RAILROADS. 



At a special town meeting held in June, 1870, pursuant to notice, 
to vote for or against granting $50,000 township aid to the Monticello 
Railroad Company, the vote resulted : for such subscription, 122 ; 
against said subscription, 125. On the 26th of July a meeting was 
held for the purpose of voting for or against subscribing $40,000 to the 
same company, which resulted : for such subscription, 169 ; against sub- 
scription, 55 ; but the road has never been even commenced, and there 
is no probability that it ever will be. The Danville & Paxton rail- 
road, one of the roads which was projected by John C. Short at the 
time he was attempting to make Danville the great railroad center ot 
this part of the state, was more than half graded through the township. 
It was to run almost directly through the township, from the southeast 
to northwest corner. Since Mr. Short's failure no work has ever been 
done on it. 

MARYSVILLE (POTOMAC P. O.) 

Marysville is a pleasant little village of four or five hundred inhab- 
itants, built on the prairie, but pretty nearly surrounded by the timber, 
on section 3 (21-13), on the Havana, Rantoul and Eastern railroad. 
The land is pleasantly rolling, and capable of easy drainage to the 
creek. In general appearance its buildings are neat and tasty, though 
not expensive, with the exception of two or three old "barracks" not 
now in use. John Smith (plain) was the first man here. Isaac Meneley 
and Morehead and Robert Marshall were at first living across the creek, 
but soon came in here to help Smith make a town. Isaac Meneley built 



81'J HISTOEY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

a shop on the corner, and opposite where Robins' store now stands, and 
a house north of it. John Smith then lived south of the creek. James 
Col well was on the hill west of the town. He had come there to live 
about 1842. The road from his house to where the town is was trav- 
eled, and became a street or public road by limitation, and remains so 
yet. Where main street now is was timber, but north of there was 
open prairie. When they came to decide on a name for the place, it 
seems that both Smith and Meneley had in early life attached their 
lives with Marys. They were both most excellent women (so they 
thought), and either one abundantly worthy of having a town named 
after her ; and both together they could not exactly be satisfied with 
Smithtown or Meneleyville, and hit on the plan of calling it Marys- 
ville, after the two best Marys then living in town. 

Douglass Moore bought three acres of Marshall and built on it. 
Meneley's blacksmith shop was built about 1850, and Smith built a 
frame store across the street from the blacksmith shop, and went to 
keeping store. A post-office was established here, and Dr. Ingalls was 
appointed postmaster. Dr. Ingalls was engaged in the practice of his 
profession here for live or six years, and built the south part of the 
present hotel for his residence. 

Henry Bass had a store here in 1852, and continued in business for 
some years. George and Mason Wright established themselves in trade 
in 1860, and remained here four years, when they went to Danville, 
thence to Paxton. They had been in trade at Higginsville before 
coming here. They occupied the old flat-store on the north side of 
State street. 

Lloyd and M. W. Groves, who had carried on a large and prosper- 
ous business at Blue Glass, came here in 1864, and occupied the store 
Wright Brothers had left. They were successful merchants here, and 
continued in business until the death of one of the partners, in 1874, 
which dissolved the firm. They had a farm lying just north, and 
Short was then grading his Danville and Paxton railroad, making 
matters look bright for the young village ; and George A. May came 
here from Indiana and bought the farm, and laid out the large addition 
to the town. Short failed and his road stopped. Then for a while 
matters looked pretty dull here, until the Rantoul road was built, since 
which a number of additions have been made to the village. 

The successive postmasters at Marysville have been Dr. Ingalls, 
Joseph Jameson, John Smith ; then for awhile the office was suspended. 
When it was reinstated the department changed the name to Potomac, 
because of the near proximity of Myersville, which name was so read- 
ily confounded with that of the name which this office bore. Charles 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 813 

Sargent was appointed postmaster, after him Eigden Potter, and then 
C. E. Pressey, the present official. 

I. Dillon built the steam grist-mill in 1869, with two run of stone. 
He run it awhile, when Robbins & Copeland bought it, and afterward 
sold to Harris & Campbell. It is a first-class mill in every particular, 
and is doing a very good custom business. 

The school-house is a very sightly and well-built two-story brick 
building, 40x56, with two rooms above and two below. The school 
is graded to three departments, and is maintained for eight months in 
the year. 

VILLAGE ORGANIZATION. 

At the February term of the county court in 1876 a petition was 
presented to the court by Rigden Potter and thirty-seven others, asking 
for the organization of Marysville under the act for the incorporation 
of villages, with the following bounds: commencing at the southeast 
corner of section 3, town 21, range 13 : thence north to the northeast 
corner of said section ; thence west to the northwest corner of the E. -£ 
of the N.E. -J of said section ; thence south to the north line of the 
right of way of the railroad ; thence west along said right of way 40 
rods ; thence south 40 rods to the center of Main street ; thence east 
along the center of Main street 27 rods ; thence south to south line of 
said section ; thence east to place of beginning. The petition set forth 
that there were within said proposed bounds three hundred and twenty- 
three inhabitants. An election was ordered to be held on the 11th of 
April, to vote for or against said proposition to incorporate. At that 
election 57 votes were cast, of which 46 were for incorporation, and 11 
were against. And the court ordered an election to be held on the 
11th of May for six trustees of said village, to serve until the next time 
for regular election. At that election 74 votes were cast. Geo. A. 
May, Caleb Albert, J. L. Partlow, Jesse Lane, M. V. Robins and S. P. 
Starr were elected. At the organization of the Board, Geo. A. May 
was chosen president ; L. D. Hornbeck was appointed clerk, and T. D. 
Austin, street commissioner. The present trustees are C. F. Morse, S. 
Clapp, T. J. Haney, Jesse Lane, M. Guthrie and Isaac Brown. In 
1878, license was granted to sell liquors at a license fee of $500 per 
year. At these figures, in such a community, it did not pay, and fell 
into disuse. The publication of the "Marysville Independent ,, was 
commenced by Ben. Biddlecome, on the 13th of July, 1876. It was 
a six-column folio, independent in politics and religion, devoted to the 
news of the day,, and well sustained by the patronage of the business 
men. It was continued for one year and four months, when it was re- 



814 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

moved to Bement, where it is still published. It was satisfactorily 
conducted. 

FREEMASONS. 

The present Marysville lodge of Freemasons was organized as Blue 
Grass Lodge, No. 407, in 1864. The charter members were: W. M. 
Tennery, W.M. ; W. Gritting, S.W. ; W. L. Griffing, Hugh Mulhol- 
land, J.W.; E. S. Pope, W. H. Brant, J. S. Cole, D. S. French, E. 
Potter, J. T. Blackburn. It was transferred to Marysville and name 
changed in 1875. The present officers are: T. J. Haney, W.M. ; Dr. 
Yan Dora, S.W. ; Robert Young, J.W.; A. J. Robins, Sec; D. R. 
Layton, Treas. ; C. Bennett, Tyler; C. Jameson, S.D. ; B. Drise, J.D. 
The lodge numbers twenty-five, and is in a prosperous condition, occu- 
pying the fine lodge-room over Robins' store. 

ARMSTRONG. 

Armstrong, on the Havana, Rantoul & Eastern railroad, four miles 
west of Marysville, was laid out and platted, near the center of sec- 
tion 1 (21-14), in 1877, on land belonging to Thomas and Henry 
Armstrong. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

Joseph Moss, Potomac, farmer and stock-raiser, section 29, was born 
near Madison, Ohio, on the 20th of March, 1820. When he was but 
four years of age he came with his parents to this state. His father 
died when he was but six years old. His mother then married the 
second time, and he remained at home until he reached the age of 
nineteen. He was married to Delila Staar on the 17th of April, 1845. 
She was born in Ohio on the 6th of January, 1828. They have had 
three children : Sarah A., John B. and an infant now deceased. Mr. 
Moss is regarded as one of the best citizens of Yermilion county. He 
has been school director ten years, and commissioner of highways for 
several years. From fifty to sixty head of cattle are fattened by him 
yearly. He clearly recollects seeing plenty of wolves and Indians 
when he came to this county. In his politics he is a republican ; in 
religion, a Methodist. 

Jesse L. Partlow, Potomac, farmer, owns one hundred and sixty 
acres of land, and also two houses and lots in Marysville, they being 
among the best in the town. He was born in Kelson county, Ken- 
tucky, on the 13th of June, 1826, and remained at home with his father 
until he was twenty-two years of age, w T orking on the farm. When 
he was but three years of age the family removed to this township, 
and he is consequently one of Yermilion county's earliest settlers. In 
1848 he w T as married to Rachel Davison, who was born in this county 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 815 

in 1829, and died on the 4th of September, 1878. By this union they 
had nine children, of whom six are still living. They are: Mary E., 
wife of J. D. Anderson; Anna M., wife of John Rollins; Nancy J., 
wife of Jesse Merrel ; Lilly B., Ida A., Cora R., and Frankie D. John 
J. and one infant are deceased. Mr. Partlow has held the office of 
school director fifteen years, and pathmaster five years. 

William H. Copeland, Potomac, farmer, section 36, was born in 
Gallia county, Ohio, on the 15th of April, 1821. His father came to 
this county, and settled near Danville, in 1829, thus making himself 
one of its earliest settlers. Mr. Copeland was married to Rachel 
Stevens, who was born in Clinton county, Ohio, on the 21st of Feb- 
ruary, 1823. They are the parents of ten children, six of whom are 
living: Nancy E., now wife of William H. Duncan, of this township ; 
Eli H., Andrew, Elisabeth, now wife of John Chambers, of Ross town- 
ship ; George W. and Herman S. The names of the deceased are : Mary 
M., Aimed, Charles G. and John M. Mr. Copeland has held the office 
of school director twenty years, commissioner of highways three years, 
and supervisor of township, which office he still holds, five terms, by 
election, and ten by appointment. He is certainly one of Vermilion 
county's very best citizens. His parents are still living near Danville, 
his father, a native of Pennsylvania, being seventy-eight years old. 
When Mr. Copeland married he had but little property, and, by 
economy, industry and the help of a faithful wife he now owns one 
thousand acres of land, worth $25 per acre. 

John Wright, Armstrong, farmer, section 13, was born in Bourbon 
county, Kentucky, on the 10th of February, 1808. His father died 
when he was but six years of age, leaving his mother with seven chil- 
dren. He remained at home until twenty-one years of age, helping to 
support his mother and sisters. In 1829 he came west in a wagon. 
He was married to Elisabeth Watters on the 10th of April, 1831. She 
was born in Virginia, near the Potomac River, on the 14th of Septem- 
ber, 1813, being the youngest of seven children, all of whom are still 
living. She is now sixty-six years old, and the eldest of the seven, a 
brother, is eighty-nine. Mr. and Mrs. Wright are the parents of two 
children: Silas T. and William W. Mr. Wright has held the office of 
school director five years, school treasurer five years, and justice of 
the peace. He is the oldest living settler of Middle Fork township. 
He distinctly recollects seeing deer, wolves and Indians. 

James H. Duncan, Potomac, farmer and stock-dealer, section 33, 
was born in Gallatin county, Kentucky, on the 12th of February, 1818. 
He was married to Elisabeth Crabbe, on the 4th of April, 1839. They 
have had by this union ten children, seven of whom are living: Sarah 



816 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

J., now wife of David Partlow, of this township, and Mary E., now 
wife of B. F. Marple, of State Line City ; Margarett E., John J., As- 
bury, Charles M., William H. The deceased are Asa, Emaline and 
Frank. Mr. Duncan has held the office of school trustee six years, 
school director five years. He pastures and fattens from seventy-five 
to one hundred head of cattle yearly, and raises some hogs, horses and 
cattle. Corn is his principal crop. In politics he is a republican, and 
a Methodist in religion. 

Ersom French, Potomac, farmer, was born in Knox county, Indi- 
ana, on the 14th of April, 1811. His father moved to Vigo county, 
Indiana, when he was but two years old, and remained there twenty 
yeai's. Mr. French has been twice married: first to Harriet Clem, in 
1838. She was born in 1813, and is now deceased. Mr. French was 
then married to Eliza Carroll, in January, 1S50. She was born in 
North Carolina about 1823. By this marriage Mr. French was made 
the father of three children, two of whom are living: Truman P., now 
a practicing physician in Ogden, and Abgy D. The name of the de- 
ceased is G. W. Mr. French has held the office of school director four- 
teen years, and road commissioner several years. He owns two hun- 
dred and nine acres of' excellent land. His father was in the war of 
1812. 

Francis Elliott, Armstrong, farmer, section 20, was born in Clinton 
county, Ohio, on the 7th of May, 1829. His father moved to this state 
when he was very small. He was married to Cassandia Darry. She was 
born in Ohio. They had by this marriage eight children, six of whom 
are living : Hannah M., now wife of A. Kirkhart ; Elisabeth E., Charles 
T., John N., Mary, and one infant unnamed. The deceased are tw r o 
infants. Mr. Elliott is a republican. 

Isaac Creighton, Armstrong, farmer, section 17, was born in Carroll 
county, Ohio, on the 19th of Januaiw, 1828. His parents moved to Indi- 
ana and stayed four months, when he moved to this state. Mr. Creighton 
has been twice married : first to Catharine Johnson, on the 15th of 
February. 1849. She was born in Ohio in 1828, and died in April, 
1852. The}' had two children by this marriage : Mary E., now, wife of 
Joseph Truax, and Finley. He was then married to Ellen Cary, in 
November, 1853. She was born in Delaware in 1830. They had by 
this union eleven children, ten of whom are living : Eli, James P., 
Sarah C, John W., William T., Nancy J., Samuel H., Charles H., 
Robert F., Elmer C. The deceased was an infant. Mr. Creighton has 
held the office of school director twelve years, and pathmaster six years. 
In politics he is a republican, and in religion a Methodist. Mr. Creigh- 
ton's parents were natives of Ireland. 




. 




€^>i^u^P(J 



OAIV v iLLEi 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 817 

M. V. Robins, Potomac, merchant, is one of the prominent men of 
Marysville. He owns a lot, stock, and store-building on the public 
square, the hotel known as the Murcle House, and now managed by Mr. 
J. W. Buckingham ; a fine residence in Marysville, three acres in south 
part of town, used as a feed-yard, and fifteen or sixteen other lots in 
the village. The maiden name of his wife was Mary J. Baldwin. 
She was born in New York, on the 11th of May, 1831. They are the 
parents of two children : John J., born on the 10th of September, 1850, 
and Mary E., born on the 4th of February, 1856. Mr. Robins has 
held the office of school director ten years, school trustee two terms, 
supervisor of township four years, and village trustee four years. The 
parents of both Mr. and Mrs. Robins were natives of New Jersey. 

L. A. Burd, Armstrong, farmer, section 2, was born in Morris 
county, New Jersey, on the 5th of June, 1810. He commenced work- 
ing in a clothing factory when fourteen years of age ; was married on 
the 5th of November, 1833, to Mariah Hendley, who was born in 
Morris county, New Jersey. They have had by this union ten children, 
eight of whom are living : Martha, William, Adrianna, Eli, Elisabeth, 
Mary, Ester and George. The deceased are Caroline and one infant. 
Mr. Burd has been a minister of the gospel for several years in the 
Methodist church. He has held the office of school-director for twelve 
years, school-trustee twelve years, and has been notary public several 
years. He has been deacon in the M. E. church for thirty years. He 
owns one hundred and eighty acres of land, worth $30 per acre. 

Jesse Lane, Potomac, lumber-dealer, was born in Tippecanoe count}', 
Indiana, on the 27th of January, 1831 ; he remained at home on the farm 
until twenty-one years of age. His father moved to this state, settling 
in Blount township, Vermilion county, when he was but four years of 
age ; his chances for an early education were not very good. Mr. Lane 
has been twice married : first to Delila Smith. She was born in Ohio, and 
died in 1866. The}' have had seven children by this marriage : three are 
living, four dead. The names of the living are Amanda J., Clara B. 
and Effie D. ; of the deceased : John, Mary E., Alice and one infant. 
Mr. Lane then married Amelia Fouts, in 1867. She was born in Ohio. 
They have one child by this marriage. Mr. Lane has held the office of 
school director twelve years. He went into the lumber business with 
Mr. McMyrtery in 1877. He owns twelve lots and one house in Ma- 
rysville, and two hundred and seventy acres of land valued at $30 per 
acre. His parents were natives of North Carolina. 

E. Foster, farmer and stock-raiser, section 13, was born in War. 
ren county, Indiana, on the 20th of November, 1833, and remained 
on the farm until he reached the age of twenty-three. On the 24th of 
52 



818 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

August, 1856, he was married to Sarah A. Tilldson, who was born in 
Warren county, Indiana, on the 15th of January, 1834. They are the 
parents of twelve children, eight of whom are living: B. T., Stanton 
M., Zebulon, Mary A., Edward, Theodore T., Lillie and William ; the 
names of the deceased are Harris G., Caroline, and Lieuella ; the other 
was an infant. Mr. Foster has held the office of postmaster eight years, 
school director several years and township treasurer ten years. He 
fattens quite a number of cattle and hogs yearly, ships some and sells 
some at home. Mr. Foster is a republican and a Methodist. His 
father, who was a native of Ohio, was one of the pioneers of Vermilion 
county, having settled here in 1833. 

Andrew G. Copeland, Potomac, section 35, was born in Vermilion 
county on the 20th of March, 1836 ; he remained at home until twenty- 
one years of age, and attended Griffeth's school at Danville. He has 
been twice married : first on the 30th of July, 1855, to Mary M. Ander- 
son, who was born in Lafayette, Indiana, on the 12th of October, 1839, 
and died on the 1st of May, 1875. They had by this marriage six 
children: Willie G., Emma M. (now wife of C. P. Duncan, of Marys- 
ville), James E., Lieuella, Effie and Anna. He was then married to 
Maggie A. Stewart,,on the 7th of December, 1875; she was born on 
the 18th of December, 1849. They have had two children : Adda and 
Ora. Mr. Copeland is a minister of the gospel in the Methodist Epis- 
copal, and has no small degree of ability ; he practices what he preaches. 
He handles from fifty to one hundred head of cattle a year, and sells 
at home. He owns three hundred and twenty acres of land, worth 
$40 per acre. Mr. Copeland is regarded as one of the best citizens of 
Vermilion county. His father was one of the pioneers of this county; 
he is still living in the neighborhood of Danville. 

John Smith (English), Potomac, farmer, section 5, was born in Eng- 
land, in February, 1824; he remained at home until he reached the 
age of twenty-one. He came from England to the state of New York 
in 1834, and remained there until 1836, when he removed to this state 
and settled in the township in which he now resides. He was mar- 
ried to Adaline Moorhead on the 3d of December, 1844; she was 
born in Virginia on the 12th of December, 1823. They are the par- 
ents of four children : Martha J., born on the 15th of October, 1850, 
and now wife of William Kuykendam, of Danville ; Alvin G., born on 
the 6th of June, 1855; Kobert H., born on the 22d of May, 1858; 
Laura J., born on the 4th of March, 1861. When Mr. Smith was 
married he did not have enough money to pa} 7 the preacher for marry- 
ing them. He now owns three thousand acres of land, worth $30 per 
acre, his home place containing one thousand four hundred acres of 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 819 

well-improved land, and fattens from one hundred to two hundred 
cattle and from two hundred to three hundred cattle each year. He 
has never mortgaged a piece of land, nor has he ever been more than 
three months behind with any payment on land. Mr. Smith does not 
attribute his success in business altogether to his own exertions, but 
accords a large degree of his prosperity to the management and labors 
of his faithful wife, who has always performed her part as a helpmeet 
well. His parents, both natives of England, died in Middle Fork town- 
ship. He is a republican and a Methodist. 

William Copsairt, Potomac, farmer, was born in Vermilion county, 
Illinois, on the 5th of July, 1836. His father died when he was six 
years of age. He then lived with his mother until she died, which 
occurred when he was eighteen years old. He was married to Louise 
A. Smith, on the 15th of August, 1861. She was born in Vermilion 
county, Illinois, on the 24th of August, 1843. They are the parents 
of six children, four of whom are living: William S., Ada S., David S. 
and Samuel A. The names of the deceased are Emma J. and Anna J. 
Mr. Copsairt has held the office of school director seven years, is at 
present treasurer of the board of commissioners, and has held the office 
of assessor three terms; he is still holding the last-named office. 

William O. Payne, Potomac, butcher, proprietor of the butcher-shop 
on Main street, was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 2d of 
April, 1S37. His mother died when he was but ten years of age, and, 
his father going to Texas, he was turned out to shift for himself. His 
father was one of the early settlers of the county, being the first to 
settle on the county farm. Mr. Payne has been twice married : first 
to Emma Green, in 1857. She was born in Jefferson county, Indiana, 
and died in 1869. They had by this marriage five children, four boys 
and one girl ; two of these are living and three dead. He was then 
married to Elizabeth Oliver, in 1871, a native of New York. They 
had one adopted child. In February, 1866, Mr. Payne enlisted in Co. 
E, 149th 111. Vol. Inf., and was mustered out by general orders. He 
owns one lot and butcher-shop in Marysville. 

Caleb Albert, Potomac, farmer, was born in Butler county, Ohio, 
on the 5th of June, 1836. His father moved to this state when he was 
but five years old. The subject of our sketch remained at home until 
twenty-one years of age, assisting in farming. He was married to Mary 
J. Smith, on the 19th of January, 1860. She wasj born in Vermilion 
county, Illinois, in 1841. They are the parents of seven children, six 
of whom are living: Doranthos, Emma, Mary F., John W., ('hurley 
O. and Arnett O. The deceased was Harry W. Mr. Albert has held 
the office of township treasurer five years, supervisor of township one 



820 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

term, constable one terra, and school director five years. He owns 
three hundred and eight acres of land, worth $25 per acre. His par- 
ents were natives of Pennsylvania. 

Silas T. Wright, Armstrong, farmer, was born in Vermilion county, 
on the 14th of September, 1842. He remained on his father's farm 
until he reached the age of twenty-one, and on the 23d of July, 1863, 
was married to Nancy E. French. They had by this marriage eight 
children, six of whom are living: Irena E., John C, George W., 
Charles F., Wallace and Oliver M. The deceased are Laura J. and 
Ella. Mr. Wright was elected to the office of justice of the peace two 
years ago, and still creditably holds that position. His political views 
are republican, and he is a member of the Christian church. He owns 
one hundred and twenty acres of land, worth $30 per acre. His father 
is a native of Virginia, and his mother of Indiana. 

Hugh Wright, Armstrong, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Bourbon county, Kentucky, on the 12th of June, 1820. His parents 
moved to this state when he was but four years old, settling south of 
Danville, where they remained one year. They then moved northwest 
of Danville, staying there ten years, at the expiration of which time he 
moved to Middle Fork township, where he has since remained. He 
was married to Manena Payne in 1850. She was born near Buler's 
Point, in this county, on the 30th of March, 1817. They are the par- 
ents of six children, five of whom are living: America A., Mary, 
Pamelia, Clara and Frank ; Margarett E. deceased. Mr. Wright relates 
that when his father first moved near Danville he found some stone- 
coal, and, not knowing that it would burn, built out of it a fire-place, 
but soon finding it in a blaze, was of course compelled to remove it. 
He never raised but one crop of corn, because he was cheated out of 
nine bushels on the first load. When Mr. Wright was married he 
owned almost no property; but, by his thrift and economy, now pos- 
sesses six hundred acres of fine farming land. 

William Lefever, Pellsville, farmer, section 22, was born in Ohio 
county, Virginia, on the 6th of March, 1821. He followed teaming 
over the mountains to Baltimore, Pittsburgh and other places. He 
moved to Ohio from Virginia when ten years of age, and remained 
until 1836, when he moved to this state and settled in Tazewell county. 
He staid there eight years and then came to Vermilion county, where 
he has resided ever since. He was married to Eliza Lefever on the 
10th of September, 1853. She was born in Pennsylvania in 1830. 
They are the parents of seven children, two living : John C. and 
Wells. The deceased are G. A. and four infants. Mr. .Lefever has 
good improvements on his farm, and is well respected by the people of 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 821 

his neighborhood. He has held the offices of school director, super- 
visor of township, and commissioner of highways. Mr. Lefever has 
practiced the veterinary art, and has no small amount of ability. 

Henry S. French, Armstrong, section 18, was born in Vermilion 
county on the 29th of December, 1845. He worked on his father's 
farm until twenty-eight years of age, and on the 25th of January, 
1872, was married to Sarah Endicott, who was born in Morgan county, 
Ohio. They are the parents of three children, two of whom are liv- 
ing: Mary E. and Henry T. Edgar deceased. Mr. French owns now 
sixty acres of land, worth $30 per acre. His grandfather was one ot 
the very earliest settlers of Vermilion, settling at a very early date near 
Danville. 

J. B. Courtney, Potomac, druggist, was born in what was then 
Monongalia county, Virginia, on the 2d of March, 1824, and spent his 
younger days assisting his father on the farm, coming to this state in 
1845. He was married in 1848 to Semantha Gruey. She was born 
in Trumbull county on the 9th of March, 1828. They are the parents 
of three children : Z. B., C. F. and E. A. Mr. Courtney commenced 
the drug business in Marysville in 1875. He now has a good stock, 
and is doing quite a lively business. He is in partnership with Dr. 
Messner. He has held the office of collector five years, assessor five 
years, and justice of the peace one term. 

John "W. Duncan, Potomac, farmer, section 25, was born in Vermilion 
county, Illinois, on the 16th of June, 1846. His mother died when he 
was but two years of age, and he then lived with his aunt, and part of the 
time with his father, until he reached the age of twenty-one. He was 
married to Nancy A. Price on the 5th of September, 1865. She was 
born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 30th of June, 1849. They 
are the parents of six children : Robert W., Samuel, Albert, Harry, 
Maggie and Nellie. Mr. Duncan has held the office of school director 
six years and road commissioner two years. He raises considerable 
corn, which he feeds at home. His parents were natives of Kentucky ; 
his wife's parents, of Ohio. 

O. P. Soper, Armstrong, merchant, was born in Chittenden county, 
Vermont, on the 5th of April, 1828. His chances for an early educa- 
tion were good. His father came west in the fall of 1847 and settled 
in Lake county in this state, remaining three years, when he returned 
to Vermont. Mr. S. has been twice married : first to Jerusha A veil, in 
April, 1851. She was born in Franklin county, Vermont, and died 
in 1867. They had by this marriage two children : Emma J. and 
H. O. S. He was then married to Laura E. Harrington in March, 1869. 
She was born in Franklin county, Vermont. They had by this mar- 



822 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

riage four children : Luella, Idella, Ebbert and Kate. He commenced 
the grocery business in Armstrong in 1876, and now has about $1,500 
invested. He owns the lot and store, and also a good house and lot. He 
is doing a lively business in his line of trade. 

Marion Good wine, Potomac, farmer, section 1, was born in Warren 
county, Indiana, on the 26th of August, 1846. His father moved to 
this state when he was but one year old, and settled in this township. 
Mr. Goodwine remained on the farm until twenty-two years of age, 
and for three years wes engaged in the mercantile business in Higgins- 
ville, and was postmaster for the same length of time. On the 1st of 
September, 1870, he was married to Harriet Selsor. She was born in 
Madison county, Ohio, on the 1st of May, 1850. They are the parents 
of three children, two of whom are living : Hattie and Freddie. The 
deceased was an infant. 

John Goodwine, jr., Potomac, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Vermilion county on the 2d of December, 1848. He has been twice 
married : first, to Mary Alexander, on the 22d of December, 1870. She 
was born in Vermilion county, and died on the 19th of October, 1872. 
They had by this marriage one child : Anna, born on the 19th of July, 
1872. He was then married to Lidora A. Lane, on the 14th of May, 
1874, born in Ohio. They have had two children : John W.. living, 
and one infant, deceased. The land of Mr. Goodwine, a farm of six 
hundred and forty-five acres, worth $35 per acre, is under excellent 
cultivation. He feeds and ships a large number of cattle and hogs 
yearly. He has a fine dwelling-house, it costing him some $2,000. 

William Judy, Blue Grass, farmer and stock-raiser, section 18, was 
born in Hardy county, Virginia, on the 25th of December, 1837. He 
remained with his father until twenty-four years of age, engaged in 
farming, and having but a poor chance for an education. With his 
father he came to this state in the fall of 1850, and settled in the town- 
ship in which he still resides. He was married to Nancy Wood on the 
27th of March, 1862. She was born in Vermilion county on the 3d of 
October, 1847. They have had seven children, of whom are living 
Elizabeth, Frank, Milton, Charley; one infant deceased. Mr. Judy 
owns three hundred and twenty-five acres of land, worth $30 per acre. 
He attributes his success in business not alone to his own toil and 
industry, but also to the faithfulness and encouragement of his enter- 
prising wife, who is a lady much respected by all with whom she has 
come in contact. 

Isaac Mantle, Pellsville, farmer, section 22, was born in Pickaway 
county, Ohio, on the 8th of April, 1829. His father died when he was 
but eight years old. He was married to Mary J. Kader in 1850. She 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 823 

was born in Perrysville, Indiana. They are the parents of ten chil- 
dren, seven of whom are living: John, Solomon, Charles, Mary J. 
(now married), Matilda, Lizzie, Alice. The deceased are: George, 
Isaac and Ellen. Mr. Mantle has held the office of highway commis- 
sioner several years. He handles a large number of cattle each year, 
and raises a good deal of corn which he feeds. His father was a native 
of Ohio, his mother, of Pennsylvania. Mr. Mantle owns three hun- 
dred and forty acres of land, worth $40 per acre. 

P. G. Young, Potomac, blacksmith, was born in Franklin county, 
Ohio, on the 11th of April, 1836. He remained at home engaged in 
farming until he was sixteen years old, and then went away to learn 
the blacksmith's trade. He came to this state in 1850, and settled in 
the township where he has since resided. He has been twice married : 
first, to Mary B. Copsairt, on the 1st of May, 1866. She was born in 
this county on the 25th of July, 1838, and died in 1873. There have 
been two children born to them, one of whom is living: William. 
The name of the deceased is Theodosia. Mr. Young was married to 
Martha Moore in 1871. Mary B., their only child, died. Mr. Young 
has held the office of school director nine years. He commenced black- 
smithing in Marysville in 1860, and has been doing a good business 
here ever since. He owns the blacksmith-shop, the lot on which it 
stands, a dwelling-house and eighty acres of land, worth $1,500. His 
parents were natives of Ohio. 

A. B. Judy, Potomac, farmer, section 21, was born in Hard} T county, 
West Virginia, on the 31st of July, 1842. He came with his father to 
this state in 1851. Although he had limited advantages for an early 
education, by close attention to his books at home he has acquired suffi- 
cient knowledge to enable him to teach school, which vocation he has 
followed during the winters since 1861, also teaching several summer 
terms. He enlisted in the late war, and in February, 1864, with Co. 
E, 51st 111. Inf. Vols., went bravely to the front to fight for the preser- 
vation of the Union. He was in the battles of Resaca, Kenesaw Moun- 
tain, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesborough, and of Atlanta. He was mar- 
ried on the 19th of January, 1879, to Mary E. Sterling, who was born 
in New Milford, Connecticut, on the 4th of March, 1843. She has 
studied medicine at the Hygiene College of New Jersey, and has prac- 
ticed some. They have quite an extensive library of medical works. 

Henry Bass, Armstrong, farmer, was born in Buckingham county, 
England, on the 20th of May, 1824. He clerked in his father's dry- 
goods store for several years, and in 1850 was married to Harriett Ben- 
nett. She was born in Bedfordshire, England, in 1822. In 1851 Mr. 
Bass came to America. He owns two hundred and thirty acres of fine 



824 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

farm land, worth $25 per acre. Mr. and Mrs. Bass are the parents of 
seven children, four of whom are living: Mary, Fanny (now wife of 
Samuel Gilbert, of Ross township), Fred and Arthur. The deceased 
are Thomas, Harriett and Samuel. 

Walter Smith, Potomac, farmer and stock-dealer, was born in War- 
ren county, Ohio, on the 10th of January, 1830. He remained at 
home, and his father being a weaver, learned the weaver's trade, until 
he reached the age of 22. Mr. Smith has been married twice : first to 
Irena Lane, on the 25th of November, 1852. She was born in Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, on the 9th of March, 1839, and died on the 8th 
of February, 1875. They had eight children by this union. He was 
then married to Nancy A. Blerens, on the 31st of January, 1876. She 
was born in Vermilion county, in 1854. They have two children by 
this marriage: Hattie E., born on the 8th of December, 1876, and 
Winfield C, born on the 24th of March, 1878. 

David Thomas, Armstrong, farmer, was born in Warren county, In- 
diana, on the 9th of May, 1832. His father died when he was ten years 
old, and he, thrust among strangers, was compelled to work during the 
nights to enable him to pay his board and go to school. Mr. Thomas 
has been twice married : first to Caroline Barker, in 1852. She was 
born in Indiana in 1833, and died in 1863. They had by this marriage 
four children, three of whom are living: Elisabeth E., now wife of 
George Bradley, of Boss township; Samuel M., and Sarah E., now 
married. He was then married on the 12th of April, 1864, to Rebecca 
Jones, who was born in Vermilion county. They had by this union 
four children, two living : George and Charles H. The deceased are 
James E. and Mary. Mr. Thomas has held the office of school director 
six years, school treasurer five years, supervisor of township one term, 
justice of the peace live years, assessor one term and collector one term. 
He owns eighty-three acres of land, worth $30 per acre. 

M. C. Doney, Potomac, farmer, was born in Marshall county, Indi- 
ana, on the 5th of May, 1840. His mother died when he was but nine 
years of age. He came to this state and settled in Vermilion county 
in 1852. He was married to Christiana Doran, on the 11th of Novem- 
ber, 1860. They have had nine children : William J., Frances G., 
Albert E., Mary M., Charles, Anna, Lieuberta A., Caroline L. and 
Odesa. Mr. Doney has held the office of school director two years and 
pathmaster two years. He raises considerable corn, which he feeds to 
his cattle and hogs. He owns two hundred and forty-four acres of land, 
worth $35 per acre. His parents are natives of Ohio. Mrs. Doney's 
parents are natives of Virginia. 

John M. Davis, Potomac, lawyer, was born in Vermilion county, 






MIDDLE FOKK TOWNSHIP. 825 

Illinois, on the 17th of July, 1853. His chances for an early education 
were good. He attended school at the university of this state one 
year, then entered Ann Arbor and staid one year. After reading law 
in Danville with Mann & Calhoun he entered the University of Michi- 
gan, where he graduated, and was admitted to the bar of the supreme 
court of Michigan on the 25th of March, 1878. He commenced prac- 
tice in Marysville on the 2d of April, 1878. Mr. Davis is a young 
man of more than ordinary ability, and he bids fair to rank high in his 
chosen profession. His father, a native of Virginia, was one of the 
pioneers of Vermilion county. 

Frederick Bennett, Potomac, farmer, was born in Bedfordshire, 
England, in 1831. He farmed until seventeen years of age. He was 
married in February, 1868, to Amanda J. Jamison. She was born in 
Ohio in 1844. They have had five children, two of whom — Fanny 
B. and Thomas M. — are living ; three died in infancy. Mr. Bennett 
has held the office of pathmaster. He came with his parents to America 
when quite young, landing at New York. From there, in 1853, he 
came to this county, where he has since resided. He owns two hun- 
dred and sixteen acres of land, worth $30 an acre. 

Bruce H. Rutledge, Armstrong, farmer, was born in Vermilion 
county, on the 27th of September, 1853, and remained on the farm until 
seventeen years old assisting his father. He was married to Malissa 
J. Haller on the 15th of October, 1876. She was born in Nicholas 
county, Kentucky, on the 13th of September, 1858. They have had 
but one child, Mary A., born on the 6th of September, 1878. The 
father of Mr. Rutledge, who is still living in this township, was in the 
Black Hawk war. Bruce is an industrious young man, and is farming 
forty acres of land, worth $25 per acre. 

J. C. Merrill, farmer, was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 
26th of September, 1853. His father died when he was but one year 
old, and his mother married the second time. He then lived with his 
stepfather until sixteen years of age. He was married to Jenny Part- 
low on the 16th of February, 1876. She was born in Vermilion 
county on the 6th of November, 1855. They have one child, Susan, 
born on the 22d of November, 1876. Mr. Merrill is now residing 
on the farm of his father-in-law, Mr. Partlow, of Marysville. His 
father was a native of Vermont, his mother of England. 

David P. Layton, Potomac, farmer and stock-raiser, section 19, was 
born in New York on the 16th of October, 1829, and spent his early 
life assisting his father on the farm. He lived in Ohio one year, and 
then removed to Indiana, where he remained nine years. He then 
came to Illinois, settling in Vermilion county, and here he has re- 



826 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

mained since. He was married in Indiana, in 1859, to Martha Wilson, 
who was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1833. They are 
the parents of four children : Charley, Annie E., Coburn G. and Will- 
iam. Mr. Layton had when married but very little property, and by 
his economy, perseverance and industry has now acquired a good prop- 
erty, owning the best dwelling-house in the township. He obtained a 
start by managing a ditching machine. His father was a native of 
New York and his mother of Pennsylvania. He is a republican in 
politics. He owns one hundred and sixty-seven acres of land, worth 
$35 per acre. 

A. G. Smith, Potomac, farmer and stock-dealer, section 8, was born 
in Yermilion county, Illinois, on the 5th of June, 1855. His father, 
John Smith (English), of this township, is one of the largest land- 
owners and most extensive stock-dealers in this county. Mr. A. G. 
Smith ships from ten to fifteen car-loads of cattle every year, besides 
quite a number of hogs. He is so far following the example of his 
father that he is one of the most thorough business young men in the 
county. He was married on the 7th of October, 1875, to Lizzie Wilkie. 
She was born in Scotland on the 12th of April, 1855. They are the 
parents of two children : John C, born on the 27th of April, 1877, 
and Laura, born on the 27th of April, 1879. Mr. Smith owns five 
hundred and forty acres of land, worth $30 per acre. 

Milton Watson, Armstrong, farmer, was born in Warren county, 
Ohio, on the 15th of May, 1823. He remained on the farm assisting 
his father until he reached the age of sixteen. He came to this state 
in 1858, settling in this county, and here he has since remained. He 
was married in 1843. This wife, Mrs. Mary Watson, was born in Vir- 
ginia. They had six children, three of whom are now living. Mr. 
Watson was married in 1854 to Sarah Jones, a native of Ohio. By 
this marriage eight children were born to them, five of whom are liv- 
ing. Mr. Watson enlisted in the late war, in 1862, with Co. I, 125th 
111. Inf. Vol., as teamster, and was mustered out by general order. He 
was injured by a wagon while in the service, for which injury he re- 
ceives a pension of eighteen dollars per month. Mr. Watson has prac- 
ticed the veterinary art for some years, and seems to be quite success- 
ful. 

Charles B. Westcott, Potomac, farmer, section 16, was born in 
Wayne county, New York, on the 1st of June, 1830. His chances for 
an early education were good, having been educated for a minister of the 
gospel, but being of skeptical turn of mind, dissented from the church, 
believing, as he still does, that all religious worship is idolatry. He 
was at one time owner and captain of a boat called the " Bella Clyde," 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 822 

which plied between Albany and New York. Mr. Westcott came to 
this state in 1858, settling in Shelby county, where he remained two 
years. lie then returned to New York, and, after staying one year, 
came back to this state, where he has since resided. Mr. Westcott was 
married toUrie Palhemus on the 9th of January, 1852. She was born 
in New York on the 4th of September, 1834. They have had by this 
union two children : Taylor M. and Hattie M., now wife of Henry 
"Weaver, of Edgar county. 

William Hobbs, Armstrong, farmer, section 31, the subject of this 
sketch, was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, on the 26th of April, 
1820. He remained at home until he reached the age of thirty-nine. 
He has been twice married : first, to Mary Strong, on the 29th of No- 
vember, 1849. She was born in Illinois, and is now deceased. They 
had five children by this marriage, all now dead. He was then mar- 
ried to Allie Biggerstaff, on the 16th of December, 1860. She was 
born near Covington, Indiana, in 1840. They have by this union three 
children : Joseph H., Katie L. and William E. Mr. Hobbs has held 
the office of school director fifteen years, and is one of the oldest set- 
tlers of this county. He is a republican and a Methodist. 

G. M. Crays, Armstrong, farmer, was born in Sangamon county, 
Illinois, on the 25th of August, 1833. His chances for an earl} 7 edu- 
cation were good, and he has taught, six years in succession, a district 
school. Mr. Crays has been a traveling minister of the M. E. church 
for the past twenty years, and possesses no small amount of ability. 
On the 14th of September, 1849, he was married to Courtney Lafay- 
ette. She was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 28th of Janu- 
ary, 1841. They have had by this union nine children, seven of whom 
are living: Mark A., George E., Anna M., Richard C, Alfred C, 
Clara and Emaline. The names of the deceased are: Charles W. and 
Elizabeth. Mr. Crays has held the office of school director for several 
years, and is regarded as one of Vermilion county's best citizens. His 
parents were natives of North Carolina. 

James F. Anderson, Potomac, carpenter, was born in Clarke count\ r , 
Indiana, on the 19th of December, 1826. He remained at home 
working in his father's wagon shop until he reached the age of nine- 
teen. His chances for an early education were quite limited. Mr. 
Anderson has been twice married: first, to Mary Owens, in 1859. 
They had by this marriage two children : Miller P. and John J. He 
was then married to Eliza Valandingham in 1869. She was born in 
Owen county, Kentucky. Mr. Anderson, in the late war, enlisted in 
Co. E, 30th 111. Inf. Vol., and in 1861 went forward to battle bravely 
for his country. He was in the battle of Mount Sterling, and was 



828 HISTOKT OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

mustered out by general orders. He owns a house and lot in Marys- 
ville. • 

Charles E. Pressey, Potomac, merchant, owns a hardware and tin 
store, keeping on hand a stock of agricultural implements, on Main 
street, in Marysville; also the store building and the lot on which it 
stands, and besides this, one lot and home residence, and thirty-six 
other lots in Marysville. He was born in Tompkins county, New 
York, on the 25th of November, 1837, and remained at home with 
his parents until eighteen years of age, attending school most of the 
time. He left home and went into a store in New York, where he 
staid three years, and in 1859 came to this state and farmed seven 
years. Here he married Emily Stewart, who was born in Decatur 
county, Indiana. They are the parents of two children : Ralph and 
Lillie. Mr. Pressy has held the office of village trustee three years. 
He was appointed postmaster at Potomac in 1876, which office he still 
holds. 

"W". A. McMurtrey, Potomac, agent for American Express Com- 
pany, was born in Boone county, Kentucky, on the 1st of December, 
1836 ; remained at home with his parents until he was nineteen years 
of age, learning the blacksmith trade ; he then went to Indiana, re- 
maining there from 1856 to 1860, working on a farm. Mr. McMur- 
trey enlisted on the 1st of April, 1863, in Co. K, 135th 111. Yol. Inf., 
and served one hundred days as private ; he reenlisted on the 3d of 
February, 1864, in Co. E, 149th 111. Yol. Inf. as second-lieutenant, but 
was soon promoted to first-lieutenant and served twelve months. Com- 
ing home, he married Mary Allbright on the 10th of September, 1866. 
She was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, in 1848. They have three 
children : Edwin S., Leo H. and Maggie. Mr. McMurtrey has held 
the office of school director six months. He owns a half interest in a 
good lumber yard, and possesses a neat residence. His parents were 
natives of Kentucky. 

L. B. Marshall, Potomac, farmer, section 26, was born in Warren 
county, Indiana, on the 21st of September, 1842. His parents died 
when he was quite young, and he, thrown thus upon his own resources, 
had but a poor chance for an earl}' education. In 1864 he eplisted in 
Co. B, 135th Ind., for one hundred days. Mr. Marshall has held the 
office of constable two years in this township ; was employed in Marys- 
ville as clerk in the dry-goods and grocery store of W. J. Henderson 
for some time. He now resides on the Copeland farm near Marys- 
ville. 

Scott Elliott, Armstrong, farmer, section 13, was born in Winne- 
bago county, Illinois, on the 13th of January, 1842. At the age of six- 






MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 829 

teen he left the farm, and with an ox-team started for Pike's Peak, 
where he remained three years. He enlisted in the late war in August, 
1861, in Co. B, 1st Col. Cav., as quarter-master sergeant. He was 
ordered out among the Indians, where he remained two years, engag- 
ing in several skirmishes with the redskins. He was mustered out in 
1866, and returned to this state and married Mary E. Rigles, on the 
2d of September, 1867. She was born in Pennsylvania on the 13th of 
February, 1843. They are the parents of three children : Merrit, 
Clayton and Lafariest. Mr. Elliott's parents are natives of Ohio ; Mrs. 
Elliott's of Pennsylvania. Mr. Elliott now owns one hundred and 
forty-two acres of land, worth $40 per acre. 

L. C. Messner, Potomac, drirggist and physician, was born in Darke 
county, Ohio, on the 15th of December, 1844. He left home when fit- 
teen years of age, and his chances for an early education were limited. 
At the age of sixteen by daily labor he paid off a mortgage of one hun- 
dred dollars on his father's farm, thus preventing foreclosure. In 1865- 
66 he attended two courses of lectures in Rush Medical College, at 
Chicago, and receiving a diploma for the practice of medicine in 1866, he 
settled in Marysville as a medical practitioner, in which profession he has 
been quite successful. The Doctor has been twice married : first to 
Mary Drummond in September, 1866. They had three children by 
this marriage: Nellie M., William C, living, and Alma U., deceased. 
He was then married to Maria J. Clark on the 9th of January, 1873. 
By this union one infant, deceased. Dr. Messner has held the office of 
town-clerk one term, and school-treasurer four years. He had, when 
he commenced the practice of medicine, no property, but now owns a 
half interest in a drug-store, a house, lot and about ten thousand dol- 
lars' worth of other property which he has earned by his energy, in- 
dustry and economy. 

Charles A. Jameson, Potomac, cabinetmaker, was born in Cham- 
paign county, Ohio, on the 3d of March, 1847. He learned his trade 
when quite young. He was married to Emelia Richart on the 15th of 
September, 1869. She was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, in 1852. 
They are the parents of three children : Maggie M., Lulu E. and Rob- 
ert. Mr. Jameson is a very enterprising and industrious man. He 
owns one lot and cabinetshop, and three-fourths of an acre Math good 
dwelling. His father was one of the pioneers of this county. 

James D. Anderson, Potomac, farmer, section 8, remained on his 
father's farm until 1861, with his mother, his father having died when 
he was fifteen years old. At this time he enlisted in Co. F, 35th 111. 
Inf. Vol., as private. He was in the battles of Chickamauga, Mission 
Ridge, Perryville, Resaca, Buzzard's Roost and the battle before 



830 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Atlanta. In an engagement he received a wound in the neck. He 
was married to Mary Partlow on the 6th of October, 1869. She was 
born in Vermilion county in 1852. They have had by this union five 
children, three of whom are living: Mattie, Ray and Nellie; the 
deceased are Willie and Jesse. Mr. Anderson owns his farm, which 
contains one hundred and sixty-three acres, worth $30 per acre. In 
politics he is a republican; religion, Methodist. 

William Kirkhart, Armstrong, farmer, section 18, was born in 
Wetzel county, West Virginia, on the 10th of September, 1847. His 
parents died when he was quite young, leaving him, at the tender age 
of eight, to fight life's battles alone; consequently, his chances for an 
early education were poor. He was married to Mary S. Perry, on the 
10th of January, 1871. She was born in Vermilion county, on the 15th 
of April, 1856. They have had by this marriage five children, three of 
whom are living: Elmer, Nellie and Mariddie. The deceased were 
infant twins. 

H. Biederman, shoemaker, Potomac, was born in Germany, on the 
25th of April, 1846, and came to America on the 17th of July, 1870. 
Mr. Biederman has never entered the married state. He owns a lot in 
Marysville, on which is the shoe-shop. He is an honest, industrious 
man, and well respected by all who know him. 

J. C. Williams, Armstrong, grain merchant, was born in Vanderburg 
county, Indiana, on the 6th of November, 1847. He came to this state 
in 1867, settling in McLean county, and there aided his uncle in im- 
proving a farm. He was married to Mary T. Dickinson, on the 14th 
of October, 1870. She was born in Pike county, Illinois, on the 5th 
of July, 1847. Mr. Williams' farm of one hundred and fifteen acres, 
worth $40 per acre, is adjacent to the thriving little village of Arm- 
strong. Upon the outskirts of the town he has a fine dwelling, and he 
has also a grain office, scales, and extensive grain-cribs. He bought 
and shipped over forty thousand bushels of corn and twenty-five thou- 
sand bushels of oats the first year of his entering the business, which 
was in 1877. Mr. Williams is an energetic business man, and by him 
the grain trade has been started in Armstrong. 

Robert Miller, Armstrong, farmer, section 25, was born in Wash- 
ington county, Pennsylvania. His father being a farmer, he worked 
on the farm until twenty-one years of age. His father came to this 
state and first settled in Champaign county. He remained there one 
year, and then moved to Indiana, where he stayed six years, and then 
returned to this state. Mr. Miller was married to Elizabeth Small, on 
the 25th of September, 1870. She was born in Vermilion county in 
1852. They are the parents of five children : Joseph W., Anna B., 




MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 831 

Robert P., Benjamin F. and Thomas E. Mr. Miller raises principally 
corn, which he feeds at home. He owns one hundred and ninety-nine 
acres of land, worth $30 per acre. His parents were natives of 
Pennsylvania ; Mrs. Miller's parents were natives of Indiana. 

T. W. Buckingham, Potomac, inn-keeper and justice of the peace, 
commenced in 1876 to manage the hotel on Main street in Marysville, 
known as the Murcle House. He was born in Allen county, Indiana, 
on the 23d of April, 1833. His father died when he was but five years 
of age, and he lived with his mother, going to school in the winter and 
working on a farm in the summer, until twenty-one years of age. He 
left home, went to Pittsburgh, and entered the mercantile business. 
He came to this state in 1870, settling in Fainnount, in this county. 
He went into the grocery business, but afterward became a commercial 
traveler for some time. He was married in 1856 to Ellen A. Clark. 
She was born in the state of New York, on the 10th of April, 1838. 
They are the parents of five children : Mary A., now wife of G. J. 
May, of Marysville ; Mable F., George T., Myrtie and Clyde. The 
parents of Mr. Buckingham were natives of New York, and the parents 
of Mrs. B. of New Jersey. 

J. E. Jameson, Potomac, mechanic, was born in Muskingum county, 
Ohio, on the 15th of March, 1847. He remained at his native place 
until he reached the age of twenty-five, " working out " by the month 
part of the time, and at other times assisting his father in farming. 
Soon after this he learned the wagon and carriage making trade, which 
trade he still follows. He was married to Eliza Knox, on the 8th of 
October, 1873. She was born in Vermilion county in 1842, and died 
on the 15th of January, 1878. They had by this marriage two chil- 
dren : Thomas R. and Minnie B. Mr. Jameson commenced business 
in 1872, and now owns two houses and lots in Marysville. His father, 
one of the pioneers of Vermilion county, built the first carriage-shop in 
the village. 

James Wilson, Marysville, blacksmith, was born in West Virginia, 
on the 13th of April, 1834, and was raised on a farm, where he remained 
until eighteen years of age, at which time he learned the blacksmith 
trade, which was his chosen trade. He came to this state in 1872, set- 
tling in this county in Oakwood township, and removed to Blue Grass 
in 1875, where he still resides, and where he still continues to work at 
the blacksmith trade, doing a good business. Mr. Wilson has been 
twice married : first, in 1857, to Irene Evie, who was born in Virginia 
and died in 1875. They had seven children, five living: Morgan, 
Charley, Joseph, Martha and Sarah. The deceased were Mary and one 



832 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

infant. He was then married to Christina Wright in 1876. She was 
born in Indiana in 1838. 

Charles T. Morse, Potomac, merchant, is a member of the firm of 
Ludden & Morse, on the corner of public square, Marysville. . These 
gentlemen keep on hand a good stock of dry-goods and groceries. Mr. 
M. was bom in New Haven, Connecticut, on the 22d of February, 
1827. He remained at home with his parents until twenty-one years 
of age. His chances for an early education were good, and he availed 
himself of the opportunities thus offered. He was brought up as clerk 
in a store, thus becoming well acquainted with the business, which he 
has continued to follow to the present time. For some years Mr. Morse 
was connected with a wholesale dry-goods house in Chicago. He came 
to Marysville and commenced business in 1872, and has, at this time, 
about $5,000 invested in stock in Marysville. He has held the office 
of school trustee for six years. His parents are natives of Connecticut. 

Thomas Carter, Potomac, farmer, section 8, was born in Tippecanoe 
count} 7 , Indiana, on the 26th of July, 1846, and during the early part 
of his life remained on the farm. He was married to Mary E. McQuil- 
len, on the 22d of December, 1873. She was born in Missouri in 184S- 
The} 7 are the parents of four children : John, William, Gracy J. and 
Harrison. Mr. Carter owns a farm of fifty acres, worth $50 per acre, 
and handles some stock every year. The parents of both Mr. and Mrs. 
Carter are natives of Ohio. He is a republican in politics, and his 
religious views are Methodist. 

Albert H. Dickson, Armstrong, farmer, was born in Barren county, 
Kentucky, on the 7th of March, 1853. Although his chances for an 
early education were limited, yet he acquired sufficient knowledge, — 
mostly at home, — to enable him to teach the branches taught in the 
country school. He has been teaching in the winters for some five 
years past. He was married to Mary E. French on the 29th of August, 
1876. She was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 19th of July, 
1858. They have had but one child : Irena E., born on the 27th of 
December, 1877. Mr. Dickson has held the office of postmaster one 
year. He is an active member of the Christian church, and is preparing 
for the ministry, having acted in that capacity for some time past. He 
bids fair to become a useful man in the community in which he lives. 

Silas H. Yandoren, Armstrong, physician, was born in Fulton 
county, Illinois, on the 9th of January, 1851. At the age of sixteen 
he commenced the study of medicine, first reading with Dr. Campbell, 
of Wilmington, Illinois, and afterward attending lectures in Chicago 
for one year. At the expiration of this course of lectures he received 
a diploma, and for three years remained in Chicago as a practicing phy- 



MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP. 833 

sician, then he removed to Livingston county, remaining one year, 
when he came to Armstrong, where he is still following his profession. 
The Doctor is of the Eclectic school, and his labors have been attended 
with much success. He was married to Dora Fleming on the 29th of 
December, 1874. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the 
19th of December, 1852. They had by this union two children, of 
which, Willie, born on the 10th of May, 1876, is living, and an infant 
deceased. 

Charles P. Duncan, Potomac, groceries, was born in Fountain county, 
Indiana, on the 22d of July, 1852. He remained with his father until 
he was married to Mary A. Copeland, on the 16th of August, 1876. 
She was born in Vermilion county, Illinois. They are the parents of 
one child : Ernest C, born on the 1st of August, 1878. Mr. Duncan 
is an energetic young man, and is doing a lively business. He owns 
two lots and a dwelling-house in Marysville, and has about one thou- 
sand dollars invested in groceries. His parents are natives of Penn- 
sylvania. 

John E. Butz, Potomac, physician, was born in Wyandot county, 
Ohio. His father moved to this state in 1853, settling in Decatur. His 
mother died when he was but seven years of age. He was taken care 
of till three years of age by his father. He then moved a second time. 
Mr. Butz worked on a farm until twenty-one years of age. His chances 
for an early education were not very good. He entered Ann Arbor 
high school in 1871, and graduated in June, 1875. He commenced 
the study of medicine the same fall, and graduated at Rush Medical 
College in February, 1878. He commenced the practice of medicine 
in Marysville on the 1st of April, 1878. He has been getting a good 
practice, which has been attended with good success. On the 25th of 
April, 1879, the Doctor performed a surgical operation on a child for 
hare-lip, — a child of Mr. Buckingham, of Marysville. He was assisted 
in the operation by Dr. Messner, of that place. The operation was a 
success. He also operated on Jane Reese for deformity of the mouth, 
caused by mercury. He was assisted also in this operation by Dr. 
Messner. This operation was performed on the 11th of May, 1879. 
This also bids fair to be attended with good results. The Doctor has a 
bright prospect of making a splendid physician and surgeon. 

George W. Young, Potomac, blacksmith, was born in Franklin 
county, Ohio, on the 16th of April, 1842. His mother died when he 
was but twelve years old. He then lived with his father until he was 
married to Laura Underhill, on the 17th of May, 1877. She was born in 
Clinton county, Indiana, on the 1st of August, 1868. They have 
buried two infants. He learned blacksmithing when quite young, and 
53 



834 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

commenced his trade in Marysville in 1878. Mr. Young is an energetic, 
industrious man, and is receiving the good patronage that he deserves. 
H. E. Thomas, Potomac, barber, was born in La Porte county, In- 
diana, on the 1st of May, 1854. At the age of seventeen he learned 
the trade which he has since followed. He was married to Margaret 
Johnson on the 16th of May, 1875. She was born in Indianapolis, In- 
diana, on the 19th of October, 1855. They have had two children by 
this marriage : Charles C, living, and Delia M., deceased. Mr. Thomas 
commenced business as a barber in Marysville in 1878, and has now a 
lively patronage. His parents are natives of Massachusetts. 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 

The history of Oakwood township is important, not only on account 
of its early settlement, but because of its natural advantages as well. 
Its prairies are rich and extensive, its timber land fully sufficient, while 
the wealth of its coal banks is incalculable. Oakwood lies on the 
western border of Vermilion county. Its greatest length is, from east 
to west, twelve miles. Its width, north and south, is six miles. 
Like all other townships of Vermilion county, it is made up of parts 
of several congressional towns. Its north line is two miles north of 
the south line of town 20 N. Its south line is two miles north of the 
south line of town 19 N. The west side is the boundary line between 
Vermilion and Champaign counties. It is the middle line of range 14. 
On the east the boundary line is broken. Beginning at the south line 
of the township, at the southeast corner of section 19, T. 19 N., range 
12 W., the boundary extends north one mile, thence east two miles on 
the south side of sections 17 and 16; thence north one mile; thence 
west one mile to the southeast corner of section 8; thence north one 
mile; thence west one-fourth mile; thence north one mile, and thence 
back east to the section line, where a north course on the east side of 
sections 32 and 29, in town 20, range 12, leads to the northern bound- 
ary. It will thus be seen that Oakwood includes a part of six con- 
gressional towns; that the greater portion of it is in range 13 W. ; that 
there is just one half of one congressional town in range 14; that but 
a small portion is in range 12 W., and that the whole consists of sixty- 
five and three-fourths square miles. 

In surface and soil the township is diversified. There is little of 
the soil, however, that cannot be said to be very deep, rich and pro- 
ductive. On the eastern end of the township the broken surface is 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 835 

not quite so attractive to the eye, nor perhaps as remunerative to the 
laborer; but it furnishes timber for those who dwell in the prairies. 
On the east end of the south side the same remark would apply. The 
western border is particularly flat in some places, so that the music of 
the cheerless frog may often be heard as he boasts of his broad do- 
main. Beside the flat surface, there is little else to complain of in 
regard to Nature's gifts to Oakwood. This defect is largely overcome 
by draining. In fact, the level land is said to be superior to any other, 
when well drained. The farmers of Oakwood are draining, within the 
last few years, as rapidly as they can. All kinds of ditching is done, 
but tile draining is the most certain and successful, although we were 
told of a mole ditch which had been in successful operation for more 
than twenty years. Oakwood is prairie land, with the exception of a 
band of timber on the east and southeast, and a belt which follows 
Stony Creek about half way across the township, from the south. 
These furnish all the timber necessary for the improvement of the 
prairie portions. There is plenty of water in most parts. On the 
eastern border is the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River; on the 
south side is the Salt Fork ; through the center we find Stony Creek, 
which rises near the northwest corner of the township, and flows 
southeasterly through sections 31, 5, 8, 9, 16 and 22, and empties into 
the Salt Fork. 

The township is crossed by one railroad, — the Indianapolis, Bloom- 
ington & Western. It has lent its influence to the development of the 
country, and although we may conceive this to be from selfish motives, 
the result has been beneficial to the country. The unfortunate attempt 
to build three villages on it within one township must not be imputed 
to any other than those dwelling there. Besides plenty of water, ex- 
cellent soil and a good climate, this country is well supplied with wood 
and coal, particularly the latter. We cannot but believe that the ele- 
ments of a mighty industry are locked up in these resources, and need 
but the hand of energy and genius to bring them out. The occupation 
of the people at present is mostly farming and stock-raising. The soil 
seems equally adapted to the production of grass, corn and wheat. The 
wheat crop of 1879 is enormous. The acreage is large, and the average 
yield is beyond the record of the best wheat-growing portions of the 
state. The cultivation of wheat is on the increase. Corn has been the 
main crop. Large areas are also sown to grass. Those who ought to 
know maintain that the best thing for this country is stock-raising. 
Hogs are very extensively raised, and yet large quantities of corn are 
annually shipped to Indianapolis from each of the stations on the I. B. 
& W. railroad. At present the country is suffering somewhat from 



836 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

the financial crash of 1873. Man} 7 farmers ran behind when times were 
good, and found themselves much straightened to meet obligations when 
the crash came. 

EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 

The early settlements in this township take the lead of anything in 
the county, both in regard to priority of settlement, and their impor- 
tance in the subsequent growth of the country ; and although these 
pioneer efforts were of such importance in the development of the 
wealth of this country, the particulars have faded away until accuracy 
is almost impossible in many cases. The early settlement at the old 
Major Vance salt works, the first in the township, is fully discussed in 
another place. It is only necessaiw to refer to it here. As an example 
of the general misconception which has arisen in regard to this settle- 
ment, we would say that in Oakwood township we found very few 
persons who had ever heard of Mr. Treat or Blackmail, and none had 
a just conception of the affair, or a positive knowledge of any of the 
details. Again we were informed that a settlement was made and a 
cabin built on the Middle Fork as early as 1818, when the evidence 
shows that the settlement at the salt works was not only the first here, 
but the first anywhere within the limits of Yermilion county. 

After the first advent of Captain Blackman, and the building of a 
residence by Mr. Treat, in November, 1819, we find a Mr. Bailey on 
Stony Creek. This was probably the first man who settled on that 
creek. He came in 1821 or 1822, and opened a small piece of ground 
in the timber. This was in section 16, town 19 north, range 13 west. 
He sold out his interests to Mr. Harvey Ludington, late of Danville, 
Illinois. Mr. Ludington has been supposed by many to be the first 
settler on Stony Creek. 

Stony Creek was called for a long time Ludington's Branch. The 
next man in these parts was a Mr. Walker. He settled near the same 
place, but a little farther up the creek, near the present site of Muncie. 
He, too, left his name with us. That point of timber where he dwelt 
went by the name of Walker's Point. The exact date of his settlement 
we were unable to learn, but it was after the settlement by Mr. Luding- 
ton. The settlements along the Salt Fork, on the south side of the 
township, were early begun, and here we find the principal population 
for some time. The exact date of many of these settlements cannot 
now be ascertained, nor do we conceive it to be of very great impor- 
tance. It is quite probable that the next family that came in here after 
those already mentioned was that of the man who built the old water- 
mill on the Salt Fork where the present steam and water mill is located. 
This mill was in operation as early as 1826; how long it had been 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 837 

running previously we are not quite sure. At this date Mr. Nathaniel 
Mead traveled over the country, and the only inhabitants that he re- 
members were those at this mill, and John Vance, at the salt works. 
Mr. Mead is, perhaps, the oldest person living in Oakwood township 
who saw this country as early as 1826; in fact, we doubt whether 
another grown person was here in 1826 and is here now. At that time 
he was twenty-six years old, having been born in the gray dawn of the 
nineteenth century. He is from the land of " steady habits," having 
first seen the light of day seven miles from Hartford, Connecticut. He 
remained there till he was eighteen years old. His youthful days were 
spent in the dairy. On his western-bound trip he first stopped at Cin- 
cinnati. After a stay here we find him next in Union county, Indiana. 
Although he came here as early as 1826, "prospecting," he did not 
permanently locate his family in this county until 1835. At this time 
he bought land near the site of Conkeytown. Excepting a short stay 
in Covington, Indiana, he has remained in this township ever since. 
He has reared a family of children. His sons are well-to-do, important 
elements in society, and he still lingers on the shores of time, two 
miles southwest of Oakwood station, enjoying the fruits of seventy-nine 
years' toil among the children of men. He remembers well the war 
of 1812, and the rejoicing at its close. During his recollection not only 
Oakwood township and Vermilion county have been developed from 
their native wildness to a populous, well-organized community, but 
industries have sprung up all over the nation. He was seven years old 
when Robert Fulton made that wonderful experiment on the Hudson ; 
when Lafayette made his wonderful passage through this country he 
had reached the age of full manhood; when the first car carried its 
load of stone from the Qnincy quarries, he was verging on the period 
of middle-life ; as Queen Victoria ascended the throne, he was growing 
old. If all the progress of art and science, which has been made within 
the memory of such men as he, was written in a book, the world could 
scarcely contain it. The progress in itself is not so startling as the fact 
that one man's experience has embraced it all. 

In following up the settlement after the arrival of the miller on 
Salt Fork, we are at a loss to trace its progress. William Smith opened 
the farm now occupied by J. R. Thompson, as early as 1830. Smith 
was an important man in the early settlement of that neighborhood, 
but no trace of his descendants is to be found here now. In the same 
neighborhood, and probably earlier in point of time, was a Mr. Lander. 
Then, too, we hear of Mr. Shearer in this neighborhood at a very early 
date. Among the early settlers in this part, Mr. Pogue was farther 
west; he was near the county line. Down along the creek was Mr. 



838 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Brewer, and close to the present site of old Conkey Town was Stephen 
Crane. Thomas W. and John Q. Deakin came in 1835. They lived 
in this same neighborhood, just on the south line of the township. 
They were important elements in the early settlement of the neighbor- 
hood on Salt Fork. On the west side of Stony Creek, Mr. Wright 
probably followed Mr. Walker. In 1832 Mr. Aaron Dalbey followed 
the opening made here, and came over from the south side of the Salt 
Fork, and began a farm one mile south of the present site of Muncie. 
Mr. Dalbey was a millwright, and rendered important service to the 
community in building the second mill on Salt Fork. Mr. Shepherd 
was the proprietor, but Mr. Dalbey was the architect and builder. 
Mr. Dalbey remained here till his death. His widow married John 
McFarland, and still resides on the original farm. The farm is a good 
one, and under the careful management of Mr. McFarland has reached 
the highest state of cultivation. A little farther north, up Stony Creek, 
we find John McCarty, about 1836. He settled just above Muncie. 
Beyond him, and later, came Harrison and Seneca Stearns. They 
came to the country, young men, though married, in 1836, and have 
remained in the edge of the timber ever since. In mentioning the 
early settlers, we would not forget John Shepherd, who came in 1836, 
and engaged in the milling enterprise, but who died before he saw his 
work fully completed. These are the principal early settlers in the 
southwestern part of the township. No doubt there were others that 
came early, but they soon moved away. Of those who came later we 
have scarcely time to speak, although such men as Havard and Cast, 
that came in 1838, would now be considered old settlers. 

The first settlements within the limits of what might be called the 
Oakwood neighborhood were made by a Mr. Roland, James Norris 
and Henry Oakwood, who built dwellings the same spring. This was 
in 1833. Mr. Oakwood, after whom the township was named, opened 
his farm then, and remained there the remainder of his life. His work 
was identified with the interests of the community. Mr. Hubbard 
came to the same place in the fall of 1833, and lived there till his 
death. The descendants of these men are too well known to demand 
anything more than a mere mention of the name. Henry Sallee came 
to the county a young man in 1834. He soon married a daughter of 
Henry Oakwood, and located on the east side of Stony Creek, in the 
edge of the timber, where he has remained ever since. He has raised 
his family there. His daughters are married and live there. They 
too have always lived there, and we suppose that they will die and be 
buried there. These things are not uncommon in old settled and popu- 
lous countries, but they are unusual in so recently settled countries as 
this. 



OAK WOOD TOWNSHIP. 839 

When the salt works began to be operated quite extensively, settle- 
ments were made up the Middle Fork. In the timber there were a 
number of settlers and " squatters," many of whom went away as the 
country began to be settled up. But a number of the earlier ones 
remained, and their descendants may still be found, some on the prairie 
and some still clinging to the woods, indulging the delusion that resi- 
dence on the prairie requires a hardihood, either enforced by poverty 
or prompted by a recklessness that abandons all ideas of home. About 
the year 1827 Jesse Ventres and James Howell came to the neighbor- 
hood of where New Town now is. They were from Kentucky. Jesse 
Ventres bought a piece of land one-half mile southeast of New Town 
from a Mr. Indicut, who must have visited this country in an early 
day. We were shown the residence said to have been built in 1818? 
but which we have concluded must have been an error in the date. 
Certain it is, however, that the building, still occupied by Mr. Michael, 
was built at a time when hostilities with the Indians must have been 
anticipated, for the port-holes, by which the red-cheeks were to be dis- 
covered and repelled, were manifest in the building. Mr. Ventres 
afterward sold out and went to Texas. Abraham W. Rutledge was 
the purchaser. He came to the neighborhood in 1832. He lived and 
died on this place, and the farm has been in the hands of the heirs 
until recently. Howell lived in different parts of the neighborhood 
and finally went west. Stephen Griffith came to his farm, one-half 
mile north of New Town, about 1826 or 1827. His long residence 
there, and his efforts in behalf of the public good are too well known 
to call for a repetition here. There was also in here at a very early 
date a regular Predestinarian Baptist preacher by the name of Richard 
Gideon. He came about 1826 or 1827. He is supposed by some to 
be the first man who preached in this country. But he, too, went 
west. He left for Texas, and none of the family remain. In the fall 
of 1828 the Makemsons came. The Makemson company was com- 
posed of Thomas Makemson, a revolutionary soldier, and his family. 
His sons were Andrew, David, Samuel, John and James. They 
stopped one and one-half miles north of the present village of Oak- 
wood. Here they lived till the father died. John remained on the 
home farm for forty-one years. He then went west on account of his 
health. His son still lives on the farm on which he was born. The 
other descendants of Thomas Makemson are scattered abroad in differ- 
ent places. In this connection, and in this settlement, we find A. W. 
Brittingham, who came to this country from Maryland in 1830. He 
was still single, though born in 1801. He came with his father, who 
moved to the juvenile settlement and died there. Arthur married a 



840 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

daughter of Thomas G. Watson in 1833, and settled in the neighbor- 
hood of which we have been writing. He remained there till 1872. 
He had a great deal of knowledge of pioneer life on account of his 
practice of medicine. He was not a regular physician, but took up the 
Thompsonian water cure and steam bath and applied it in many cases 
with some degree of success. Mr. Brittingham still lives at an ad- 
vanced age, and enjoys a tolerable degree of health. 

In the fall of 1828 (or '29, perhaps) John Cox came to the residence 
of Jesse Ventres's from Big Sandy, in Kentucky. He built a house 
within a short time where Swift's mill now stands. Mr. Cox lived in 
the neighborhood until his death in 1846 ; his sons William and Ste- 
phen reside in the vicinity of Oakwood Station, having been in the 
county more than fifty years. In 1829 William Craig entered the land 
on which he now lives,' at Palestine, Illinois. At this time the land 
office was located there. In 1830 he came to the place to improve it; 
he was a single man then, being about twenty-two years old. His 
brother came with him and they worked together. After one season of 
toil and hardship William concluded that it was too big a job for a 
single team, so he set out to. find some susceptible damsel with whom 
he might link forces. According to his own account he found the 
search a tedious one, for it was not until 1836 that he led his blushing 
bride to the altar and beguiled her into a trip to the far west. The 
story of Mr. Craig's bridal tour has been so often told, and the partic- 
ulars of his early settlement here have been so thoroughly bruited 
abroad, that it is not necessary to repeat them here. Suffice it to say 
that after a life of excessive toil and hardship, during which he has 
amassed a considerable quantity of property, Mr. Craig finds himself 
surrounded by his nine children, none of whom, in all probability, will 
ever realize the conditions from which their prosperity sprang, and 
himself still able to enjo} 7 life and its blessings. These are the princi- 
pal settlers of the township in the timber. A few of those already 
mentioned got out short distances from the timber. Mr. William 
Parris claims to be the first man that ventured out into the prairie in 
Oakwood township. He moved from the state road, where he had been 
since 1834, to the edge of the prairie northwest of Muncie, in 1842. 
He then went farther out and moved a house into the prairie where J. 
M. Havard now lives. This house was brought all the way from Salt 
Fork and put up where it still stands, in 1844 — thirty-five years ago. 
But this was only a short distance from the timber. At that time, even, 
large tracts of land lay unoccupied and almost unfrequented within the 
present limits of Oakwood township ; all the western part of the town- 
ship was open and much of it afterward sold at very low figures: 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 841 

such as was denominated swamp land was sold as low as twelve and 
a half cents per acre. The first to settle in the prairie northwest 
of where the village of Fithian now is, was James H. Black. His resi- 
dence was beyond the settlements entirely ; he was deemed crazy, 
almost. The first settlers had thought that if they secured the prairie 
adjoining the timber no one would ever go beyond them, and they 
would thus have perpetual range on the prairie. Mr. Black made his 
home where he now lives in 1856 ; here he bought two hundred and 
forty acres of land and improved it. At about this same time William 
M. Kutledge came to the prairie where he now lives, in the northwest 
corner of Oakwood township. He, too, has remained where his home- 
place is for twenty-three years ; he owns just one half section here. 
He is a son of the early settler, A. W. Rutledge, who located south- 
east of New Town in 1832. These pioneers of the prairie have en- 
joyed a remarkable degree of good luck. They bought their land for a 
trifle ; they were not under the necessity of clearing it before they 
could cultivate. They were not compelled to fence for some time, and 
all they required to become independent was a determination to stay 
right there. Their land has increased in value more than tenfold in 
many cases, and what could have been bought for a few hundreds then 
is worth as many thousands now. 

In following up Stony Creek the early settlers began to get out into 
the prairie somewhat. At the "Crab Apple Grove" we find Joseph 
L. Shepherd, in 1849. He bought land there, and has remained near 
the same place ever since. A little farther up, and more decidedly in 
the prairie, we find James Gorman as early as 1853. From about this 
time the active occupation of the prairie may be dated. When we look 
over this broad area of productive farm-land, and see the immense 
crops of corn, oats, wheat and potatoes that are annually produced, and 
the herds of cattle and droves of hogs that go to feed the hungry 
multitudes of our large cities, and then remember that twenty-five years 
ago all of this was unknown ; that croaking frogs and creeping serpents 
occupied these rich fields, the progress of a quarter century provokes 
our wonder as well as challenges our admiration. 

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. 

Like all other branches of society's interests, the items of interest in 
Oakwood, of a religious character, are diversified and peculiar. Not 
only do we find the various denominations represented, but we have a 
complicated history of almost every one. The various points of settle- 
ment and their peculiar relations make it almost impossible to give a 
correct and intelligent account of the progress of religious interests in 



842 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

the township. If we are to judge of a people's piety by the number 
of- ecclesiastical organizations which they maintain, then Oakwood 
might be accounted righteous. So far as we have been able to learn, 
there are nine regular places of holding religious services. There is a 
provoking indeliniteness in facts and traditions handed down from the 
origin of things through the lips of generations. Taking into account 
the probabilities, we suppose that the first preaching in this coun- 
try was among the Indians by missionaries. And here we do not refer 
to the original efforts in this direction by Marquette and his followers, 
but to more recent work. Near the old Oakwood farm the Indians 
had meetings quite regularly, until some time after the settlement of 
the pale-faces in their immediate vicinity. As a minister among the 
white inhabitants the earliest was, probably, Mr. Richard Gideon, a 
regular Predestinarian Baptist minister, who lived one and a half 
miles southwest of New Town. He came about 1826 or 1827, and held 
meetings occasionally in various parts of the country. But he soon 
went away, and whether he organized a band of followers we know not. 
There is a society of the same faith near where he lived, but its origin 
does not date back to his day. The first organized society of which we 
have any positive information, was what was called, in a later day, 
" Old Bethel." This was a Methodist church, and stood one-half mile 
south of New Town. The first preaching of this denomination was 
by Revs. Risley, Fox and Colston. Before the building of the church 
meeting was held in private houses. " Old Bethel " was built about 
1835 or 1836. It was one of the first houses of worship in the county. 
It was 30 x 40 feet, and cost about $500. It was erected by Ashley 
Southerland. Prominent members of this society at that time included 
Eli Helmick, Stephen Griffith, Mr. Haston, and many others. The 
" Bethel Circuit " included a vast scope of territory. People came from 
remote points in order to get within a church. Twenty miles was not 
considered a great distance to go in order to attend quarterly meeting. 
This first building answered the purposes of the society until 1873, 
when a new house was erected at New Town. This is a large, com- 
modious and well-finished frame building. It was put up by Mr. Kirsh, 
at a cost of $2,100. The society is a strong one, and keep a flourish- 
ing Sabbath-school in operation throughout the year. New Town is 
the head of a circuit and contains a parsonage for the pastor. Eli Hel- 
mick has charge of the work, at present, as a supply. The circuit in- 
cludes the societies at Pilot Chapel, Emberry, Finley and Bethel, with 
others where no buildings are erected. The society at Bethel, as well 
as the circuit of which it is the head, represents the most influential 
elements in the community in which they exist. In following up the 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 843 

history of Methodism in this township we shall find that nearly all of 
these societies are an outgrowth of the original one at Bethel. Pleas- 
ant Grove class is one of the most recent. It was organized at Pleas- 
ant Grove school-house in February, 1879. It began with forty mem- 
bers, and although only a short distance from Bethel, the good people 
there propose building a house of worship. This society originated in 
a remarkable religious interest which manifested itself among a people 
who had hitherto been outside of church faith or creed. Forty new 
members were formed into a society, and others withdrew their mem- 
bership from elsewhere and put it in here. John Cook was made class 
leader, and services are regularly held in the school-house. This soci- 
ety also keeps up a nourishing Sabbath-school. They have a large 
attendance, and a manifest interest in the study of the scriptures. At 
the Brown school-house there was a class of Methodists organized 
in 1873. Rev. Mr. Cline put this society in working order. A. J. 
Bennett is the class-leader. Preaching is held regularly. There is a 
membership at present of about thirty. They, too, keep up a Sabbath- 
school. 

Finley Chapel was built as a union church, but under the super- 
vision of the Christian (New Light) church. This was in the summer 
of 1854. Zephaniah Wilkins was the principal man in having the 
building put up. James C. Osborne was the mechanic, and he had a 
mechanic's lien on the property. When he failed to get his pay, he 
sold the property to Enoch Kingsbury, of Danville. Mr. Kingsbury 
sold to the trustees of the Methodist church. The Methodists came 
into possession of Finley in 1860. About this time the society was 
first organized by Rev. John C. Long. Mr. Long was the first man 
who preached in the church. It had not been finished up until these 
men took hold of it. At the beginning there were about thirty mem- 
bers. Prominent among these were: John Makemson, John M. Doran, 
Martin R. Oakwood, George Cadle, Louis Anderson, L. G. Collett, 
George A. Fox, and the wives of most of these. William C. Harrison 
was another whose influence and money helped the good cause along. 
He gave the ground on which the church stands. John M. Doran was 
the first class-leader. George A. Fox has been class-leader for a num- 
ber of years. George A. Fox, W. H. Fox, Charles Hillman, E. C. 
Lay ton, Joseph Truax, are the trustees. The church cost the Method- 
ists altogether about $1,000. It is getting a little old now. The 
intention is to build another before many years, and locate it in Oak- 
wood Station. There are at present about one hundred and thirty 
members. In the history of Finley there have been three extraordi- 
nary revivals. The first was under the care of Rev. B. F. Hyde, in the 



844 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

winter of 1868. This was first in importance, though not in time. 
One hundred and thirty-five persons, mostly heads of families, united 
with the church at this place during a series of meetings. In 1876, 
under the administration of G. Louther, one hundred and thirty-three 
joined. These were mostly young people. In 1866, under the efforts 
of John 0. Long, there was quite a manifestation, and thirty united 
with the church. In the western end of the township this denomina- 
tion did not flourish so early as in the east. The first to begin church 
organization were the regular Predestinarian Baptists. The first 
Methodist preaching in west of Stony Creek was probably by Eli 
Helmick. John C. Long, while on the New Town circuit, held meet- 
ings in the school-house above Conkey Town. Revs. Bradshaw and 
Wallace preached here in the same place. A society was formed, and 
worship kept up until the building of the church in Fithian. In 1859 
there was a society of Methodists formed at the Central school-house. 
The first preaching here was by Eli Helmick. Mr. Helmick preached 
in nearly every neighborhood in the western part of the county. As 
early as 1830 he traveled over this country. He of course did not 
preach on the prairie at that time. Joshua Worley preached at Cen- 
tral school-house quite early. John E. Vinson did the first preaching 
after the organization of the society. The Central appointment has 
continued ever since the first organization. 

The Regular Predestinarian Baptists, or, as they have been nick- 
named by some, the Hard-Shell Baptists, were early occupants of the 
religious field here. They held the first meetings in the neighborhood 
of Conkey Town. These were in a log school-house near the old Aaron 
Dalbey farm. Rhodes Smith was the principal man of influence in the 
church. At that time he was keeping a small store on the east side of 
Stony Creek, on the State road. John Orr was the first Baptist preacher. 
At a later date Mr. Smith moved farther up the Creek, near "Crab 
Apple Grove," and a society was formed and met at his house regular- 
ly. This was in 1858. The organizer and minister for some time was 
Elder John Orr. The members of this society, as it was first organized 
at Mr. Smith's, were the following : John Orr and wife, Rhodes Smith 
and wife, Jesse Berk and wife, Thomas Cox and wife, James Smith, 
William Smith, Martin Orr and wife, Nancy Truax and Rebecca Truax. 
After some time the meetings were held in the Gorman school-house. 
They continued in the school-house till the building of their church, 
one and one-half miles north of Oakwood Station. This was put up in 
the spring of 1876. It is 26x36 feet. It cost $800. The ministers 
at the time of the building of the church were R. A. Rabourn and 
Stephen Cox. They still officiate in that capacity. This society has a 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 845 

neat country church. It has a membership of forty-one. After the 
first organization it grew till it had thirty members. Then it expe- 
rienced a season of decline. At one time there were but nine belong- 
ing. It then took new life, began to prosper, and has continued with 
the result above mentioned. 

The Walker's Point Church of Missionary Baptists was established 
on Stony Creek about 1854. The first preachers were Carter and 
Blankenship. The society contained at first the following members : 
Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Stearns and one daughter, Seneca Stearns, 
Joseph Jones and wife and two daughters and one son, Nancy Hart 
and Nancy Deakin. Harrison Stearns and Joseph Jones were appoint- 
ed deacons at the first organization. The church edifice was erected in 
1857. It is 36x45 feet, and cost $1,200. There is a membership of 
one hundred and five. F. P. Dalbey is clerk. Mr. Stearns is still dea- 
con. In addition to the regular services of the church, a Sabbath-school 
is kept in good running order. This is the only society of this denom- 
ination that we have found in the township. It is in a prosperous con- 
dition, so far as we learned. Its church building was the first in this 
part of the township. It was the second in the township, so far as we 
can ascertain. 

That branch of the Christian church which has been called New 
Lights ever since the time of Stone, of Kentucky, manifested quite an 
enterprising spirit in the early settlement of the west. Isaac Emly and 
Zephaniah Wilkins were the principal men in the first efforts here. 
Religious services were held in the Conkey Town school-house, and a 
society organized that continued seven or eight years. Mr. Emly did 
the preaching here. The Peytons and Elizabeth Cast were the most 
important members of this society ; but for some reason, which we did 
not learn, the society failed to keep up an organization here. The 
efforts of the same denomination in the Oakwood neighborhood have 
already been noticed. Stephen Griffith built a brick church and gave 
it to these people conditionally. There was an organization at this 
place for some time, but Mr. Griffith finally took the building back, 
and the place of meeting was changed to the Craig school-house. 
Services were held here until 1862, when the organization was re- 
moved to Pilot township, where the reader will look for a contin- 
uation of its history. In 1874 Rev. H. H. Gunn organized a society 
of Christians — New Lights — at the Central school-house. He con- 
tinued to preach there for two years, and then Rev. John Green 
moved into the neighborhood and took charge of the church. He is 
the present pastor. His church numbers forty members at this point. 
Richard A. Friedrich is the clerk of the society. They seem in a pros- 



846 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

perous condition, and though they have no church, they have one of 
the best school-houses in the township in which to hold their meetings. 
The Campbellite division of the Christian church began meetings 
in the school -house north of Conkey Town a number of years ago. 
William P. Shockey was the minister. He organized a society here. 
Thomas Deakin and wife, William Fellows, and Cyrus RatclifF and 
wife, were among the more prominent members. The organization 
was kept up for a half dozen of years, and then discontinued. The 
number of religious organizations that sprung up in this vicinity is 
remarkable. The Christians (Campbellites) organized a society at the 
Gorman school-house in 1869. The Rev. R. M. Martin was the first 
to hold meetings at this point, but the organization was perfected by 
Rev. W. F. Yates, of Champaign county. Isaac Davis, James Rice 
and wife, Marcus Davis and wife, Thomas Cox, William Dearth and 
P. T. Hedges were the principal members at the organization. They 
enrolled forty-two names at the beginning ten years ago. There are 
about sixty at present. At one time they reached nearly ninety mem- 
bers. There are at present two elders and one deacon. P. T. Hedges 
and James Rice are the former, while William H. Dearth fills the 
position of the latter. These have served in their respective positions 
from the first organization of the society. Thomas Cox wss deacon 
from the organization until the fall of 1878. The present pastor is 
John C. Myers. A Sabbath-school of considerable interest is kept up 
at this point. It will be seen that the people are not without oppor- 
tunities of moral culture, and that a variety of persuasions offer a 
number of creeds sufficient to meet the religious predilections of a 
much diversified population. 

EARLY INDUSTRIES. 

First and foremost among things of this kind must be placed the 
salt-works. This enterprise called the first settlers to the county ; it 
supplied them with a necessity that was hard to obtain anywhere else ; 
its importance was recognized by Indian and white, and by govern- 
ment as well. But as the work and its influence are discussed else- 
where, it is unnecessary to dwell long upon it here. The one hun- 
dred kettles in which salt was made were scattered over the country, 
and occasionally one may still be seen. 

In point of time, the old water-mill on the Salt Fork came in next 
after the industry above mentioned. It was put up at a very early date ; 
in 1826 it was in active operation ; it continued for a number of years. 
At that time people would come all the way from McLean county in 
order to get their grinding done. The mill stood out in the middle of 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 847 

the stream just north of the present mill ; it was built of logs, and ran, 
as all other mills did at that time, by water-power. It was succeeded 
in about the year 1837 by a mill put up by Aaron Dalbey for Mr. John 
Shepherd, who came to Illinois from Ohio in 1836. Mr. Shepherd put 
$3,000 in this mill, and then died before he could realize anything from 
his expenditures. The mill then fell into the hands of Aaron Dalbey, 
and from his possession to Mr. Parris. Parris operated it awhile and 
then sold out to John Hay. In 1873 C. M. Berkley bought the mill 
and has been running it since that time; the same building that Shep- 
herd put up is now used ; it shows very evidently the marks of time ; 
it was moved from the position that it first occupied to the bank of the 
creek ; this was only a short distance. It is 30 x 42|- feet ; it has both 
water and steam power. The supply of water is so constant that the 
steam is seldom used. The mill is situated just north of the south line 
of Oakwood township. 

The first mill on Middle Fork is in dispute. It is frequently 
impossible to get two stories alike. One old settler tells us that 
Mr. Whitsill built the first mill on Middle Fork about 1832 or '33, 
that he operated it several years, and then it fell into the hands of the 
McGee family ; this was a grist-mill with a saw-mill added ; it finally 
went down on account of age. Another man, who has been in this 
country more than fifty years, tells us that James Howell built the first 
mill on Middle Fork ; that he operated it a short time and died, that 
his son did likewise ; that a Mr. Downing then took it, and next James 
Cunningham ran it till it went down. This was first a saw-mill, but it 
finally had a corn-cracker attached before it closed. About forty years 
ago James George built a grist-mill on the Middle Fork and operated 
it eight or ten years ; he then sold to Mr. Watts. The last named ran 
the mill seven or eight years and sold to Phillips. Mr. Phillips then 
sold to Abisha Sanders. Done & Byerly rebuilt the mill and set it to 
going with new energy, but it soon passed into the hands of Swift, of 
Danville, who owns and runs it at the present time. 

COAL. 

Aside from the fertility of the soil, the most valuable natural endow- 
ment of Oakwood township is her coal. It is of good quality and very 
abundant ; there have been such quantities taken from the banks that 
the farmers could almost get it for hauling away. For a number of 
years in the first opening up of the business, any who wished could dig 
all the coal wanted and take it away free of charge. The first use 
made of this coal was probably by Mr. Yance in boiling salt-water; 
he began using coal about 1830. The first who mined and hauled coal 



848 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

away to sell were Rice & Co. ; they would haul with teams to Champaign 
and adjoining counties. The first bank opened was about three miles 
southeast of Oakwood Station. We find the following in the business 
at present : John Thomas, B. Coffeen, William Moore, McBroom & 
Yerkis, Gr. L. Hiatt, L. Veach, Valentine Shock, Francis and Charles 
Moore; these nearly all ship coal. The number of bushels annually 
taken out is immense ; the exact amount we have no means of ascer- 
taining, but the enterprise seems destined to increase in magnitude and 
importance until it will be second to no interest in the township. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

In discussing the educational condition of affairs, we can find noth- 
ing new. It is the same old story that we have all heard our grand- 
parents tell, — of log school-houses, of smoking fire-place, where the 
full length of one side of the house was devoted to the purpose of 
warming the others, of stick-chimneys in many cases, of greased paper 
for glass, of an absent log for a window, of puncheon benches for seats, 
where little fellows' legs might hang over and go to sleep all they chose, 
so that the eyes were on the book ; in short, of all the trials, tempta- 
tions, hardships and vexations of pioneer pedagogy. As a remarkable 
instance of the elementary condition of the early schools, we were told 
of a little incident in the school life of Michael Oakwood. At times 
they had had a good teacher in the Oakwood settlement, one who 
could go beyond the " double rule of three." Young Mr. O. had pro- 
gressed finely in his studies, as things were counted then, and as he 
was a young man, and still desirous of attaining more knowledge than 
the curriculum of the common school afforded, he was advised to begin 
this advanced course of culture by a study of English grammar. Such 
a course could be pursued only by the thoroughly ambitious and quali- 
fied pupil. Mr. O. was fortunate enough to have a teacher who had 
been through the labyrinth of English syntax, but said pedagogue 
had not yet learned our present habits of oral instruction. It was 
therefore necessary that a text-book be purchased. The free-hearted 
disciple of Pestalozzi of to-day would have loaned so ambitious a 
student anything in his library, but the library of the teacher in this 
case contained no treatise on this abstruse science. The young man 
was advised to apply to the book venders of Danville. He did so, but 
without success. He was told that English grammars were not used in 
the schools of Vermilion county, that they never before had any call 
for such an article, and that in the city he would find his search vain, 
unless certain families of culture, lately from the east, should happen 
to have the article, and would be kind enough to benefit him with a 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 849 

loan of the same. The search terminated as anticipated. Mr. O. 
found a Kirkham with the compendium gone. He used this until he 
had an opportunity of sending to Chicago, by Mr. Rankin, who took 
up a drove of cattle, and brought back the necessary books. "We were 
further told of the ignorance of some of the early instructors in these 
schools by a man who attended one of the first in the country. It 
was simply the inability to work through the fundamental principles 
of arithmetic. Our informant said that he " stalled " his teacher in 
long division. Whether he worked out himself, or whether the teacher 
finally mastered the " sum," or whether teacher and pupil remained 
on the elementary side of long division, we were not told, but certain 
it is that much of the early teaching bore about the same relation to 
our modern successful teaching that the old wooden mold-board plow 
bore to the present riding plows. But why should not we expect the 
same relations ? This is an age of progress, and he who thinks he sees 
some great things in "the good old times" needs but go back to his 
wooden mold-board plow, his reap-hook and his sled ; and in school 
facilities to the testament for a child's reader ; to a hook on geography 
without any maps ; and to the days when none but men dare teach in 
winter, and dare not refuse to treat on holidays without the penalty of 
a ducking and a barred door against him. 

The first school building in the township was built about 1829 or 
1830. It was of the usual pioneer pattern, and stood close to the pres- 
ent site of New Town. 'Squire Newel and a Mr. McGuinn taught in 
this house soon after it was built. This house continued in use for 
some time, but another was built on what has a long time been known 
as the parsonage hill, just south of New Town. Another of the early 
school-houses was built on the State Road, near Stony Creek. At 
present the contrast is great between the building, their conveniences 
and number as compared with the condition forty years ago. Large, 
commodious and well-furnished school-houses may be seen in almost 
every district. There is, generally, a good class of teachers, and the 
progress in school work is rapid and practical. 

WAR AND POLITICAL RECORD. 

In the Indian war of 1832 Oakwood had its representatives. Ste- 
phen Griffith, David Makemson and Samuel Makemson were in the 
war. At least, they went out as the threatenings of Indian invasion 
became evident. The volunteers from this part of the state did not 
reach the scene of. action in time to participate in the illustrious cam- 
paign at Stillman, but they were on hand at a later period, ready to 
enter "the thickest of the fight." Mr. Crawford, from Indiana, went 
54 



850 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

out with the company of Independents. He still lives, and resides in 
the western part of the township. He is the only man living in the 
township now that was in the Black Hawk war. There were a num- 
ber in the Mexican war from this township, it is said; but they have 
either moved away or died, as. we met no man who volunteered from 
this part of the county. In the war of 1861 Oakwood furnished her 
full proportion. Captain Levin Vinson led his company mostly from 
the east side of this township. All over the country we meet men 
who braved the cannons of a confederate foe. Here and there may be 
found a widow with a number of children whose father perished in 
his country's service. Among those who left a wife and children we 
found the following: George Boord, of Co. C, 125th Reg.; William 
Hart, 2d Lieut. Co. G, 125th, and Nathan C. Howard, Co. D, 135th 
Reg. Of Mr. J. H. Black's four sons that were in the army, two died, 
one in Jefferson City, Missouri, of typhoid fever, and another near 
Washington, of the same disease. Thomas W. Smith, of Co. F, 26th 
Reg., was wounded in the second day's fight before Atlanta. He 
was taken to Chattanooga and interred in section F, grave 670, in the 
general hospital cemetery, on the 13th of September, 1864. In the 
cemetery on the State Road several soldiers are buried. Two were 
buried in one day at one time. Although their deeds were among the 
bravest of warlike feats on record, others rest in their unknown graves 
with their praises sung only in the general patriotic anthems of the 
nation. But the results of their labors are the same as though their 
names were inscribed on every tombstone in the land, and their deeds 
in the mouths of all who enjoy the blessings of liberty, prosperity and 
happiness so dearly bought and bravely won by the nation's gallant 
men. 

In political matters, the township is pretty nearly evenly divided 
between democrats and republicans. This has been the case for a few 
years only. Formerly, Oakwood stood republican by large majorities. 
On national and state questions they still hold the field, but in local 
elections we find a few democrats in office. Although, as a general 
rule, we find "stalwart" republicans in this part of the county, men 
whose opposition to democracy is as pronounced and vigorous as the 
most radical could desire, we do not find much bitterness nor party 
strife in local affairs. 

RAILROADS AND .HIGHWAYS. 

As has been remarked elsewhere in these pages, the prairies of this 
country were not occupied until a comparatively recent date, but noth- 
ing has contributed more largely to this result than the railroads. Oak- 
wood is traversed its full length by the Indianapolis, Bloomington & 






OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 851 

Western railroad. This road enters the township from the east, near 
the southeast corner of section 8, town 19, range 12, and with the ex- 
ception of a short curve on the east side, follows the section line west 
through to the county line. This is two miles north of the south line 
of the township. The road was built in 1870 and 1871, and though 
many persons were cheated out of the pay for their work, it made lively 
times for awhile. Previously there had been a few little places which 
had been striving to attain the dignity of " town," so that when the 
railroad came much strife was manifested in securing the location of 
stations. But the three, though small, furnish so many shipping points 
for the farmer, and tend to give a lively competition in this line of 
business. Much grain and stock are shipped by this road. It furnishes 
direct communication with Indianapolis, and will be the means of in- 
ducing a thorough cultivation of this wonderful farming land. To one 
unacquainted with shipping figures, the amount already shipped from 
these small stations seems wonderful — both of stock and grain. 

The oldest wagon-road in this township, or anywhere in the western 
part of the county, is the old State Road, which dates back to pioneer 
days. It runs obliquely through the south part of the township, pass- 
ing out at the south side about two and one-half miles from the county 
line. On this road the early settlements on the south and west side 
of the township were made. It is still much traveled. There were 
roads along the timber in various places at quite remote dates, but we 
found it impossible to trace their origin. At present nearly every sec- 
tion line in the township is a laid-out road, while there are many that 
do not follow lines. The level character of the country makes it neces- 
sary that these be either graded or drained. In some places we find 
thoroughfares that must be well nigh impassable in rain} 7 weather, but 
generally the roads are in good condition. This is more especially true 
of those that lead east to Danville, and there are several. 

ORGANIZATION OF OAKWOOD. 

Although the system of township organization was adopted in 1850, 
Oakwood, as a distinct township, dates its birth from a much more re- 
cent period. What is now included within the limits of this township 
lay formerly in Pilot, Vance and Catlin. On the 2d day of October, 
1867, Geo. A. Fox, supervisor from Yance township, offered a resolu- 
tion creating a new township from the territory of Yance, Catlin and 
Pilot, in accordance with the prayer of certain petitioners from said town- 
ships. At this time Mr. West was supervisor from Pilot and Mr. 
Church from Catlin. These gentlemen supported the motion, but the 
supervisors' court concluded to delay action thereon until the March 



852 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

session of the next year, in order that all persons affected by the pro- 
posed change, might have opportunity to approve or disapprove the 
change. Accordingly, on the 9th of March, 1868, the petition pre- 
sented in the fall of 1867 was again taken up, and Mr. Fox urged the 
passage of a resolution creating the new township. An effort was made 
to postpone again the consideration of this resolution, but without suc- 
cess. The prayer of the petitioners was then granted, whereupon the 
township was declared created, and an election ordered for the purpose 
of selecting township officers. This first election was held at the Stearns 
school-house on the 7th of April, 1868 : Geo. A. Fox was elected su- 
pervisor; Henry Sallee, town clerk; J. A. Littler, assessor; J. A. 
Brothers, collector; Joseph Truax, Levin Vinson, J. C. Jenkins, com- 
missioners of highways; Samuel Major and Thomas Makemson, con- 
stables; Geo. A. Fox and J. H. West, Justices of the peace. The 
present officers are (elected on the 2d of April, 1879) Henry J. Oak- 
wood, supervisor ; Henry Sallee, town clerk ; W. H. Noble, assessor ; 
William Craigmile, collector ; Joseph Mullins, commissioner of high- 
ways. Elected in 1878: James Hargan, commissioner of Highways. 
Elected in 1877 : J. A. Littler and William P. Van Allen, justices of 
peace ; J. K. Sowards and Charles N. Trimble. 

There are two precincts in Oakwood township, called first and sec- 
ond ; the line which separates them extends north and south between 
sections 21 and 22, 16 and 15, 9 and 10, 4 and 3, T. 19, R. 13, and be- 
tween sections 33 and 34, 28 and 27, T. 20, R. 13. Oakwood Station 
is the point of voting for the first, and Fithian for the second. 

VILLAGES. 

Oakwood can boast of the number, if not the size, of the hamlets with- 
in its borders. If, in considering these places, we begin with that 
which dates farthest back in the settlement of this country, the place 
around which early legends cling with the dim uncertainty that char- 
acterizes the history of a Thebes, a Cuzco, a Nineveh or a Jericho, 
we must turn our attention first to 

NEW TOWN. 

This village was surveyed and laid out by Benjamin Coddington, 
from the east half of the southeast quarter of section 25, T. 20, R. 13. 
The lots were made three rods wide and six rods long ; the alleys are 
one rod wide. Main street extends north and south four rods wide; 
High street extends east and west, of the same width. The plat of the 
village was filed on the 15th of June, 1838, and given under the hand 
of Owen West, county surveyor, and filed with the probate justice on 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 853 

the 27th of June, 1838. The first man to locate in the vicinity of this 
place was Stephen Griffith, whom we have referred to as coming to 
this neighborhood in about 1825 or 1826 ; but Mr. Griffith was not 
connected with the town. Mr. Coddington built the first dwelling. 
Within a year or two after the building of the first house in the village 
Hezekiah Miners built the second. About the same time Jonathan 
Harris put up the first store ; he ran the business for a short time, and 
then they were a long time without any store. William Reed, the 
early sheriff of the county, built a residence here in 1837. A black- 
smith shop was set up about 1838 or 1839 ; this finally failed and the 
second one was not started until 1857 or 1858. Thomas Henderson put 
up a store in 1849. In the mean time a few families had gathered 
around the spot, until at present there are nearly a score of buildings 
in that vicinity. There is one blacksmith-shop, one wagon-shop, one 
shoe-shop, one school-house, one church, one drug-store and postoffice, 
one general country store of dry-goods, clothing, groceries, etc. etc., 
one M.D., and one parsonage where a minister may generally be found. 
New Town lies off the railroad, and thus experiences a disadvantage in 
competition with its sister villages. The postoffice is kept by S. H. 
Oakwood. Its name is Pilot, and confusion is thus sometimes made 
from the fact that Pilot township lies so close to the north and that 
there is a postoffice there, near Pilot Grove. At New Town there is 
quite a flourishing lodge of 

a.f. & A.M. 

This lodge was organized through the efforts, more particularly, of 
Tilton and Payne, merchants here. For a short time they worked 
under dispensation with the following persons : Lonzo G. Payne, John 
O'Ferrall, T. J. George, Asbury Craig, A. J. Bennett, J. G. Kirsh, 
John Cork, jr., A. S. Tevebaugh, G. F. Hilliary, James Osborne, A. 
B. Tilton. Added to these were : D. Makemson, A. McYicker, Sam- 
uel Durham, J. H. Trimmell, S. H. Oakwood, C. W. Keeslar, C. Sum- 
ner, John P. Tevebaugh, Jesse Wilson, J. H. Van Allen, M. C. Davis, 
Samuel Solomon, F. A. Collison, C. J. Martin and Jesse Doney for 
charter members. Catlin Lodge is looked upon as the mother of this. 
The charter is dated Chicago, October 7, 1 874. A. G. Payne was the 
first master. Since that time Dr. O'Ferrall and Thomas George have 
acted in that capacity. In the summer of 1874, Tilton and Payne, 
merchants, built a new storehouse, and above they made a hall and 
sold it to the lodge. This hall is 22 x 45 feet ; it is fixed up nicely, 
carpeted, and the rooms furnished with all the paraphernalia of a well- 
equipped lodge of A.F. & A.M. The society is out of debt and in 



854 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

good condition. They have a membership of about forty. The officers 
at present are : John O'Ferrall, W.M. ; J. G. Kirsh, S.W. ; M. C. Da- 
vis, J.W. ; John Swift, Secretary ; J. Y. Ludwig, S.D. ; A. S. Teve- 
baugh, Treasurer ; C. Sumner, Tyler. 

CONKEY TOWN. 

Some years ago there was quite a cluster of houses, and a lively 
business was done, at what was called Conkey Town. At present 
it is difficult to find much of the place, but we can find where it was. 
Here is an instance of the influence that a railroad has on a small 
country village when it passes to one side a short distance. We have 
no record of any survey, or any laying off into a town ; but O. M. 
Conkey came here about 1851, and operated a general country store. 
He came from Eugene, Indiana. A Mr. Denman set up a blacksmith- 
shop, and Mr. Conkey got a post-office. Conkey sold out to Rowe & 
Beatty, and they sold to Mattocks & Maters Brothers. These men 
finally closed out about the time that the I. B. & W. came through. 
There was also another man, who kept a grocery, beer, etc.; but he, 
too, closed out and moved away. The first ideas of trade in this part 
of the country were entertained by Mr. Rhodes Smith. He began 
business on the State Road, just down close to Stony Creek, at quite 
an early day. Why he quit we did not learn, but suppose that this 
suggested the idea of Conkey Town, as well as the fact of a successful 
mill which had been operating from the earliest days. During the 
palmiest days of this little village Dr. Wilkins was their physician. 
He has left the reputation of being a good practitioner, and an upright 
man. But its days are over. The place reminds one of Goldsmith's 
words as he sings of the deserted village. W. R. Jones now owns the 
site of the village. He has a farm of two hundred acres here, and that 
includes the town. 

MUNCIE. 

This little village is pleasantly situated on the I. B. & W. R. R., 
about fourteen miles west of Danville. It is just west of the timbers of 
Stony Creek, and has a very desirable location, so far as the natural 
advantages presented by the surface of the country are concerned. At 
least, this is as nearly the case as any location that could easily be 
found in this country, where every place needs draining. Muncie was 
surveyed by Alexander Bowman for Edward Corbley, from the south- 
east corner of section 8, and southwest corner of section 9, T. 19, R. 
13. Main street extends north from the corner of sections 8, 9, 16 and 
17. This corner is marked by a stone 29^ links from the railroad 
track. A plat of the village was filed with the recorder on the 7th of 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 855 

September, 1875. The streets extending north and south are named 
Main, Walnut, Ross and Craig ; those extending east and west are 
Fowler, McCarty and Corbley. The first dwelling was erected by 
Elisha Henry. There are now a number of dwellings, one physician, 
one justice of the peace, one blacksmith-shop, and one firm selling 
goods and keeping a general country store. As yet, Muncie is without 
a school-house and church. The Baptist church is not far away, but 
the school-house is off quite a distance. There is considerable shipping 
done from this point. 

The station at Muncie was first opened in November, 1876. Will- 
iam Lynch was the first agent. The present incumbent is W. L. 
Spicklemire. 

A post-office was first established at Muncie on the 21st of February, 
1876. Frank A. Hickman was the first postmaster, William Lynch, 
the second, and Sanford S. Dickson, the third and last. 

FITHIAN. 

This is the most populous village within the limits of Oakwood 
township. It is situated in the prairie, three and one-half miles east 
of the county line, on the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western 
railroad. Its origin was simultaneous with this road through here. 
As Dr. Wra. Fithian owned vast acres of land in this part of the 
county, it was to his interest to secure the location of a station upon 
it. This he succeeded in doing, and, accordingly, Asa H. Guy sur- 
veyed and laid out a village from the east half of the southwest quar- 
ter and the west half of the southeast quarter of section 7, and east 
half of the northwest fourth and the west half of the northeast fourth 
of section 18, in T. 19, R. 13. The plat was filed with the recorder on 
the 8th of April, 1870. The original plat was a perfect square, and 
contained eight full and eight fractional blocks, lying partly on each 
side of the railroad. The streets extending north and south are — 
beginning on the east side — Jefferson, Main and Adams; those run- 
ning east and west are Clinton, South Sherman, North Sherman and 
Washington. 

Besides the original survey there was another on the north side 
of this, surveyed by Alexander Bowman, county surveyor, on the 12th 
of October, 1873. This is styled the Franklin Addition, and was laid 
off for W. H. Smith and J. C. Black. It consisted of four blocks of 
twelve lots each. On the north of this they opened a street and named 
it Franklin. 

Henry Berkenbusch was the first to arrive at the new station. He 
had been keeping store about one mile north, but when the village had 



856 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

been located he moved down to the road. He was the first to buy a 
lot here, and the first to ship goods on the railroad. After a year, 
he took in, as partner, J. P. Nichols. They operated together until 
1875, when Berkenbusch sold out to Nichols, who has been in the 
mercantile business ever since. Burkenbusch opened his store here in 
March, 1871. The next merchant was H. Penrod, who sold agricul- 
tural implements. He was followed by F. M. Cannady, dry goods 
and groceries. S. Solomon came next with a drug store. At more 
recent date came Frisch, Littler and Booker, and Graham Brothers, 
who still remain. The first physician in the village was Dr. Rice* 
Dr. Smith, of Muncie, was located here for some time. 

Fithian does quite a lively business for so small a place in the way 
of shipping, both of grain and stock. It has one of the largest ware- 
houses, on the railroad, in this part of the country. But there are a 
number of grain and hog buyers, and as much or more business is done 
outside of the warehouse. 

The first postmaster was Henry Berkenbusch. The present incum- 
bent is George W. Graham, who has held the office since 1872. The 
school-house was built in 1873. This building shows the effects of 
constant wear, but the Methodist church recently put up here is an 
ornament to the town. Although there are few church members here, 
this edifice speaks well for the community. 

OAK WOOD STATION. 

This village was surveyed by the county surveyor, Asa H. Guy, on 
the 14th of April, 1870, for Clark E. Griggs, from the S.E. J and S.W. 
\ of section 12, and the N.E. \ of section 13, in township 19, range 13. 
It is composed of thirteen fractional and seven complete blocks, and five 
out-lots of various shapes and sizes. There are twelve blocks on the 
north of the railroad and eight and the five out-lots on the south. The 
first store began here was operated by Johnson & Stewart. It burned 
down in 1871. Henry Dulin put up the next. He has remained here 
ever since. He is the postmaster at present. Lonzo Campbell built a 
warehouse, and bought grain until his death. The property is now 
owned by his heirs, but is not operated. A storm took off the roof, 
leaving it in a dilapidated condition. This little village is like its 
most intimate neighbor, Muncie, in that it has neither school-house nor 
church. But the school-house is not far away, and Finley chapel is 
near. There is some shipping done here, particularly of corn, cattle, 
hogs and coal. The coal mines on the Salt Fork, which yield such an 
abundance of fuel, have this station as their principal point of ship- 
ment. 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 857 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



John Makemson was born in Harrison county, Kentucky, on the 
10th of February, 1809, and died in Bates county, Missouri, on the 15th 
of March, 1878. He was a farmer all his life. He lived in Kentucky 
till he was twenty years old, and then came to Vermilion county, 
Illinois. His father was one of the revolutionary soldiers. He 
stopped first north of Danville, but soon came to the east side of 
Oakwood township, and entered land here in 1829. Mr. Makemson 
lived on the original home-place, now occupied by his son David, 
for forty-one years. He moved to Missouri in 1877, on account 
of his health, and died there. He married Elizabeth Partlow, on the 
9th of March, 1837. They had six children, but only two are living, — 
a son and daughter. Mr. Makemson was a member of the Methodist 
church for forty-four years. He was a good man, much loved and re- 
spected by all who knew him. His widow still lives with the children. 

Stephen Cox, pastor of the Regular Predestinarian Baptist church, 
in the east end of Oakwood township, came to this county in the fall 
of 1829, with his father's family, from Kentucky. Stephen, with the 
other members of the family, grew to years of maturity on the Middle 
Fork. He has lived in various parts of the neighborhood for fifty 
years. He has lived on the place that he now occupies, just north of 
Oakwood Station, since the spring of 1862. 

Joseph V. Davis son of Joseph Davis, came to this county from 
Pickaway county, Ohio, with his father, in 1829. His father was a 
well-known early settler in the neighborhood of Catlin. Joseph V. 
was born in 1825, and died in November, 1852. He lived and died on 
his father's home-place. He married Cynthia McCorkle, on the 13th 
of March, 1851. They had one child, Joseph S. Davis, who now lives 
with his mother, Mrs. Doran, northwest of Oakwood Station. The 
original Davis was a man of large property. The children received 
their due portion, and the grandson is well provided for. The same 
year that Mr. Davis died a brother and brother-in-law died. Each left 
a widow and one child, and all had been married but a short time. 

Samuel Dalbey, a son of the early pioneer, Aaron Dalbey, was born 
in Winchester, Indiana, on the 12th of October, 1829. He lived with 
his father there, and came to this county in 1831. His father had six 
children and one yoke of oxen and nine dollars in money at that time, 
but the boys grew and prospered notwithstanding. Here Mr. Dalbey 
remained on the old farm till grown. On the 28th of December, 1851, 
he married Sarah Watts. After his marriage Mr. Dalbey lived, in va- 
rious parts of Oakwood township, in Indiana and Kansas, till the spring 



858 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

of 1865, when he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land north of 
Muncie, and has remained here ever since. Besides the prairie farm, 
he has some timber land. The former is one mile north of Muncie. 

Aaron Dalbey, deceased, was one of the earliest settlers on Stony 
Creek. He was born in Pennsylvania on the 3d of July, 1801 . He was of 
English descent. He remained in Pennsylvania some time ; was married 
there. He came to Ohio, and then to Indiana, where his wife died, and 
he married Nancy Wright. She died, and he was married to Henrietta 
Catlin. Miss Catlin was living in Indiana at this time, June 27, 1837. 
Mr. Dalbey came to Stony Creek, and opened the third farm on the 
west side. He first stopped on the south side of Salt Fork in 1831, 
and staid one season. He then built the house on the west of Stony 
Creek, and opened the farm. It lies one and a half miles south of 
Muncie, and is still occupied by his widow and her husband, John 
McFarland. 

Simon A. Dickson, deceased, was born near Dallas in 1833. His 
father came to this county in 1824. Simon grew up on a farm, and 
was married to Elizabeth Catlin on the 12th of September, 1854. He 
lived in the south part of the county at first, and then moved to three 
miles north of Fithian, and staid here about six years. He enlisted in 
the United States army in August, and left Danville with the 125th 
Peg., in Capt. Fellows' company. He was in the fight at Perryville. 
He took pneumonia, and died in hospital on the 2d of June, 1863, at 
Nashville, Tennessee. He was a good soldier. Resolutions of respect 
and sj'mpathy for the afflicted widow were sent by the company to 
Mrs. Dickson. He had four sons, who still live in this section of the 
country. 

Thornton Hubbard. Among the early settlers, no one is better 
known in this community than Mr. Hubbard. He was born in Ross 
county, Ohio, on the 20th of March, 1821. His father was Willis 
Hubbard. Mr. Hubbard has lived on a farm all his life. He came to 
Vermilion county with his father in 1833. They stopped on Henry 
Oakwood's farm. Here the father remained until his death, and the 
son until he was twenty-one. Mr. Hubbard worked for Major Yance 
at eight dollars per month, and earned money to enter the land where 
his new house now stands. He married, on the 6th of April, 1854, 
Nancy Dickson. She died on the 25th of January, 1859. They had 
two children : Lily and Willie. He then married Elizabeth Dickson. 
They had two chilciien: Olive and Charles. Mr. Hubbard was mar- 
ried to Sarah Hulick on the 25th of October, 1864. They have three 
children : Lulie, Mary and Willie. Mr. Hubbard owns three hundred 
and seventy-seven acres of land, and has a large new house, built in 1877, 




OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 859 

which cost about $3,000. Mr. Hulick, Mr. Hubbard's father-in-law, 
was one of the first settlers of Perrysville, Indiana. He was an under- 
taker and liveryman in Perrysville for a long time. He afterward 
moved to Illinois, and died in this state. 

Henry J. Oakwood, the present supervisor from Oakwood town- 
ship, was born in Brown county, Ohio, on the 7th of March, 1819. He 
came to this county with his father, Henry Oakwood, in 1833. Po- 
land, Norris and Oakwood were the first settlers in the neighborhood. 
When Mr. Oakwood first came to the county he stopped on the south 
side of Salt Fork, and then built on the north side in the spring of the 
next year. Henry J. grew to manhood on his father's farm, and began 
for himself by working around. He bought his first eighty acres of 
land on the north side of his father's farm. It was low prairie, and 
some of the early settlers were sorry that he should take hold of such a 
bad piece of property. But his land, when drained, proved to be a 
good investment. He taught school three years in his younger days, 
but now owns property enough to keep him employed looking after its 
interests. He has six hundred acres at present. He married Priscilla 
Saylor on the 9th of April, 1850. They have eight children. Besides 
supervisor, which office he has held for some time, he has held various 
positions of trust, but is chiefly known as a man of business, whose en- 
ergy and good sense keep things moving. 

Henry Sallee is not only one of the oldest settlers, but he is one of 
the stanchest men of Oakwood township. Mr. Sallee was born in 
Brown county, Ohio, on the 3d of June, 1810. He removed to Ken- 
tucky at the age of five and one-half years, and stayed with his grand- 
parents till they died. He came to this part of Vermilion county with 
his uncle, Michael Hickman, in 1834. He stopped on the south side 
of Salt Fork until he married Matilda Oakwood, on the 8th of January, 
1835. She was a daughter of Henry Oakwood. They had three 
children, two of whom are still living near their father. Mr. Sallee 
bought the place where he now lives and moved on it in the fall of 
1837. He bought one hundred and sixty acres first and improved it, 
and afterward added more till his premises now include three hundred 
and fifteen acres. He was married a second time, in 1861, to Eliza- 
beth Jones, a daughter of William Jones, who settled quite early on 
the southeast of Danville. Mr. Sallee has been a member of the Cum- 
berland Presbyterian church for thirty-five years, and an elder since 
1850. He has been town clerk since the organization of the township, 
and school treasurer of town 19, range 13, for thirty-one years. 

Francis M. Rankin resides on the old Young farm. His father, 
Montgomery S. Rankin, was born in Kentucky on the 15th of Decern- 



860 HISTOEY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

ber, 1807; his mother, Matilda Blackburn, was born on the 4th of 
March, 1808. Francis M. was born on the 29th of September, 1833, 
near Cynthia, Kentucky. The Rankins reached their home in this 
county on the 14th of April, 1834. They lived sixty miles up the 
Licking River, and two families joined, built a family boat, and came 
down the rivers and up the Wabash to Filson's Ferry. The family 
lived east of Fairmount ; then four years at Homer. Mr. Rankin, sr., 
is dead, but his wife is still living. Francis M. stayed on the farm 
which his father bought in 1845, till he was grown. He moved to 
Iroquois county and stayed three years, but has been in Vermilion 
county nearly all his life. He bought the heirs' claims and now owns 
six hundred and forty acres including the Young farm. He deals 
largely in stock, feeding from one hundred to two hundred head an- 
nually. He was married to Elizabeth Young, daughter of William 
Young, on the 15th of October, 1865. She was born on the 30th of 
March, 1842. They have six children : Gertie is the oldest, then come : 
Montgomery S., Warren W., Francis M., Lyford M., Alta N. 

Thomas W. Deakin, deceased. The early settlers pass away, and 
their places are filled by new and strange men. Their early struggles 
may be recorded in history, but the facts of a personal character are 
remembered only by those whose interest can never flag in regard to 
the dear ones gone before. Mr. Deakin was one of Vermilion's early 
settlers — one of her persevering pioneers. He was born in Warren 
county, Ohio, on the 2d of August, 1811. His father died when the 
son was quite young. He remained in Ohio on a farm until 1835, 
when he came to this county with his brother John Q. His first stop- 
ping point was on the road from Danville to Champaign, on Salt Fork. 
In 1837 he married Miss Sarah E. Swearingen, who was then living at 
Hickory Grove, Champaign county. He remained on the same farm 
until his death. At first he entered one hundred and sixty acres of 
land, but afterward he began enlarging this territory, until he became 
the owner of a large property in this section of country. He was also 
a dealer in stock, trading to a considerable extent. He was a member 
of the Christian church, and remained a firm believer in its doctrines 
until his death. 

William Mead, a son of Nathaniel Mead, one of the oldest old set- 
tlers in the western part of the county, was born in Hamilton county, 
Ohio, on the 24th of May, 1822. He remained in Ohio until 1835, 
when he came with his father's family to Vermilion county. The 
family stopped at Conkey Town when they first came. William after- 
ward went to New Town, and from there to Mr. Foster's place. He 
moved then to Crab Apple Grove, and next to one mile south of 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 861 

Fithian. He then came to the farm he now holds on State Koad, 
southeast of Muncie. He has been here twenty-one years. A portion 
of his place has been cleared of timber. He married Margaret Tanner 
on the 16th of November, 1843. She died, and he has married a 
second time. His children live near him with the exception of one 
son, who is teaching in Indiana. Mr. Mead has been industrious, and, 
notwithstanding the hard times, is independent and out of debt. 

John McCarty was born on the 22d of August, 1809, in Virginia. 
His parents moved to Ohio when he was small. His father was a 
cooper. Mr. McCarty was a farmer. He married Miriam Sewell in 
Clinton county, Ohio. They lived there on a farm about six years 
and then came west. He came to Salt Fork in 1836. He staid there 
one year, and then came to where the widow now lives. They were 
about the first family in this part. Here Mr. McCarty lived until 
his death, on the 18th of September, 1877. He was school director 
and a respected citizen in the community for a number of years. He 
had eleven children, but five only are living ; these are James S., 
George, Alvin N. and two married daughters. Mrs. McCarty is one 
of the few remaining persons who settled in this neighborhood when 
the prairies were yet undeveloped wastes, and Stony Creek had no 
inhabitants but Indians. 

Joseph L. Shepherd, farmer, is regarded as one of the most success- 
ful men on Stony Creek. He was born on the 21st of September, 
1825, in Pickaway county, Ohio. His father came to Ohio at a very 
early date. Joseph L. was the youngest of the family. They came to 
this county in 1836. Mr. Shepherd put $3,000 into a mill on Salt 
Fork, but died before the mill began work. He owned four hundred 
and eighty acres of land. Joseph L. grew up in the neighborhood, 
and married Louisa Davis in January, 1849. Mr. Shepherd came to 
the farm where he now lives in 1849, and stopped at the grove at first. 
He has three children by his first wife. He married Elizabeth Mires 
in 1861. They have had nine children, four of these are dead; three 
died at about the same time with diphtheria, in January, 1879. Mr. 
Shepherd owns three hundred and twenty-five acres of land at home 
place, eighty acres near Fairmount, and fifty-eight acres of timber 
land. His frugality and economy have made him independent. 

J. C. Stearns, a son of Seneca Stearns, came to this county with the 
family in 1836. He was born in Clinton county, Ohio, on the 5th of 
August, 1835. He grew to manhood on the farm still occupied by his 
father. He worked at the carpenter's trade for five years. He was 
married on the 4th of December, 1861, to Susan Snyder, of Mont- 
gomery county, Indiana. They set up on the farm of Wm. McBroom. 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

After short residences in various places, he bought land on the State 
Road, southeast of Muncie, where he has continued to reside ever since. 
He now has one hundred and forty-five acres of good farming land. 
He has been here since 1866. Although comparatively a young man, 
Mr. Stearns can well remember the time when this country was yet in 
a state of almost uncivilized wildness. 

James H. West was born on the 15th of March, 1822. His father 
was Michael West, who was a native of Maryland, but afterward went 
to Kentucky, and then to Clark county, Ohio. From Clark county, 
Ohio, the family came to Vermilion county, Illinois, in January, 1838. 
The elder Mr. West rented a farm of James Norris, one mile south of 
Oak wood station. James was brought up on his father's farm in Ohio, 
and lived in the family in this county till grown. He then went to 
Ohio, and took part in the campaign of 1840. He came back to Illi- 
nois, and went to New Orleans, and from there across to Havana, Cuba, 
with a load of produce, which he sold to the inhabitants at a good 
profit. He went to New Orleans a second time, and in 1844-5 was 
engaged in driving beef cattle to New York city. In 1846 he went to 
Wisconsin, and from this date till 1850 dealt in horse and cattle trade 
to Wisconsin. In 1849 Mr. West was married to Eliza V. McGee, of 
this county. He then lived two years in Champaign county. After 
this he moved to Middle Fork. He came to the place where he now 
lives in 1867. Here he owns two hundred and forty acres of land. He 
has seven children living and three dead. Mr. West was elected super- 
visor in Pilot township in 1866, and served two terms; then elected 
justice of the peace in Oakwood for two years; he then served as 
supervisor for Oakwood for four years. He has always held office of 
some kind. He has also been successful in business. 

John M. Havard, farmer, is yet comparatively young, but he is an 
old settler of Vermilion county. He was born in New York city, on 
the 31st of May, 1833. His father was from Wales. He was a farmer, 
and came to this country on account of the opening it presented for 
any who wished to make a living. Mr. Havard, jr., was brought up 
on a farm. His parents came to Ohio and stayed four years. They 
then came to this county, in January, 1838. He stopped on section 25, 
town 19 north, range 14 west. He had been out in 1834 and bought 
land ; he came on foot. He stayed on this farm until his death, on the 
9th of August, 1859. Mr. Havard, jr., stayed in this neighborhood till 
he was twenty years old. His father bought the William Parris place, 
and the son and daughter came to it, where they kept together until 
a short time before her death, which occurred in May, 1872, from con- 
sumption. Then Mr. Havard kept tenants, and " bached " for five 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 868 

years. He married Sarah E. Richter on the 29th of September, 1870. 
He still lives in the house that William Parris moved from Salt Fork — 
eight miles — thirty-two years ago. Mr. Havard has eighty acres on 
his home place, and one hundred and sixty acres one half mile north. 
He has four children. He is proud of anything he may have done for 
the support of our country, believing that patriotism is one of the first 
principles of a true manhood. He received his education in the log 
school-house, and although fourteen months is all the schooling he 
received from the age of six to seventeen years, yet he is a man who 
delights in books and reading. 

Capt. Levin Vinson is well known and much respected bj' the peo- 
ple of Oakwood township, both on account of his honesty and integrity 
as a man, and for the services he has rendered his country. He was 
born in Parke county, Indiana, on the 20th of February, 1829. He was 
brought up a farmer. He came to Vermilion with his father in 1840. 
They came to the same farm that the Captain now owns. Mr. Vinson 
has been a large land-holder, but sold off recently. He married Nao- 
mia Ligget in September, 1850. He is a member of the A.F. & A.M. 
lodge at New Town. Mr. Vinson went out with the 125th Peg., as 
captain of Co. I. He led the company till they started with Sherman 
to the sea. His health failed, and he resigned in March, 1863. He 
came home and remained. 

Isaac K. Cannon, Oakwood, farmer, is known as one of the neatest 
corn-producers of the township and of the county, so far as we have 
learned. He is an old man, but we found him plowing away in the 
warm weather, like a young man just beginning in life. Mr. Cannon 
was born in Delaware on the 15th of February, 1817. His father was a 
farmer, and the son staid there till he was twenty-six years old. He 
then came to Ross county, Ohio, and staid about two years on Deer 
Creek. He came to New Town in 1845. He lived four years near 
this place, then about two miles west, four years, and then moved to a 
large farm one and a half miles northwest. This belonged to Mr. 
Campbell. He then moved to Mr. Craig's place, and staid twelve 
years; then to the place where he now lives. After staying here five 
years he tried keeping boarders in Fithian for thirteen months. From 
Fithian he went back to the farm, and still lives there. He bought 
one*hundred and sixty acres of land first, and then eighty. He now 
owns one hundred and eighty-seven and a half acres, having given his 
son a piece. Mr. Cannon married Eliza J. Brown on the 15th of 
March, 1838. They have had eight children ; six are living, five sons 
and one daughter. 

William Hart, Oakwood, deceased, was one of those brave men who 



864 11IST0KY OF VKKMll.lON COUNTY. 

sacrificed their lives for the Bake o\' their country. He was born in 
Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 20th oi' February, L882, but his father soon 
moved to the country, and William was brought up on a farm, lie 
came toVermilion county with his parents in 1845. lie improved the 
farm where his mother still lives. In 18(52 he volunteered in the 125th 
111. Inf., Co. Gr. He went out as a private, hut was soon appointed 
sergeant, and afterward second lieutenant. lie was in the Perryville 
tight, October 8, 1802, but took sick afterward, and died of bone ery- 
sipelas in the hospital at Nashville, Tennessee, on the 2d of April, 
L863, His body was sent home by the captain, and interred in the 
cemetery near the State Road on the south side of the township. Mr. 
Hart married Sarah E. Dougherty on the 18th of December, 1853. 
They lived on the home farm till after he went into the army. Since 
then Mrs. Hart has bought a small farm just north of Fithian, and 
kept her children there. The youngest was born after the death of 
his father. Although sixteen long years have passed since the death 
of the husband and father, his deeds still live, and his memory will 
ever be cherished, not only by the family, but by all who honor patri- 
otism. 

S. H. Oakwood was born in this county, in Blount township. He 
is a grandson of the original Henry Oakwood. He was brought up on 
a farm. He began teaching at the age of twenty. He taught and 
farmed for live years, and then went into the drug business in New 
Town in the spring of 1875. He has been postmaster since January 
I. 1870. He was married in September, 1878, to Laura Bennett, of 
Georgetown, lie is a member of the New Town Lodge of A.F. & A. 
M., and also a R.A.M. of the Danville Chapter. 

John R. Thompson now lives on the farm first settled by William 
Smith in 1830. This is one of the oldest settled farms in southwest 
part ot Oakwood township. Mr. Thompson was born in Washington 
county, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of April, 1830. He remained there 
till grown. He then came to the western part of Vermilion county. 
He came with a drove of sheep, and continued in the business for six 
years afterward. During this time he often took sheep to Chicago, 
and herded them where the main part of the city is now located. He 
went to farming about 1857. He was on the Boswell farm two years, 
and also two years on another east ot' his present residence. He then 
bought one hundred and sixty acres, and improved it, but sold again, 
and bought two hundred acres in another place. This latter was 
known as the David Wright farm. He sold again, and bought six 
hundred acres where he now lives. He has operated this since 1865. 
His family have been in Danville three years, but are now on the farm 




WILLIAM C. HARRISON 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 865 

again, with the exception of the eldest son, who graduated from the 
Danville high school in the class of '79. Mr. Thompson was married 
on the 26th of November, 1856, to Elizabeth Wright, daughter of 
David Wright. They have nine children. 

Stephen Brothers was born in Carroll county, Ohio, on the 25th of 
September. 1829. His father was a farmer, and brought up his son in 
the same calling. Mr. Brothers also followed blacksmithing. He came 
to Vermilion in March, 1851. He came to Bloomfield, and then to 
Danville, where he worked as a smith. He afterward went back to 
Ohio, and then to New York, but came back to Illinois. He has also 
been in Nebraska four years. He married Mary Hall on the 14th of 
May, 1857. They have two sons. Mr. Brothers is a member of the 
Methodist church, and was a class-leader in Nebraska. Mr. Brothers 
was in Co. I, under Capt. Vinson. He was second lieutenant. At the 
battle of Perryville he was knocked over by a shell, but not seriously 
hurt. He resigned his commission in April, 1863. 

George A. Fox has been more closely identified with the local pol- 
itics of Oakwood township than any man we have met. He was born 
in Greene county, Pennsylvania, on the 28th of February, 1823. His 
father was a brick and stone mason. Mr. Fox was taught farming, and 
remained in his native county till the 2d of May, 1853. He reached 
the neighborhood where he now lives, on the 9th of July, 1853. In 
1854 he bought two hundred and forty acres of land where he now 
lives. On the 9th of November he married Margaret Oakwood. She 
was the youngest daughter of Henry Oakwood. They have six chil- 
dren living ; one is a graduate of the Danville Business College and 
another is teaching. Mr. Fox was elected J.P. in 1856, and served 
in that capacity till 1870 ; he was supervisor for four years, 1866- 
69 ; he was the first supervisor from this township. In Vance town- 
ship he was assessor and collector for three years, 1859-61. He has 
been school director sixteen years ; was first elected in 1858. He 
was also school trustee for three years. In 1868 he got every vote 
but one for supervisor. He has been a member of the M. E. church 
since the 3d of January, 1851. He has been class-leader for a number 
of years. He is steward and trustee at the present time for Finley 
Chapel. 

Richard A. Friedrich, although not one of the oldest settlers of the 
township, is one of the first inhabitants of the prairie where he now 
lives, and is well known throughout the county. He was born in 
Saxonj^, Germany, on the 15th of August, 1830. He was brought up 
on the Hartz Mountains. He went to school all the time he lived in 
Germany. He came to New York on the 1st of December, 1848 : 
55 



866 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

went to Prince William county, Virginia, and staid five years, coming 
to Vermilion county on the 12th of June, 1853, and settling just be- 
low the Gorman school-house ; he entered a quarter-section there. He 
moved to where he now lives, three miles north of Fithian, in the 
spring of 1867. He has been here ever since. He was married to 
Permelia Allhands on the 6th of August, 1854. They have had ten 
children. Mr. Friedrich owns eighty acres of land where he lives. 
He was collector in 1870, '71 and '72, and in '74 and '75 was assessor 
and collector, and in '77 and '78 was supervisor. He has been school 
treasurer for this township for the last ten years. 

George Boord, deceased. " They live. Although the individual life 
has lost its identity, its value can never be lost. The nation's life is 
not composed alone of those who live, but of the many sacred offer- 
ings that have been laid upon her altars." George Boord was born 
in Warren county, Ohio, on the 27th of June, 1826. His father was a 
brick-mason and farmer. Mr. Boord was brought up on a farm. He 
remained in Ohio six or seven years, and then came to near Covington, 
Indiana. He came to where his widow now lives in 1854. He mar- 
ried, on the 9th of September, 1847, Sarah A. Bowling. She was a 
daughter of one of the earliest settlers of Covington. Mr. Boord en- 
tered one hundred and sixty acres of land, but the widow has sold 
twenty of it since. Mr. Boord was a member of the 125th Reg., Co. 
C; was with the regiment as they marched to Nashville. This broke 
his health ; he was transferred to the invalid corps and then to a camp 
in southern Indiana. He then went to Camp Dennison and was sick 
for some time. Mrs. Boord got word that he was worse, and went to 
see him immediately. She reached Columbus, and out to Camp Chase, 
thinking to find him, but he was dead and buried when she got there. 
He died on the 5th of November, 1863 ; his remains rest in the cem- 
etery at Columbus, where the names of many soldiers are inscribed on 
a suitable monument. There are four children living: Alpheus E., 
Martha A., Elijah J. and Ida May. Martha is married to Joseph 
Fisher. The other three are at home. Mr. Boord was a member of 
the Christian church fifteen years, and died firm in the faith and happy 
in the hope of life to come. 

Joseph Truax, Oakwood, farmer, was born in Muskingum county, 
Ohio, on the 25th of July, 1838. He came to this county in 1854; he 
stopped first east of Pilot Grove. He married a daughter of Eli Hel- 
miek. He went into the army in the 125th ; he came out captain ; 
he was all through the thickest of the struggle. He now lives on his 
farm south of Oakwood Station. He is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. 






OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 867 

William B. Dolph was born in Indiana on the 17th of September, 
1853. He came to this county with his parents in 1854. His father 
is a farmer, and W. B. was brought up on a farm till sixteen years old. 
He then attended school at the Champaign Commercial College. He 
was married in 1875 to Mary Corwin. They have two children. They 
now live in Oakwood Station. 

Sanford S. Dickson, merchant, was born in the south part of this 
county, on the 22d of July, 1855. His father was Simon A. Dickson. 
He moved about with his father until the latter went into the army ; 
then the mother and children went to Indiana and staid three years. 
They again moved to the farm and Mrs. Dickson married Dr. Smith. 
From the age of sixteen Mr. Dickson managed for himself. After two 
years he went into the store of J. Littler, at Fithian. J. A. Cowles 
bought Littler out and Mr. D. became partner on the 1st of January, 
1877, and then moved to Muncie. The firm is J. A. Cowles & Co. 
Mr. D. was married on the 29th of January, 1879, to Frances O. Selby. 
Mr. D. is now the postmaster at Muncie. 

John E. Thompson, farmer, was born in Clarke county, Ohio, on the 
5th of March, 1824. His father was a farmer, and brought up his son 
in the hardy culture of the soil. Mr. Thompson came to Edgar county 
first, and then to Vermilion county, in 1856. He came at that time to 
the place where he now lives. He married Sarah E. Simpkins on the 
7th of June, 1849. They have had six children, but four only are 
living, three sons and one daughter. The daughter married J. F. 
Funk. One son went to Colorado. Mr. Thompson owns eighty acres 
of land, and farms much more. He is a member of the Fithian Lodge 
of I.O.O.F., and a man much respected in the community in which he 
lives. 

James H. Black, farmer. We were directed to Mr. Black for the 
facts in regard to the early history of this country. It certainly was 
fortunate, for few men are better acquainted with the early history than 
he. He was among the first to venture on these prairies, and has lived 
to see their development in a marvelous way. Mr. Black was born in 
Bourbon county, Kentucky, on the 6th of January, 1814. His father 
was a farmer, and was born in the same county. His father came to 
Indiana while that was yet a territory, to where Wayne county now 
is. This was in 1814 or 1815. The family came to Warren county in 
1822 or 1823. At that time they had to go south to mill about sixty 
miles. Mr. Black, jr., remained in this neighborhood till 1856. Then 
he came to where he now lives. He bought two hundred and forty 
acres of land, and has lived here ever since. He was married in 1834 
to Eliza Ann Odell, a native of New York. They had seven boys and 



868 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

three girls, — only two sons and two daughters now living. Four of the 
boys were in the army. Two of them died there. They also had a 
son cruelly murdered in the state of Kansas by a man who got into 
difficulty with him in regard to some land. Mr. Black has divided up 
his land among his children, and kept only eighty acres for his home- 
stead. John Black, 'father of James H., was born in Kentucky about 
1785. He lived in Kentuclvy till he had four children, and then came 
west. After moving, as noted above, he came to Mound Prairie in 
1822 or 1823. His was the third house there. The first on that prai- 
rie was John A. Lewins, who had come in the spring of the same year. 
Thomas Cunningham had entered the land previously, and came on 
with his family soon after. Mr. Lewins' family arrived, and then in 
the fall of the same year came Mr. Black. Mr. Black also maintains 
that the first man at Perrysville was Jacob Andrix. Soon afterward 
came George Hicks, who came in west of Perrysville. Mr. Andrix's 
house was on the Indian trail from Fort Harrison to Tippecanoe. 

John McFarland is known as one of the best farmers of Oakwood 
township. His farm shows the hand of a careful manager, and his purse 
feels the weight of successful farming. Mr. McFarland was born in 
Bedford county, Pennsylvania, on the 25th of May, 1821. His father 
moved to Ohio while John was young. They lived in Marion and 
Belmont counties. Mr. McFarland married Rachel S. Oxford in Perrys- 
ville, Indiana, in 1849. They had four children. Mrs. McFarland 
died, and he came to Illinois. In the spring of 1856 he married the 
widow of Aaron Dalbey. They have four children. Mr. McFarland 
now owns three hundred and twelve acres of land, including the orig- 
inal farm of Aaron Dalbey. 

Abraham Illk is a native of Germany. He was born in Wurtem- 
berg on the 2d of February, 1835. His father was one of the princi- 
pal taxpayers of that country. Abraham went to school till fourteen 
years old, and then worked in his father's vineyard. He came to New 
York in 1853. He says that Illinois has the best reputation in Ger- 
many, so he came to Chicago. After working in several places he 
came east of Homer, and worked on the T. W. & W. R. R., and lost 
his work. He came to the place where he now lives, and bought first 
forty acres. Since he has added to his forty till it is one hundred and 
ninety-three acres. He was married to Catharine Ford in 1857. They 
have eight children. The eldest, Julia, is now teaching. 

H. C. Wright, farmer, was born in this county. He owns one hun- 
dred and twenty acres of land in the east end of Oakwood township. 
His father was one of the first in this neighborhood. Thomas N. was 
the father's name. He owned considerable land in here. He has been 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 869 

dead some years. H. C. lives with his mother, and they operate the 
place. 

John G. Kirsh was born in Bavaria, Germany, on the 18th of Octo- 
ber, 1837. Like all German children, he attended school till fourteen 
years old. He left the Fatherland at the age of sixteen, and reached 
New York in August, 1853. He worked at Terre Haute and Indian- 
apolis in hotels. At Covington he learned the carpenter trade, lie 
came to Danville in 1857 and worked at his trade. In 1858 he married 
Eliza J. Kinney and came to the country. They had one child. He 
then went into the United States army, in Co. I, Capt. Vinson, 125th 
Inf. He was with the regiment in the fight at Perryville, on the 8th 
of October. He was left, sick, at Bowling Green, Kentucky, but 
joined the regiment at Nashville, in February, 1863. He was with the 
regiment until after the battle of Mission Ridge, but was then detailed 
to guard a Union man's property, first by Harman, and then by J. C. 
Davis. He joined the regiment again near Atlanta, and went with it 
to Savannah. When the army started to join Grant in the north, Mr. 
Kirsh was captured. He had gone out with a small foraging party, 
and they were lost and then captured. The first night afterward he 
and three others escaped, and traveled for some time, nearly reaching 
the command, but were re-captured and taken to Augusta, and then to 
Macon, and afterward to Andersonville. Mr. Kirsh was in the terrible 
prison three months. He more than substantiates all the terrible 
stories we ever heard about the den. Mr. Kirsh, with others, was 
taken to Jacksonville and liberated at the close of the war. He was 
reported dead at one time, but he finally reached Springfield, and was 
mustered out. After the war Mr. Kirsh was married to Mrs. Arm- 
strong, whose husband was killed at the battle of Shiloh. 

Dr. Samuel T. Smith was born in Fayette county, Tennessee, on 
the 11th of December, 1818. His father was Nicholas Smith, a farmer, 
and also an ordained elder in the Christian church. Dr. Smith is of Ger- 
man descent. He moved to Wayne county, Ohio, with the family, in 
1820. Here there were a vast number of the Smiths— over four hun- 
dred. The Doctor was raised on a farm. He moved to Williams 
county in 1840, and remained there till 1850. He sold his farm and 
went to studying medicine in 1845, with Drs. Hall and Morrison. He 
served as justice of the peace at this time. He stayed here till 1850. 
At the breaking out of the California excitement he engaged with a 
train from St. Louis, and went as physician in the Great April Line. 
Here he learned much of cholera. He came back in 1852 to Ohio, and 
next year to Illinois. He practiced medicine in Grundy county four 
years, and then came to Vermilion, in 1858. He went into the 39th 



870 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

111. Reg. as physician ; was post surgeon at Mitchellville, Tennessee. 
His health failed and he came back to Conkey Town, and then to 
Fithian, in 1871. In 1877 he moved to Muncie, where he still remains. 
In 1866 he was married to the widow of Simon A. Dickson. They 
have three children. The Doctor has a large practice in this part of 
the county, and is well known in professional circles over the county 
as a first-class M.D. 

William H. Noble, Fithian, farmer, was born in Butler county, 
Ohio. His father was a farmer. They came to Indiana and then to 
Illinois in 1858. Mr. Noble bought land close to Fithian. He has 
been on the place most of the time since, although he went to the rail- 
road when the new station started up. Mr. Noble has been an officer 
in Oakwood for a long time. He is noted as an officer of wonderful 
executive ability, accuracy in transacting business, and ability to please. 

James W. Barton was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, on the 
4th of August, 1845. James came to this county when thirteen years 
old. He enlisted in the United States army at St. Joseph, Champaign 
county, in the 51st Reg., 111. Yol. Inf., Co. B. They went to St. Louis 
first, and then to Cumberland, Kentucky. They wintered at Nashville, 
and were in the fight at Murfreesboro'. Then they went to Chatta- 
nooga. Mr. Barton went into the hospital on the 4th of April, 1864. 
He was in hospital at various places, but recovered sufficiently to join 
the regiment again at Nashville ; but his health soon failed, and he was 
discharged on the 4th of December, 1864. He came back, and has 
been in this county since. Exposure to the inclemency of the weather, 
long marching and the hardships of army life have broken his constitu- 
tion, but he has been unable so far to get a pension. 

W. J. Gohn, farmer, is a native of Ohio, being born in Wayne 
county on the 23d of March, 1845. His father was a shoemaker by 
trade. He came to Illinois in 1862 from Indiana, where he had lived 
two years. W. J. went to Indianapolis in 1864, and staid till January, 
1870. He was dealing in agricultural implements. He came back in 
1870, and went in the same business in Danville, in 1870-71. Since 
that time he has been on the farm. He was married to Hannah J. 
Campbell on the 14th of September, 1871. She is a daughter of Joseph 
Campbell, one of the earliest settlers of Newell township. They have 
two children. 

William C. Harrison, deceased, was born in Indiana on the 25th of 
March, 1837, near Ladoga. His father was a farmer, and an early 
settler in that county ; he is still living. Mr. Harrison came to Ver- 
milion county in the spring of 1862. He was married to Nancy 
Graybill in Indiana. She was a native of that state. They settled 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 871 

on a farm half a mile south of Oakwood Station. He bought fifty 
acres first, and increased it to two hundred and seventy-two. Mr. 
Harrison died on the 23d of February, 1879. He took a severe cold 
and a sudden attack of lung fever. Mr. Harrison was an honorable 
and upright citizen. He was a member of the republican central com- 
mittee. He was prompt and reliable in business, and offered a life 
worthy of emulation. He died without owing a cent except his doctor 
bill. His children are: James H., John K., Kobert I., Charles B., 
Sarah E., Thomas S., William Scott, Clark E. Two of the eight are 
dead. 

Ezra J. Bantz is of English and German descent, his ancestor 
being from Maryland and Kentucky. He was born in Preble county, 
Ohio, on the 12th of January, 1827. His father was a farmer, and 
taught his son the same business. When Mr. Bantz was seven years 
old his father moved to Delaware county, Indiana. Mr. Bantz, sen., 
died there, and the son began for himself. This was in 1848. Mr. 
Bantz came to Vermilion county in December, 1864, but moved his 
family in 1865. In March, 1848, he enlisted in the U. S. army, in the 
15th Inf., regulars, under Capt. Jones. He enlisted at Logansport, 
Indiana. They went to Newport, Kentucky, and remained in the 
barracks there till ordered to New Orleans. But before the command 
had time to start, the city of Mexico had been taken, and the troops 
never went. Mr. Bantz has a medal, given him at Washington, D.C., 
which recognizes him as one of the veterans of the Mexican war. E. J. 
Bantz was married to Nancy Thorn burg on the 9th of November, 
1848, in Indiana. They have five children : two daughters and three 
sons. When he first came Mr. Bantz bought one hundred and sixty 
acres of land, but has increased it to four hundred and five. 

William Hill was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, on the 7th of 
March, 1836. His father was a farmer, and brought his son up in the 
same vocation. Mr. Hill came to Vermilion county in 1864. He was 
married on the 2d of October, 1856, to Corrilla Francis. They have 
five children. They first came to one and a half miles north of New 
Town. They moved to their present residence in March, 1879. 

James Hargan, farmer, was born in Hardin county, Kentucky. His 
father was a farmer, who lived and died on the same place that he first 
occupied after his marriage. James Hargan left Kentucky in the fall 
of 1853, and went to Putnam county, Indiana. Mr. Hargan was born 
on the 6th of March, 1826. He was married on the 21st of February, 
1856, to Catharine Grantham. They have seven children living. Ida 
May died in the spring of 1879. The two eldest boys are married; 
they entered the matrimonial state in the spring of 1879. Mr. Har- 



872 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

gan came to Illinois in 1865, and came to the place where he now 
lives at that time. He is a man who takes an interest in public wel- 
fare, and is now one of the highway commissioners of this township. 
He takes interest in organization of societies, both church and other- 
wise, and is himself a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. 

It is with pleasure we record the facts in regard to a man's history 
whose life presents a record of services rendered for the public good. 
George W. Graham was born in Monongalia county, Virginia, now 
Marion county, West Virginia, on the 25th of October, 1835. His 
father's name was Ebenezer Graham. George W. was brought up on 
a farm, where he remained until his fourteenth year. The ten years 
succeeding this date found him in various parts of Marion and Wirt 
counties. At the expiration of this time he came to Henry county, 
Indiana, where he remained nearly two years. When the spring of 
1861 came it found him wending his way to his native state. The war 
cloud was threatening, and he proposed to be on the scene of action. 
He entered the service immediately as a scout and guide, being em- 
ployed by Gen. George B. McClellan on the recommendation of Gov. 
Pierpoint. He continued in this service about three months, until 
the 7th of August, when he enlisted in the three years' service of 
the Union army. He remained in the 6th Va. Inf. nine months 
under Capt. Maulsby. .The company was then transferred to the In- 
dependent Battery Light Artillery. During 1862 they served in vari- 
ous parts of West Virginia, keeping the front line of the rebels back 
till they were sent into the valley, in the winter of 1862. The first 
fight of importance in which they were engaged was at Martinsburg, 
on the 15th of June, 1863, where Capt. Maulsby was wounded and 
Mr. Graham took command. He led the battery from this time on. 
They were'at Winchester on the 22d and 24th of July, and followed 
the illustrious Sheridan through his valley campaign. Mr. Graham's 
career was marked with success from the beginning. As a scout and 
guide, he rendered important service in directing the movements of 
the army, on account of his acquaintance with the country. When he 
enlisted he entered as a private. He held all the noncommissioned 
offices in the company, and then went through the commissions to the 
head of the list. He received his first commission in the spring of 
1 862 ; was afterward first lieutenant, and then took command of the 
company in June, 1863. He was mustered out at Harper's Ferry in 
the fall of 1864. He staid in Virginia about one year afterward, and 
then came to Vermilion county, Illinois, in summer of 1865. He first 
stopped on Salt Fork, near old Major Vance's salt works, bought forty 
acres of coal land, and worked a good part of the time in the coal busi- 



OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP. 873 

ness. He came to Fithian in the spring of 1871 ; here he united with 
his brother, and formed the firm of Graham Brothers, and has con- 
tinned in the mercantile business ever since. These gentlemen have 
been quite successful in life, and by their industry have gained a con- 
siderable portion of this world's goods. 

Enoch T. Graham, of the firm of Graham Brothers, is a native of 
Virginia. He was born in Monongalia county on the 4th of May, 
1820. His father, Ebenezer Graham, was a farmer, and brought up 
his children in that best of methods, the method that makes honest 
toil the base of future prospects. Enoch remained on the farm until 
he reached the years of maturity. After the death of his father he 
bought out part of the heirs, and held the homestead. He held this 
until the year 1862. Mr. Graham was established in mercantile busi- 
ness in Wirt county, Virginia, for some time. Before the beginning 
of the war in 1861 he closed out, and, having sold out his interest in 
the homestead, came to Henry county, Indiana, in 1866. Here he 
bought a farm, and remained two years. Then he bought eighty acres 
of land in Champaign county, Illinois, and remained there two years. 
From Champaign county he came to Vermilion, in 1871. He and his 
brother formed the partnership which still exists, and began business 
immediately in the village of Fithian. They keep a general stock of 
dry goods, groceries, clothing, etc. Mr. Graham has never been 
pierced by Cupid's arrows, but remains a free, un trammeled man of 
single blessedness. The season of his life which Mr. Graham regards 
as most trying was from 1861 to 1863. He was a delegate from "Wirt 
county to the convention which met at Wheeling, on the 11th of June, 
1861, to reorganize the government of Virginia. As will be remem- 
bered, this convention appointed Pierpoint governor, and he went 
ahead with the restored government till the state of West Virginia 
was admitted to the Union. Mr. Graham was elected, on his return, 
clerk of the circuit court, and held the office till 1863. These men 
were all declared traitors by the old government, and many of them 
were caught and sent to Libby prison. Mr. Graham had to fly to the 
Ohio River twice during his term of office, in order that raiding par- 
ties might not destroy the public documents in his possession. 

L. R. Myers is a native of Pennsylvania, but was brought up on a 
farm in Ohio, where he moved when young. He came to Vermilion 
county to the place where he is now living just north of Muncie. He 
is operating the old Vance place, which belongs to the heir of Richard 
Fox. In 1869 he married Sarah E. Lowman, who was living in this 
county at the time. They have six children. 

Although Mr. G. W. Purnel is not one of the old settlers of Ver- 



874 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

milion county, he is a native of the Wabash valley. He was born in 
Fountain county, Indiana, fifteen miles east of Covington, on the 13th 
of February, 1834. His father was one of the earliest settlers of that 
part of the country, and his mother is still living. She is eighty-four 
years old, and as lithe and active as many a young woman. She can 
walk a mile almost as quick as anyone, and is constantly engaged in 
some kind of work. Her husband cleared seventy acres of heavy 
timber in those early times, and she spun and wove the cloth for the 
children's clothing. Mr. P urn el, jr., was brought up on the farm near 
Covington. His father died in 1852. In 1854 he married Nancy 
Henry. He came to his present residence, just south of Muncie, in 
1871. He bought two hundred and fifty acres of land here, and has a 
fine farm clear of encumbrances. He has four children. 

Thomas Firebaugh, Ogden, farmer, was born in Champaign county, 
Illinois, on the 22d of August, 1845. His parents were early settlers 
in that part of the state. Thomas came to Vermilion in 1872, and 
settled where he now lives. He was married in 1868 to Lucinda 
Hobick. He has five children. He bought eighty acres of land here 
from Thomas Hannah in 1871. Mr. Firebaugh is a member of the 
Christian church. 



BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. 

Blount township, which received its name from Mr. Blount, who 
had been an early settler in the town, but who had moved away before 
he became famous, lies in the exact center of the county, having two 
tiers of townships north of it, two south of it, and Pilot to the west 
and Newell to the east. It was formerly attached to and a portion of 
these two latter, for political purposes, but the two streams North Fork 
and Middle Fork formed such barriers to the convenient interchange 
of neighborly civilities and the transaction of official business, that in 
1856 the supervisors erected that portion which lay between the two 
streams into a separate township, and called it Fremont, after the popu- 
lar, dashing general, who that year was the republican candidate for 
president. This name did not prove entirely acceptable to the demo- 
cratic " element," which was a rank growth of that time, in this Messo- 
potamia, and they decided on the present name. The lines which form 
its eastern and western boundaries are very irregular, but follow, as 
near as straight lines and right angles can keep, within hailing distance 
of a creek. It embraces all the southern half of town 21, range 12, 
two half sections of town 21, range 11, three and one half sections of 






BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. 875 

town 21, range 13, all except nine sections of town 20, range 12, and a 
narrow strip of the west side of town 20, range 11, making, in all, 
slightly more than a congressional township and a half. Its surface is 
higher in the middle and north, where the prairie lies, and was princi- 
pally covered in its southern half and along its eastern and western 
boundaries with a stalwart growth of forest trees of oak, walnut, 
maples, and here and there a beech, which is, so far as the writer 
knows, the most northerly appearance of this forest tree in this state. 
The timber line has been very materially increased since the earlier 
settlements by the protection which civilization has thrown around it. 
Where originally only a few scattering trees stood, like sentinels on an 
advanced picket, is now found a full growth of beautiful timber. A 
few farms have been made, of course, where timber originally grew, 
but an old resident says there is much more forest in the township now 
than when white men first came into it. 

The Indians were still here along the banks of the Middle Fork 
when the early settlers came. For four or five years they were here 
irregularly, remaining a part of the year near the famous spring, which 
attracted their attention, on the present farm of Cyrus Crawford, on or 
near section 8 (20-13). They always appeared friendly, and did not 
seem jealous of their new neighbors. Mrs. Hannah Fairchild, who 
lived near them, says they often came to her home for such articles as 
they wanted, and seldom gave her any cause for alarm. At this time 
the Indians were not permanently located here, but spent a portion of 
their time here, while getting ready to move across the Mississippi 
River. They numbered fifteen hundred at that time. 

Samuel Copeland was among the first to settle here, if not the very 
first, in Blount township. He settled in a bay of the prairie, on section 
14, and resides at the same place yet, within a few rods of the place 
where he stuck stakes fifty-one years ago. He was led to settle here 
because he thought it was healthy and would soon settle up. His wife 
and four children accompanied him. He had hired a man to cut some 
rails, and brought a load of plank with him. His first care was to get 
some place to live. He leaned the rails up against a tree, and put the 
planks down on the ground for a floor and bed, and went to hewing 
logs for his house. As soon as he could get the logs hewn he sent to 
State Line for help to put them up. A house-raising was one of those 
occasions which required the aid of the entire neighborhood, and in 
his case of another neighborhood, also, for he could not get men in his 
own to put it up. It was thought to be no more than a duty which 
one owed to any new settler, to " help him raise." No special invita- 
tion was thought to be necessary. Notice was sent to make known 



876 



HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 



the fact that a house was to be raised, and everyone who got notice 
deemed it just as much his duty to go as to "fodder his stock" or cut 
his night's firewood. When Copeland got his logs ready he sent out 
notice, and men came on horseback six or eight miles to put them up. 
The first day it rained, and they had -to go back home without accom- 
plishing the work, but the next day every man came back to finish the 
job. Nobody thought of accepting pay for such acts. If a house was 
to be moved, the habit was to turn out with their oxen and hitch to it and 
move it to the desired location. If a lunch was spread it was all right 
and was enjoyed, but if not convenient, the men would go home after 
their neighborly work was accomplished. He erected his first house 
right across in front of where his present house stands. This house was 
sold after he built his present residence, and moved to Blue Grass 
Grove, and after that was moved to Buck Grove, and may be in Chi- 
cago or Milwaukee by this time, if it kept on moving on the approach 
of civilization. The early settlers came principally from Ohio, Indi- 




A PIONEER CABIN. 



ana and Kentucky. When Copeland came here, in 1828, Ware Long 
lived out east of him in the timber, and remained there until he died. 
Amos Howard, Mr. Shokey and Mr. Priest lived in the southern part 
of the township, each of whom had families. Ezekiel Knox lived about 
three miles south. He made a good farm, and left a family when he 
died. Several families soon settled around, on and near sections 26 and 
35 (20-12), near the south line of the township. This was for a long 
time known as Howard's neighborhood. 






BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. 877 

The first school-house built in town was the old log house one half 
mile east of Mr. Copeland's house. The neighborhood built it in 1830. 
It was a considerable undertaking for the time, as there were few 
to help, and voting taxes for schools and school-houses had not then 
been invented. But these people rightly estimated that what they 
did in the way of improving their condition in a financial point of 
view would be of little value to their children unless they could have 
schooling. John Skinner was the first teacher. The earliest scholars 
were William, George and Perry Copeland, William Wright, Nancy 
and Susan White, Mr. Fairchild's children, Mr. Louin's and Mr. 
Swisher's. Three years later the settlement around Copeland's had 
stretched out so far west that a frame school-house was erected on the 
road half a mile west of Mr. Copeland's house. In this new house, which 
still lacked all the modern improvements of swing-back seats and 
lock-drawer desks, blackboards, etc. John. Higgins and John Stipp 
taught. At that time it did not cost, including books, to exceed three 
dollars a term to school a child ; at present the amount is hardly less 
than four or five times that. 

The first preaching in the township was by the Rev. Mr. McKain, 
in 1829, at John John's house, about three-fourths of a mile northeast 
of Mr. Copeland's. 

In the first building of that city which is now the wonder of the 
world, immediately after the close of the Blackhawk war, about 1833, 
quite a trade sprang up between it and this part of the country. Wheat 
and oats were the principal products which the farmer had to exchange 
for what he wanted to buy. They used to go there with ox-teams, 
camping out every night on the road. Wheat would bring from fifty 
cents to seventy-five cents, and at one time oats brought one dollar per 
bushel. All the grain taken there was measured when sold, in the 
half-bushel. Bags were the only granaries, and the " elevating " was 
done by throwing it on your shoulder and carrying it where it 
was wanted. Corn was too cheap to make it an ordinary item of mer- 
chandise. 

The same year, 1828, the Fairchild family, a family which has, per- 
haps, exerted as wide an influence as any one in the township, came 
here to reside, and formed the nucleus of what was known as the Fair- 
child neighborhood, nearly two miles northwest of Mr. Copeland. It 
consisted of old Daniel Fairchild and his five sons: Timothy, Zenas, 
Orman, Lyman and Daniel, and his daughter Mrs. Blevens. They 
were all married, and with their young families commenced in earnest 
to make homes in the new country. The old gentleman was quite old, 
nearly blind and helpless, and did not live long after coming here. All 



878 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

the children are now dead, but the widows of three of them still live 
here with several of their children to recount the exciting circum- 
stances of their early labors here, and hold the line between the pres- 
ent and the past. 

Of this family, Rev. Daniel Fairchild was best known, and, perhaps, 
was most widely influential. He was converted at a camp-meeting, 
near Evansville, Indiana, when eighteen years old, and was almost 
immediately licensed to preach in the Methodist church. His license 
was annually renewed by authority of that church. In 1850 Bishop 
Hamline ordained him a deacon, and in 1859 Bishop Simpson ordained 
him elder. During the long years of his busy life here he was engaged in 
preaching the gospel up and down through this part of the county, in 
an acceptable manner to all classes of people. He did more to keep 
alive the spirit of vital religion than almost any man in the vicinity, 
and never tired of the good work which he was specially ordained and 
selected to do. When he came here he was only able to enter forty 
acres of land, and moved into a little log house with puncheon floor, on 
the edge of the prairie near where his brick residence stands. His 
wife, who still survives him, enjoying the love of her large family of 
children and grandchildren, was a poor orphan girl whom the kind 
parents of Mr. Fairchild took when homeless. The third and fourth 
generations of Daniel Fairchild, sr., now live in Blount, a shining ex- 
ample of the fulfillment of the promise. Everywhere a Fairchild, or 
the descendant of a Fairchild, is respected. 

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Fairchild lived here on the place he first en- 
tered, on section 4, bringing up their large family to honest industry. 
For twenty years the mother, with such help as her children could give 
her, performed the glad duties which this swarm of little ones imposed 
on her; made the cloth which clothed them ; kept the minister's home 
for this neighborhood, and, in her husband's frequent absence on his 
missionan' work, had imposed on her the double parental duties. She 
and her sister-in-law, Mrs. Hannah, or Aunt Hannah, as she is better 
known, boarded the hands who made all the bricks for the church, as 
their contribution to the work. Of fourteen children born, eleven 
grew up, and nine now live near her. Forty-eight grandchildren have 
learned to lisp her name. 

Mrs. Hannah Fairchild, the widow of Orman, lives just south of 
where their brother Daniel long lived. They were married at Evans- 
ville, Indiana, when she was only sixteen, and came on the farm where 
most of the active years of her life have been spent, while the Indians 
still inhabited the grove near their home. They came to live in a lit- 
tle log house without any chimney, and tried to make one which should 



BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. 879 

serve the purpose out of mud and sticks, but the wind blew it down 
one stormy night, and they had to devise some better plan. They had 
no money to enter land, and for fifteen months went without meat, so 
that they could turn their growing stock into money to pay for the 
land they lived on. A little incident will show how neighborly these 
people were. Samuel Copeland was one of their nearest neighbors, a 
mile or more away. He was well-to-do, and in that early time his 
word was as good as a bond. A stranger who was looking for a good 
piece of land to enter told Mr. Copeland that he believed he would 
enter the tract that Orman Fairchild was on. Copeland told him if he 
did that, if he ever got out of fire he would not give him a brand at his 
house. To refuse one a brand of fire before the days of friction matches 
was about as severe a punishment as one in a new country could 
inflict. That Sammy Copeland would have kept his word to the claim- 
jumper no one who knows him would doubt. The first year their only 
horse died, and Mr. F. got hold of a yoke of steers which for two years 
was his only team to plow or to mill or church. Commencing married 
life so young, Mrs. F. found it necessary to work harder than many 
women to make up the cloth and other articles necessary for comforta- 
ble living. Usually in those times the young women gave some years 
to making up the wearing apparel necessary to commence housekeep- 
ing. She commenced the life of a pioneer at an age when she had had 
little chance to prepare anything. Taking the flax from the ground 
and the wool from the sheep's back, she "pitched in," as she says, mak- 
ing the most of every minute to keep ahead of the new T recruits which 
were coming in rapid succession to fill up the Fairchild home. " How 
did you women manage," asked the writer, " to do the enormous 
amount of labor which was imposed on you, making all your cloth, 
clothing, sugar, butter, cheese, soap, candles, coloring, rendering your 
lard and tallow, taking care of your lambs, calves, etc., garden, and all 
the thousand and one things that devolved on you, and visit the sick 
and those in need, with a baby to take care of most of the time? You 
are perhaps aware that now-a-days the mother who raises two children 
keeps a hired girl, hires her own sewing done, buys her husband's and 
sons' clothes ready made, and keeps a horse and carriage to ride in, 
thinks she is most worn out at forty." The answer was not long de- 
layed : "I have had thirteen children, and when my first was small I 
had two wheels, a large and a small one. I made a sling of my apron 
to put him in, squaw-fashion, and hung him over my back, and kept 
the big wheel going. When he needed nourishment I took him on 
my lap and sat down to the small wheel. By this change of position 
I was rested and the baby was cared for. Not only did I have all this 



880 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

to do, but for twenty-five years practiced the avocation of midwife all 
through these woods. When I was kept from home on these errands 
longer than I thought my nursing child would permit, I used to send 
the anticipating father back to my house to bring me my baby. So we 
lived, and now, at seventy-five, I do my own housework, cook, wash 
and manage my farm." Seeing is believing, an old proverb says, and 
yet there is one who, though he saw and believed, cannot yet under- 
stand how the good mothers of the olden time escaped certain death 
from overwork. 

They went to Paris for their grinding, until Mr. Treat built his 
mill at Denmark, and after high water carried that away Alex. Bailey 
began a mill, which Wyatt completed and used. They used to pound 
corn in a mortar with an iron wedge, for a month at a time. Once 
the good woman thought she was ruined. In moving from Edgar 
county her sieve got torn up, and there was not one for sale anywhere 
for miles around. She was unhappy; but the Lord, or some one, 
dropped a deer-skin in the road, and she had heard of a sieve being 
made out of a skin, and she went to work at it. She wet the skin and 
rolled it up in wood ashes, until the hair came off, then soaked it, and 
when partially dry, perforated it with a pegging awl. It answered the 
purpose finely, and all the neighbors borrowed it. Snakes were the 
chief causes of fear. At one time, just as she had finished getting 
breakfast; by her fireplace, she picked up her baby off the floor and 
dropped down into her chair, when she saw a snake crawling out of 
the hollow fire-log. She called her husband to kill it, and, by the time 
that was done, another came out of the same cavity. At another time 
she saw one hanging down from the unlathed floor-timbers over her 
bed before she had got out of bed in the morning, swinging .back and 
forth, apparently hunting a good place to fall. The expedition with 
which she gathered up her baby and disappeared from that immediate 
vicinity is said to have been somewhat marvelous. Of the other Fair- 
childs who came here early, Zenas died at Bean Creek a few years ago, 
Lyman on the Middle Fork, and Timothy a few miles south of here, 
where his widow still resides. 

Morgan Rees, now one of the few earliest settlers left in the town- 
ship, came from Pennsylvania to Indiana with his father in 1818. His 
father, John Rees, died there, and Morgan came to this county in 
1827, and has remained here ever since, though not all the while in 
this township. He lived at Butler's Point one year, and then entered 
land, one hundred and sixty acres, in section 26 (21-13), just across 
the line west from that town. He remained there eight years. He 
went to the Black Hawk war in Capt. Thomas' company. He helped 




BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. gyj 

lay out and bury the fourteen who had been killed by the Indians 
fifteen miles above Ottawa on Indian Creek. They had been dead 
eight days, and had been shockingly mutilated and hacked to pieces. 
He moved into Blount township in 1836. At that time James Smalley, 
Wallace Sperry (who committed suicide near his house), William and 
Freeman Smalley, Enoch Oxley, were all living within two miles of 
Higginsville. Two miles farther on was the Fairchild neighborhood, 
and some ways still east of that the Copeland neighborhood, where 
Samuel Copeland, Mr. Johns, Truax, Humphrey, Cosat and others 
lived. In the southern part of the town were the Howard and Luman 
neighborhoods. 

. In 1834 and 1835 a large number of people, probably twenty-five 
families, sold here and went to Wisconsin. The lead mines were just 
beginning to attract attention, and people rushed there as they do to 
Leadville now, expecting to get rich in a little while. Among those 
who went there at that time was Mr. Blount, after whom the township 
was named, Mr. Wm. Lane, who still lives here at an advanced as:e. 
Old John Snyder, grandfather of Barton Snyder, and his family, and 
Messic and Magee, were then here. 

About one-half of this township was then timber ; some of it has 
been made into farms, and timber has grown up where before it was 
comparatively open. Hunting was the principal business followed. 
There was not in these parts much of such enterprise as< we have since 
seen. Sickness was terrible. Whole families would be down with 
sickness at the same time. The ague, the milk sickness, and other 
diseases that were consequent upon early settlement, were so common 
that people were broken in spirit, and their energy was sapped. Bees 
rode as constable in this county twenty-one years. He has had all the 
experiences of an early officer who had the tracks of horse-thieves to 
follow in times when the name "horse-thief" carried with it as much 
opprobrium as " abolitionist." He taught the first school in this part 
of the town. It was in a little cabin just southeast of Higginsville 
that had been abandoned by its builder, and as no certificate was re- 
quired and no' rent to pay, he conceived the idea of putting the vacant 
cabin to use for a seat of learning. He carried around a subscription- 
paper and got enough subscribed, so that he thought he could live by 
it, and opened a school. There were few who could teach it any better 
than he, and those few would not teach so cheap. There were no other 
schools in the neighborhood to compare it to, and no big scholars who 
could "stump the teacher" in "rule of three" or grammar. So he 
made it go pretty well, and taught two quarters. As a wielder of the 
gad and rule he had few equals, and no superiors, in the Higginsville of 
56 



882 ' HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

that day. The quarter's schooling was placed at two dollars and a half 
per scholar. He had eighteen one quarter and twenty-two the other. 
He received about ten dollars per month and boarded himself. The 
furniture was primitive. The benches were made out of slabs and 
rails, and he could hardly aiford a blackboard. He used the old United 
States Spelling-book, English Reader and Testament, and Pike's Arith- 
metic. Each scholar had a different book, and no one had a full .sup- 
ply. The scholars studied aloud, and the one who made the most 
noise was understood to be making the best progress. He never heard 
of a schedule, thinks it would have been a decided improvement. The 
roll of scholars, as far as he now remembers it, embraced John, Almeda 
and Rachel Storms, Jennie and William Smalley, three children of Mr. 
Truax, James, Freeman, Frank and Sabie Smalley, John Smalley's 
children, Malinda Freeman, and John, David, Moses, Christopher and 
Thomas Loving. William Loving lived one mile and three-fourths 
east of Higginsville, where his sons still reside. James Smalley be- 
came a minister, drawing his theological as well as his literary learning 
no doubt from Rees. 

The ancient law required punishment by whipping for theft, and 
the whipping was sometimes pretty severe, too. Thomas Wyatt lived 
down near Decatur, and used to come up here and trade with the 
Indians. Whisky was his legal tender, and he used to trade on the 
basis of one quart of whisky for a pony. He frequently got hold of a 
dozen ponies in this way, or by stealing them outright, and would then 
run them off and sell them. He buried a jug of whisky on the hillside 
in Butts' land, and expected to come back and turn it into ponies; but 
before he got around to it he was run up into Indiana and caught, 
tried, and convicted of horse-stealing. He was whipped, and died. A 
man by the name of Griffiths was tried as his accomplice, because some 
of the horses were found on his premises. Some years after this Rees 
found the jug of whisky which had been secreted, and that portion of 
it which he sampled was pronounced a very superior article, rather 
better, indeed, than the " sour mash " or " benzine" of the present day. 

Mr. Oxley, about the year 1832, made a tannery east of Higgins- 
ville. He had about eighteen vats, using the oak bark, which was very 
plenty on the trees, but difficult to obtain. This may seem strange, 
but the reasons for it are plain. Bark will peel only during the sum- 
mer months, commencing about the time of corn-planting, and sticking 
fast by about the middle of September. A sudden change in the 
temperature, such as occurs in September, will stop bark peeling in an 
hour. The months of the year in which nature allows bark-peeling 
were the only ones that laboring men here had enough to do, and it 



BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. 883 

was an industrious man who could find time between corn-plowing and 
harvest, or between harvest and threshing, to peel a few cords of bark. 
Tanners had in those times not sufficient capital to buy sections of tim- 
ber land, cut off the oak for the bark, and let the land go back. The 
vast aggregations of capital which are now employed in tanning and 
leather were then unknown ; so Mr. Oxley's speculation, while it did 
not cost him very much to inaugurate it, never was a great success, be- 
cause he never was able to drive it very hard. He tanned all kinds of 
hides, and found a market for his leather in every little shoe-shop in 
the country around. Rees carried it on for him a while. After him 
John Hilliard had it three years, after which Mr. Oxley took charge of 
it himself for a while, until 1845, when he sold out the whole concern, 
with other lands, to J. W. Goodwine, who came in here from Indiana, 
looking for good land where he could put in his time to good advantage, 
and fatten his steers, as well as the next man who came. 

In 1836 Amando D. Higgins (a brother of Judge Van H. Higgins, 
of Chicago), and Marcus C. Stearnes entered the east half of the north- 
west quarter of 36 (21-13), and bought sixteen acres off the south end 
of the east quarter of the southwest quarter of section 25, to bring 
them out to the road, and laid it out in town lots, platting and record- 
ing it in January, 1837, and called it "Yermilion Rapids." The plat 
was on both sides of the stream, and showed the "river" to be about 
ten rods wide, and large enough to float a steamer. The " rapids " 
were the main feature of this speculation, as no boat could pass up 
stream any farther than here. Along the river front of this "town," 
boats could take on the products of the rich farming lands for miles 
around, and discharge the merchandise brought from foreign climes in 
rich profuseness. Direct communication would be kept up all the year 
with New Orleans, Rio, Cuba and Europe, except a couple of winter 
months, when the people would be in constant anticipation of the 
opening of spring, and the revival of business activity along her 
wharves and in her great warehouses. The rapids, unless removed 
by government authority and appropriation, must ever remain a bar to 
extending navigation farther up stream, and this city could not help 
being' the grand mart of trade for a hundred miles around. The prin- 
cipal streets running north and south to the "river front" were four 
rods wide, and were named Parish, Higgins, Chicago and Main ; those 
running east and west were three rods wide, and named Williams, 
Buffalo, Bluff, Spring and La Port. A wide " levee" lay between these 
streets and the "river," giving ample room for "business." This town 
was beautifully platted, and was taken to New York city to find pur- 
chasers. The younger ones of our readers can never fully realize (the 



884 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

older ones, some of then], remember) the extent to which this species 
of speculation was carried on just before the financial crash of 1837. 
The times were "flush," business of all kinds was in the high tide of 
apparent prosperity ; money was plenty, the banks were liberal, rail- 
roads were building all over the country; every river town was looked 
on as a bonanza which needed only to be well " blowed " to make it a 
source of untold wealth. Nobody knew what property was worth, 
and the fictitious prices which specific speculation always puts on its 
wares looked very reasonable upon water lots which were only waiting 
the dull toot of the steamboat on the one side, and the shrill whistle of 
the locomotive on the other, to give it life and real value. Such was 
the condition of things when A. D. Higgins took his plat to New 
York to sell lots to the Wall street speculators. He was a little too 
late, however, for the panic had struck the center of trade, and western 
lots would hardly bring the price of the paper they were platted on. 
He never sold a lot. Morgan Rees now farms the land which Higgins 
intended for a mart of trade. The writer of this waded across the 
"rapids" of this paper city in May, 1879, without wetting his feet, 
although there was water enough there to have wet his feet if he had 
been shoeless. The property was sold to Parish, Metcalf and Ebenezer 
Higgins, and came to be known as Higginsville. Amando had a store, 
and commenced to build a mill half a mile west of where the Higgins- 
ville store now is, and Ebenezer finished it after it came into his pos- 
session, and ran it a few years, when the high water swept it away. 

Naffer & Smalley built a saw-mill three-fourths of a mile southeast 
of H. in 1832. It did very good work and sawed up a good deal of 
stuff, for hardwood lumber was in demand for fencing, building, furni- 
ture and other such purposes. A grist-mill was afterward added to it, 
and did pretty good custom-work. It run till about 1860. Not a ves- 
tige of it remains now. 

Henry Harpaugh, who still pounds his anvil in the mansion which 
Elder Herron used to live in, came from Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1836, 
and has been almost continually blacksmithing from that time to this, 
more than forty years, the oldest and probably the earliest blacksmith 
in this part of the town. He built a shop right in the road east of 
Higginsville, then built a house near by. For eighteen years he has 
been using the old log house which was once the abode of Mr. Herron ; 
portions of it are torn away. It has settled so, and the refuse from his 
forge which he has thrown around the door have so raised the ground, 
that you could scarce get a horse inside of it. Of those who lived about 
here when he came, only Morgan Rees remains to tell the story of early 
life along this part of Middle Fork. 



BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. 885 

Cyrus Crawford settled the same year, 1836, southeast of him, on 
the Danville road, and still lives there. He has been a worthy and 
respected citizen for more than forty years, and still lives on the farm 
which he entered. His eight children live around him, making his 
sunset days pleasant in the enjoyment of their society and love. Mr. 
Elliott lived a half mile out on the prairie east of them, which was the 
farthest extent anyone had then tried. He is now dead, and his farm 
is a part of the Goodwine land. In the same neighborhood, one mile 
east, resided then Michael French, who afterward went to Indiana ; 
Cornelius and Abram Peterson, F. Smalley, Kobert Lockhart, Milton 
Anderson and Munroe Rees. Goodwine became owner of all their 
lands. 

Peter Cosat came here in 1830 and commenced a farm on section 
11, just west of Samuel Copeland, and lived there about thirty years. 
He died, and his family is scattered, one son living in Ross. His brother 
David came in 1834, and took up land near him in the timber, and 
lived there until 1849, when he sold to Mr. Gunn and went to Wis- 
consin, where his father-in-law had gone. The first tax he paid was 
ten cents — that was when Thomas Short was collector — and he suc- 
ceeded in paying all of it in silver without being sold out by the col- 
lector. Mr. Cosat came back from Wisconsin a year later, and bought 
one hundred and twenty acres of B. M. Kirk, at five dollars per acre. 
When he first came here he could ride anywhere through the timber 
without encountering so much as an ox-goad, and it was not until the 
fire had been kept out several years that the undergrowth began to fill 
up the timber. He engaged in farming and raising cattle and horses. 
He still resides on the farm, but thinks he has nearly passed his work- 
ing days. Several of his children live near him. His son, John J., is 
a justice of the peace, and is an ordained elder of the Christian church. 

William White, now one of the oldest citizens in town, took up 
land where he still resides, just east of Copeland's, about 1831. He 
was a man of excellent character; very decided in his religious convic- 
tions. He raised quite a family of girls, several of whom now reside in 
the vicinity. He is now very old and feeble. His memory will long 
be held in just esteem by those who have long known him. 

John Johns came here from Kentucky, having lived a while in In- 
diana, in 1829, and settled in the Copeland neighborhood. It was at 
his house that the first preaching was held. His brothers-in-law, Ben- 
jamin Stewart and John Mills, and his father-in-law, Mr. Humphrey, 
came on here to live a few years later. They were all excellent people 
and much esteemed. Mr. Johns now lives in Danville. He remained 
in Blount, farming, until 1852, when he removed to D. and engaged in 



886 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

the lime and plaster trade. He is the father of ten children, eight of 
whom live in Danville. Mr. Mills now lives in Fairmount. 

John Ricard moved here from Ohio in 1835, took up land in sec- 
tion 14, and owned some on the prairie farther north. He lived here 
about twenty-five years, and for sixteen years served as justice of the 
peace. He was a prominent and influential man, and was instru- 
mental in getting the township laid off; Alvin Gilbert succeeded in 
getting the name Fremont given to it. This stirred up every demo- 
cratic drop in his veins, and he rebelled. He did not propose to stand 
it. He would never permit his township to be named after the aboli- 
tion candidate for president. His reasons for selecting Blount were 
that it was an uncommon name; that he was a good man and had early 
settled in the town, and was one of the earliest preachers living in it, 
and was no abolitionist by several degrees. 

Old Abram Blount came here to live in 1830, and took up land in 
section 28 (20-12) in the timber, where Elisha Grimes lives. He was 
a man of powerful frame, and loved hunting better than working on a 
farm. He had the best gun in town, weighing eighteen pounds. He 
was a preacher of the Christian church, a good neighbor and an excel- 
lent citizen. He became dissatisfied with the country, however. He 
had lost seventeen horses, and thought their death was caused by milk- 
sickness, and offered to sell out ; he sold to Mr. Snyder, and went 
away. When the question of changing the name of the new township 
came up, Norris Young proposed the name of Blount. The people 
remembering the jovial old man with kindly feelings, accepted the 
name. 

J. B. Cline came from Kentucky in 1829, and settled on section 25. 
He made a good farm, and was a good citizen. He had nine children, 
who are all dead but Spencer, who lives still in the same log-house his 
father built. Mr. Cline died many years ago. His widow died within 
the year past at the age of eighty-four. Spencer, the only living child, 
has lived here fifty years. Of ten children five are living, three of 
them at home. Jacob Grimes came here in 1832. He rented awhile, 
and then bought land in section 26. He now resides in Danville. 

¥m, Cannady came from Kentucky in 1828, and made a home on 
section 35, where Joseph Creamer now lives. He died about ten years 
ago, and his family are either all dead or moved away. He was a good 
man, kind hearted and true. During the time of the deep snow, and 
at times of scarcity, he used to seek out families who were in want and 
carry corn meal to them when he had nothing better. After he got 
too old to work, he spent his time whittling brush-brooms, to give to 
those whom he supposed stood in need of them. 



BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. 887 

Joseph Dyserd came to Blount about 1830. He had a large family, 
four of whom yet live in this vicinity; one is the wife of George 
Pentecost, of Danville. Mr. Gillen, who came here about the same 
time, died soon. His son still lives here. 

Wm. Lane came in 1836, and took up land in section 22, where he 
still resides. He has been several times married, and has a large 
family, the older ones of whom are scattered through the country and 
elsewhere. One was the first wife of Judge McDowell, of Fairbury, 
and another the wife of John Wapples, jr., now living in Livingston 
county. Mr. Lane has been a successful farmer, raising and feeding 
stock largely, and now, though past seventy, is strong and able to do 
considerable work. He has always been a man of influence, and that 
influence always for good. 

The Nebiker family, who were here early, went from here to Nau- 
voo, and joined the Mormons. So far as known, they were the only 
representatives of Blount who have openly espoused those doctrines. 

I. R. Gritton came here from Kentucky in 1840, and bought land 
of the estate of Abram Rees. Mr. Rees owned a farm on section 23, 
and, while at work building a mill at Denmark, died. Mr. Gritton 
had a family of five children, only three of whom survive. One was 
killed a year since by Mr. Clem, in a difficulty growing out of the lease 
of a piece of land. One of Mr. Gritton's first acts, after coming on to 
his farm, was the selection and planting of an excellent orchard, which, 
owing to his good judgment and care, was for a long time a source of 
increased revenue. Gritton's orchard was known far and near as one 
of the best in this neck of woods. He never has been a member of 
any church, but his conversation shows that he has a true appreciation 
of the results of a sincere religious life in a community like this. The 
now aged couple are saddened in their last days by the tragedy which 
took the life of a dear son. 

Isaac Smith came from Ohio in 1838, and entered eighty acres in 
section 32 (21-12), and lived here until his death. His son, G. G. 
Smith, who for many years has served the township as supervisor in so 
capable a manner as to indicate that he has a life lease of it, lives on 
the farm which his father made. While himself a member of the 
immortal Smith family, his children rejoice in lineal descent from the 
honored family of Fairchild. 

The Smalley family, the names of whom have frequently appeared 
in these items as among the very first in the northwestern part of the 
town, exerted a very beneficial influence on society, as leaders in reli- 
gious and educational affairs. The tone of the neighborhood, indeed 
of the entire town, still feels the effects of their early earnest efforts. 



888 HISTOKT OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

In and around what is now called Higginsville, these old pioneers up- 
held the doctrines and practices of the Baptist believers, and organized 
several churches in the vicinity. That another denomination seems to 
have supplanted the institutions which Mr. Smalley planted there, does 
not argue that the good he did was interred with his bones. Local 
and altogether natural causes have given to the Methodists the territory 
which he first occupied. Their methods, the shade of doctrine which 
is made most prominent in the gospel as presented by their local 
preachers, who, as a rule, were men of more spiritual than intellectual 
gifts, rendered the Methodist church the most natural home for the 
class of people who redeemed this country from a wilderness. Many 
who had first, from location or from choice, attached themselves to the 
Baptist church, found in the more frequent ministrations, the simplicity 
and the earnestness of the itinerants and their assistants, and more than 
all in the class-meeting, the particular spiritual food and practice they 
so much needed. The good results of Freeman Smalley's labors are 
yet seen everywhere. The old First Baptist church was formed at 
Mr. Smalley's house about 1834, as recorded in the history of Middle 
Fork. There was no house of sufficient size to accommodate those who 
desired to attend his preaching, and the people began to perfect 
measures for a house of worship. In 1837 the church was built a few 
rods west of where the store now stands at Higginsville. The entire 
neighborhood turned out to help get up the "meeting-house." Some 
hewed timber, some drew it, some made the foundation, others the 
shingles. Moses Jarrett, Levi Asher and D. S. Halbert were the car- 
penters. The siding was made of black-walnut, quite common before 
the days of pine lumber; the floor they made of ash. The seats were 
as nice and comfortable as could be made. The building was 24x36, 
and was well considered a great undertaking. Like Nelson's crew, 
every man did his duty and performed his share of the work. The 
building stood there until it actually went to pieces from old age. Be- 
sides Elder Smalley, Elder Bartlett Dowell Crede Herron (all one 
man, reader), the Blankenships, and others, used to preach here. The 
Baptists, under the same leader, organized a church in the southern 
part of town, and built a house of worship in 1848, on land donated 
for that purpose by Mr. James Pentecast. Under the terms of his 
donation other Christian churches are to be permitted to use the build- 
ing when not wanted by the Baptists. The building is 30x40, and is 
a very neat and comfortable building. Elders Smalley, Dodson and 
Blankenship preached here. 

The Christian church was organized by the pioneer preachers of 
that faith, about 1834. Samuel Swisher, Samuel Bloomfield and James 



BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. ,SS9 

Magee were the first officers. Solomon McKinney, Dr. Hall, from 
Lebanon, Indiana, Mr. Blount and Mr. Mapes, early held services here 
around from house to house— usually at Mr. Swisher's and Mr. Peters' 
houses. Jacob Swisher, Mr. McKinney and Mr. Sears, kept alive the 
public services, and were joyfully assisted by Mr. Win. Shockey until 
he fell from grace and adopted the doctrines of the "soul sleepers," 
after which the orthodox members of this pioneer watch-tower of Zion 
would not listen to him. 

The church which stands just east of Mr. Copeland's was built in 
1846. There were then about fifty members, and all took hold of the 
work in earnest, and very soon saw it completed. It is 36x46. Old 
James Magee, who had a saw-mill up in Middle Fork, sawed the lum- 
ber and gave the black- walnut boards for the seats as his part of the 
work. Mr. Hoskins had a lot of soft brick which he gave, and which 
were used to fill in between the joists to make the house warmer. A 
few years since, the house was remodeled and lathed and plastered. 
Elder Kawley Martin preached here once a month for fifteen years, and 
held protracted meetings. Since his time, John J. Cosat, Win. Yates, of 
Ogden, Oscar Gravat, Theodore Stipp and Mr. Myers have successively 
acted as pastors or occasional supply. A Sunday-school has been main- 
tained summers, under the successive superin tendency of David Cosat, 
Oscar Gravat, Wm. Hoskins and George Justice; Addison Justice is 
the present superintendent. It has always been a strong church, and 
its work as a pioneer in religious things has been marked by grand 
results. It numbers about one hundred and forty members. J. J. 
Cosat, Samuel Cosat and Oscar Gravat, are elders; H. Swisher and 
Joshua Chinoweth, deacons. It is called "Union" church. 

The first public religious services ever held within the bounds of 
what is now Blount was held at the house of John Johns in 1S29, 
under the following circumstances, the facts of which were kindly 
furnished by Mr. Johns, still a hearty, strong man, living at Danville. 
Mr. Johns and his young wife, whose feeble life is now almost gone, 
came into this town to make their home in 1829. They had in their 
former home had the advantages of religious services, and felt the 
need of them here. In December of that year (and this is now the 
jubilee year) Mr. Johns accompanied Reuben Parti ow, of Middle Fork, 
to Danville, to attend the preaching service of Eev. James McKain, 
who was the first traveling Methodist preacher in the county. He was 
then in charge of Eugene circuit, which embraced Perrysville, Dan- 
ville, Georgetown, Big Grove and intermediate points. After service 
they remained to the class-meeting, and made themselves and their 
wants known to the preacher. They told him they had come to ask 



890 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

hi in to make appointments in their neighborhoods for the people, who 
were without religious teaching. Mr. McKain was a true pioneer. 
He had been engaged in mercantile business before commencing 
preaching, and had sufficient means of his own, so that he was inde- 
pendent of salary. While he did not refuse what pay was tendered 
him, he never would talk with his people about compensation, and 
seemed to prefer not to accept it. He was a very useful man, and 
zealous of good works, of sufficient education to be acceptable to all. 
He sent an appointment to Mr. Johns' house, and continued to fill the 
appointment every four weeks as long as he was on this work. He 
formed a class there, the first members of which were Mr. and Mrs. 
Johns, Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Partlow, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wood, 
Nathaniel Blaze and wife, who lived up at Myersville, and Jesse Wood 
and wife. Mr. Wood was first class-leader. Daniel Fairchild, who 
had been a Cumberland Presbyterian, and Mrs. Hannah Fairchild, who 
had been a Baptist, soon joined this class. For seven years, and until 
Mr. Humphrey came here, and built a larger house, the service was 
continued at Mr. Johns', after McKain, Mr. Risley, Mr. Harshey and 
Mr. Buck were the regular preachers. About 1839 the small frame 
church was built, near Mr. Johns', a half mile north and east of the 
Christian church. 

The Fairchild church, usually called "the Brick," was built in 1849. 
This was built under the supervision of Daniel Fairchild, but all the 
people in this part of the town gladly helped to get up their new 
house. It was quite a step in advance to build a brick church here in 
the woods, when so many lived in log houses; but it was like Mr. 
Fairchild, who always was a leader, and aimed to keep a step in ad- 
vance. It is 30 x 36 feet. A Sunday-school is maintained, of which 
Milton Fairchild is the present superintendent. 

TheLuman church was built in 1858. Mr. James Luman and John 
Wapples were interested in getting the work along. Old Peter Hast- 
ings, an itinerant preacher, whose life was entirely devoted to the 
work of preaching, used to hold services at Luman's house. He organ- 
ized the first class here, and it being several miles to any other house 
of worship, he urged the building of "Lebanon." 

HIGGINSVILLE. 

Higginsville consists of a store, a post-office, a doctor and a black- 
smith's shop. The name came very naturally from the Messrs. Higgins, 
one of whom engaged in the "Vermilion Rapids" speculation, near 
here, and the other being the owner of real estate. It was the center 
for a considerable population, and a post-office was needed. This was 



BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. 891 

established in 1851, and Win. Maqness was appointed postmaster. The 
office was kept in Mr. Harpangh's house. Eobert Foster was first mail- 
carrier. The mail was carried from Danville to New Town, and thence 
here twice a week. Mason Wright built a store and stocked it with 
goods. He afterward, with his brother, engaged in trade in Blue Grass 
and Marysville. After Maquess' death, James Newlan was appointed. 
He soon afterward went to Texas. J. W. Harris was appointed and 
kept the office in connection with a small store two years. Alfred 
Maquess then held it a few years, then Mason Wright, and after him 
Marion Goodwine, then Charles Harpaugh, then Dr. Porter. John 
Smalley is the present official. Dr. J. L. Hull came here and commenced 
the practice of medicine in 1860, and his uncle of the same name a year 
later. Dr. Wm. Porter commenced practice here in 1864, and contin- 
ues to practice. The store-building now occupied by Mr. Smalley 
was built in 1853. Robert Lamon was the carpenter who put up most 
of the buildings in this vicinity. The fine brick residence now occu- 
pied by John Smalley was built about the same time by his father, 
James Smalley. It is one of the best residences in town. Mr. Smalley 
now carries on the mercantile business, keeping a full stock of goods 
and is doing a very fair trade. 

About 1840 Mr. E. Oxley laid out a place which he called Salem, 
near where the tannery was, one mile east of Higginsville. Elder 
Herron kept a store there as early as 1837. Dr. J. B. Halloway lived 
there and practiced medicine, and then went to Myersville. Mr. 
Bright kept a blacksmith shop. 

OTHER ITEMS. 

In 1859 Henry and Andrew Wood built a saw-mill and grist-mill 
on North Fork, near the northeast corner of the township. It was a 
good mill with two run of stones, and had sufficient water to run nearly 
all the time. They did a good custom business and some merchant 
work. 

Allen Anderson came here from Michigan in 1866, and put up a 
steam saw-mill on section 26 (20-12). He bought sixty acres of timber 
land and cut it off for lumber. It was a splendid piece of timber. 
The mill ran here about eight years, and he then sold it to William 
and John Lee, who moved it to section 36. 

Charles Deamude put down a coal shaft in section 21, near the south- 
west corner of the town. It has not been a profitable undertaking, 
though a good quality of coal is raised, and a good home market is had 
for a limited amount. 



892 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

The following is a list of all the officers who have been elected to 
township office since the organization of the town in 1856: 

Date. Supervisor. Town Clerk. Assessor. Collector. 

1857. George Y. Stipp Adam Albert David Clem Benjamin Hensley. 

1858. Benjamin Fitzgerald . Adam Albert David Clem . .Joseph Stephens. 

1859. Benjamin Fitzgerald . Adam Albert David Clem Joseph Stephens. 

1860. George Y. Stipp Adam Albert R. M. Hensley Joseph Stephens. 

1861. A. B. B. Lewis Adam Albert R. M. Hensley David Clem. 

1862. George W. Knight. . . Adam Albert R. M. Hensley David Clem. 

1863. George Y. Stipp Adam Albert R. M. Hensley David Clem. 

1864. George Y. Stipp Adam Albert John C. Yose Joseph Stephens. 

1865. George Y. Stipp Adam Albert Benjamin Magness. J. H. Leonard. 

1866. John C. Vose Adam Albert Joseph Stephens. . .Daniel Fairchild. 

1867. John Garrard Adam Albert John F. Pilkington. Joseph Stephens. 

1868. Joseph Stephens Adam Albert John F. Pilkington. G. G. Smith. 

1869. George G. Smith Joseph Stephens. . W. R. Burk George W. Hoskins. 

1870. George G. Smith Jacob Clem W. R. Burk George W. Hoskins. 

1871. George G. Smith Jacob Clem Joseph Stephens . . .George W. Hoskins. 

1872. George G. Smith Samuel C. Rickart. Edward Duncan . . .George W. Hoskins. 

1873. George G. Smith Samuel C. Rickart Edward Duncan . . .George W. Hoskins. 

1874. George G. Smith . . . .John J. Cosat David Clem F. M. Clem. 

1875. George G. Smith Adam Albert John J. Cosat F. M. Fairchild. 

1876. George G. Smith Adam Albert John J. Cosat George W. Hoskins. 

1877. George G. Smith Adam Albert John J. Cosat Wm. R. Firebaugh. 

1878. George G. Smith Adam Albert John J. Cosat Wm. R. Firebaugh. 

1879. George G. Smith . . . .John J. Cosat Barton Snider Wm. R. Firebaugh. 

The justices of the peace have been John Rickart, George Y. Stipp, 
John Gerrard, J. R. Thurman, Adam Albert, William Fairchild, Da- 
vid Clem, J. J. Cosat, J. R. Downing. 

The township has no railroad. The Danville and Paxton road was 
laid ont and nearly graded, running very nearly through the center of 
the town in a northwestern direction, by J. C. Short, some six or eight 
years ago. When he failed, the enterprise stopped. He did not 
receive any local aid or township subscriptions, hence the town has no 
railroad or any other debt. The farmers are almost entirely free from 
mortgage debt, and there seems no good reason why, in the light of 
past experience, they should not continue so. There never has been 
any strife or dissension among the people, and very little to mar the 
friendship among neighbors. From an early day the institutions of 
religion, the doctrines of temperance, sobriety and frugality have held 
full sway. 

LEGENDARY. 

One of those singular things for which no satisfactory explanation 
seems known, is the so-called "twin farm" on section 29 (21-12) in 
this town. Every family which has lived upon the farm thus far has 
had born to them a pair of twins, and, indeed, the first one had two. 



BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. 893 

Explanations are in order, and many have been offered, and none 
appear to entirely satisfy the investigators. It has been referred to the 
board of supervisors, who are popularly supposed to know everything, 
and they " appointed a committee," which is their usual custom. The 
committee recommended that the matter be further tested by sending 
a bachelor to live on it, and thus tempt fate, as it were. Mr. Sperry 
has recently purchased it for his son, who, "as yet," has no one to call 
a family save his own individual self, and the committee has " leave to 
sit" during the year to await developments and "report." While this 
waiting process is incubating, a newspaper reporter has interested him- 
self in the question, and has given the benefit of his investigation, 
which is strange, if true, and if true will cause future fathers to pause 
before purchasing this particular piece or parcel of land. Way back in 
the early days, where facts and rumors blend their uncertain lines, 
before whites sought to wrest the fertile valley of the Wabash from the 
dusky owners of these fruitful hunting-grounds, a contest long and 
deadly was waged between two tribes which claimed this Messopota- 
mia, — this land between the two streams, — and a great final battle 
was fought near Blue Grass. The two tribes had come to stay, and 
each expecting to conquer, was accompanied by their women and chil- 
dren, which were kept not far to the rear of where this deadly contest 
was waging all day, with uncertain and ever-shifting hopes. A young 
brave, named by his doting mother All-in-your-eye, was particularly 
active, and seemed almost inspired. His seemed a charmed life, and 
many an opposing warrior bit the dust in consequence of the deadly 
aim of his strongly-drawn bow. When asked why he fought so des- 
perately he replied : " I fight not for Blue Grass. If every blade of 
grass on its wide expanse was a hollow tree, with a nest of coons in it, 
I would not draw my bow for its possession. I fight for her," point- 
ing to a dusky maiden of comely form seated on a log far back in the 
rear, beyond the reach of the flying arrows. He had hardly ceased 
speaking when he received a fatal shot which pierced his heart, and 
he died without a groan. His wife, for such she was, saw her warrior 
husband fall, and rushed forward to seize his body before his exulting 
enemy could apply the scalping knife to his prostrate form. She car- 
ried his body miles away to the south, hoping to reach the spot where 
the two streams flow into one (the junction of the North and Middle 
Forks) to bury him where he could constantly hear the ripple of uniting 
waters, the Indian symbol for a happy married life. She had scarcely 
made half the distance when, overtaken by night, overcome with 
fatigue, hunger and weeping, she lay herself down to rest. In the first 
gray light of the morning she discovered that she was near the sod hut 



894 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

of a weird old priest of the opposing tribe, who had taken up his abode 
this far away from the strife of opposing arms that nothing might inter- 
rupt his incantations, or break the spell of his communion with the 
Great Spirit. His great joy on seeing her with the corpse of her dead 
warrior was inexplicable to her until he made known to her that dur- 
ing his incantations it had been made known to him that when he saw 
" two persons with but a single soul," that moment peace should be es- 
tablished between the warring tribes, and the ground upon which the 
phenomenon was seen should be blessed through all time to come with 
double productiveness. As if in verification of his vision, she gave 
birth to twin boys, which he wrapped in his own priestly blanket and 
bore back to the scene of the late carnage. The boys were adopted by 
the two tribes, and named respectively "Peace on Earth" and " Good 
Will to Men." When they grew up they became the chiefs of the two 
tribes. 

Jasper Atwood, Danville, farmer and blacksmith, was born in Ken- 
tucky on the 18th of August, 1818. His father moved to Ohio when 
he was very small, and there remained fourteen years. During this 
time Jasper worked on a farm, and in 1827 came to this state, settling 
twelve miles northwest of Danville. He has been four times married: 
first, to Eliza Guillin, in 1839. She was born in Indiana, and is now 
deceased. Mr. Atwood was then married, in 1842, to Lydia Watson, 
who is also deceased. His fourth marriage was toDelila Layton. Mr. 
Atwood has frequently gone to Chicago with an ox-team hauling pro- 
duce, and returned loaded with salt. He is an honest, hard-working 
man, well respected in his community. He has done considerable in 
the way of doctoring, and has a recipe that is almost a specific for 
chronic sore leg, never charging anything, however, for his services. 
He owns forty-eight acres of land, worth fifty dollars per acre. 

Samuel Copeland, farmer, the subject of this sketch, and one of 
the old pioneers of Vermilion county, is the son of Samuel, sen., 
and Anna (Hays) Copeland. Samuel, sen., was born in Aramah, Ire- 
land, about the year 1755, emigrated to the United States in 1770, and 
became a soldier in the revolutionary war. About 1790 he married 
Miss Anna Hays, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They became resi- 
dents of Butler county, that state, where the subject of our sketch was 
born, on the 13th of August, 1801. In 1806 his parents became resi- 
dents of the Texas Valley, Virginia, and from there they removed to 
Gallia county, Ohio. In this latter place the early life of Mr. Copeland 
was spent. As the country was new, he had but little chance of acquir- 
ing an education, there being nothing but the old subscription system, 
and he being obliged to cross the Ohio River to attend these, which at 



BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. 895 

some seasons of the year was impossible for him to do. While a resi- 
dent of that county, on the 15th of February, 1820, he married Miss 
Elizabeth Ham, she being a native of Virginia. He remained a resi- 
dent of Gallia county for eight years after marriage. Then, building 
a boat, he came down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash, and then 
up this to Perrysville, Indiana, this trip requiring six months' time. 
His boat was loaded with salt. He remained at Perrysville long 
enough to sell this, and then, buying plank enough to lay a floor, he 
moved to his present home, where he first built a house of "rails," 
and afterward a log-house. He was obliged to go from seven to ten 
miles to get men enough to help him raise the structure. He located 
in Blount township when there was not a single residence of a white 
man between his place and Chicago. He first entered the southeast 
quarter of section 11, town 20, range 12. With this small beginning 
he, by industry and economy, has accumulated a fine property. He 
has already given to his children four hundred and eighty acres, and 
has four hundred acres remaining, besides some valuable city property. 
There were born to them eleven children, all of whom married and set- 
tled in the vicinity of the old home. We have the authority from one 
of the sons to say that to these there have been born sixty-six children 
and twenty-three grandchildren. Mr. and Mrs. Copeland have lived 
to a ripe old age, and both are still smart and active. They are mem- 
bers of the Baptist church, which they joined about twenty years ago. 
Surrounded by an abundance of property, children, grand and great- 
grandchildren, they are certainly living to enjoy the fruits of the labors 
of their younger days. 

Lewis Swisher, Danville, farmer and stock-dealer, section 35, was 
born in Guilford county, North Carolina, on the 31st of November, 
1806. His father moved with him to Ohio when he was but twelve 
years of age, where he remained until the year 1827. He then moved 
to this state in 1828, being among the first settlers of the county. He 
settled two miles north of Danville. The subject of this sketch left 
there on account of milk-sickness, of which disease he had a slight at- 
tack, and settled where he now resides. Mr. Swisher was married on 
the 21st of January, 1830, to Elisabeth Starr, who was born in Ohio on 
the 14th of August, 1811. They have had by this marriage nine chil- 
dren, eight living. Mr. Swisher had but very little property with which 
to commence, but he has obtained a nice property consisting of one 
hundred and ninety-five acres of well improved land, with good dwell- 
ing-house and other buildings. 

George Y. Stipp, Danville, farmer and local minister, section 22, 
was born in Warren, on the 13th of April, 1826. Until eighteen years 



896 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

of age he worked on the farm, having but ordinary educational advan- 
tages. In 1830 he moved to Illinois with his parents, settling in New- 
ell township. Mr. Stipp has taught about twenty-five schools in his 
life-time. Mr. Stipp has been three times married : first to Amer- 
ica A. Smith, on the 11th of November, 1847. She was born in this 
county on the 21st of November, 1831, and died on the 21st of July, 
1870. They had nine children by this marriage, six living : Theodore 
L., Isaac N., Anna J., Sarelda A., Daniel V. W. and Samuel. The 
names of the deceased are Mary, Georgey and an infant. Mr. Stipp 
was then married to Mary E. Hewes, on the 3d of February, 1871. 
She was born in Vermilion county, Indiana, on the 27th of April, 1849, 
and died on the 24th of February, 1875. One child was the result of 
this marriage. He was then married to Elisabeth H. Hursely, on the 
14th of January, 1877. She was born in Ohio on the 18th of July, 
1838. Mr. Stipp has held the office of justice of the peace in this town-, 
ship for seven years, and supervisor of township four terms. He is a 
Baptist minister of considerable natural ability. He has been engaged in 
several public debates on various theological questions, with other minis- 
ters ; one with W. P. Shocky, a very noted Universalist minister, and 
another with Prof. Clark Braden, of Cornell University, and with sev- 
eral others of less note.. He owns two hundred acres of land, worth 
$30 per acre. 

William Potter, Danville, farmer and stock-dealer, section 27, was 
born in the state of New York, on the 16th of August, 1817. He 
came to this state in 1830, settling in New Town. He was married on 
the 26th of July, 1847, to Hester Lane, who was born in Franklin 
county, Ohio, in 1823. They have seven children by this marriage: 
Elijah, William H., Eliza J., John F., Mary E., Lincoln A. and Andrew 
J. Mr. Potter had but little property with which to start in life, his 
first tax being only six cents; but he has by hard labor, economy and 
good management, acquired a property of four hundred acres of land. 
His taxes have since been as high as $250 a year. He went in an early 
day to Chicago from Blount township on foot, carrying his clothes on 
his back, and there worked for seventy-five cents a day digging the 
cellar for the first brick house ever built in Chicago. His father lived 
to be eighty-eight years old and his mother ninety-three. Mr. Potter 
is a republican, and does not belong to any church. 

William White, Danville, farmer, section 13, was born in Bedford 
county, Pennsylvania, on the 3d of September, 1796, and was raised 
a farmer, and this occupation he has followed through life, making it a 
good success. He had no property when he was married to Betsy 
Guillin, in 1818, but by hard labor, economy and fair dealing, he has 



BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. 897 

acquired three hundred and thirty acres of good land, and about 
$1,000 in money, which is on interest. And besides this he has given- 
considerable to his children. Mrs. White was born in Ohio on the 
12th of March, 1798. They are the parents often children, seven liv- 
ing. Mr. White has filled the office of justice of the peace. Though 
eighty-three years of age he has never in his life been so sick but what 
he was able to go about. He has been quite temperate in his habits. 
Mr. White frequently went to Chicago with team in an early day, haul- 
ing produce and returning with salt. He went there when there was 
but one house between where he now lives and Chicago. He has been 
a very industrious man, and is a man well respected in the community in 
which he resides. He is a republican, and does not belong to any church. 

Josiah Crawford, Danville, farmer, section 2, was born in Virginia 
on the 9th of July, 1811, and spent his early days on a farm. His 
father moved to Ohio in 1823, where the subject of this sketch was 
married, in 1833, to Hannah Watkins, who was born in 1812, and who 
died in 1860. They had ten children by this marriage, five living: 
Sarah J., William, Hester A., Benjamin and Mary E. The deceased 
were Samuel, Almira, Lucinda, James and Minerva. Mr. Crawford was 
then married in 1860, to Minerva E. Firebaugh, who was born in Ohio. 
They have had by this marriage three children, two living : Elizora A. 
and Frank. The deceased was Josiah. Mr. Crawford has held the 
office of road commissioner. He frequently went » to Chicago with a 
team and produce, and returned with salt. There was at this time only 
one house between his and Chicago. He had, when he married, but 
seventy acres of land, but by industry and economy has accumulated a 
nice property of four hundred acres of nice land. His father was in the 
war of 1812. 

Eli Fairchild, Danville, farmer and stock-dealer, section 2, was born 
in Yermilion county, Illinois, on the 11th of February, 1835, and is a 
son of Daniel F. Fairchild, who came with his father to this county in 
1829, and settled about seven miles northwest of Danville, where his 
widow still lives. The subject of this sketch was raised a farmer, which 
occupation he still continues. He went to school some during the winter 
months. Mr. Fairchild was married to Clarisa A. Dermarest, on the 
6th of March, 1856, who was born in this county on the 10th of Octo- 
ber, 1836. They are the parents of ten children, nine living : Alice J., 
Rachel A., Ida L., Jessie M., Logan A., and Milton E. and Elizabeth 
E., who are twins, and Eddy and Eva K., also twins. The deceased 
was John. Mr. Fairchild has held the office of school director nine 
years, and overseer of roads eight years. He is a radical republican and 
a Methodist. 
57 



898 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

William Lane, Danville, farmer and stock-dealer, section 22, was 
born in Guilford county, North Carolina, on the 6th of August, 1795. 
He had no property worth speaking of when he started in life, but he 
has had at one time fourteen hundred acres of splendid land, mostly in 
this county. He has divided it among his children, till he only has 
five hundred and ten acres. His father moved to Ohio in 1812. Mr. 
Lane came to this state in 1835, settling seven miles northwest of Dan- 
ville, only two miles from where he now resides. He has been five 
times married : first to Phceba Blanch, now deceased, and the second 
time to Mary Steel, also deceased; he afterward was united to Nancy 
Lacy, deceased, and then to Nancy Yager, also deceased ; his present 
wife was Minerva Connell. He is the father, by the first marriage, of 
one child, now deceased ; by the second wife, two ; by the third mar- 
riage, fifteen children, ten living, and by the fifth union, five children, 
four living, making Mr. Lane the father of twenty-three children. He 
frequently went to Chicago with team in an early day, traveling five 
and six miles on ice. His father was all through the revolutionary 
war. Mr. Lane is a democrat and a Baptist. 

Enoch Yansickle, Danville, farmer, section 35, was born in But- 
ler county, Ohio, on the 26th of April, 1814. He was married 
to Nancy White (now deceased), on the 8th of October, 1837. She 
was born in Butler county, Ohio, on the 18th of June, 1819. They 
were the parents of ten children, six living: Robert, Andrew, who 
died in the army, Elisabeth, deceased, Sarah, Evart, William, killed by 
lightning in 1862, Harriett, John, Enoch, and one infant, deceased. 
Mr. Yansickle had only forty acres when he married. He tried hard 
for years to open up a farm in the timber, but as long as he worked at 
that he gained but little. Finally he went on the prairie, where he 
soon prospered. He now owns two hundred and ninety-six acres of 
land. He made a great many trips to Chicago with team in an early 
day, hauling wheat, oats and produce, and returning with salt. Mr. 
Yansickle was in the Black Hawk war, and was one of the early set- 
tlers of the county, helping to change it from a barren wilderness to its 
present prosperous condition. 

J. H. Cramer, Danville, farmer, section 20, was born in this county 
on the 30th of May, 1838, and was raised a farmer, and this occupation 
he has followed through life. He was married on the 9th of Novem- 
ber, 1860, to Nancy Carpenter, who was born in Indiana. They have 
had by this union eleven children, seven living: William S., John W., 
Charles, Mary, Andrew, Fred and Lillie. The deceased were Dora A., 
Margaret M., and two infants. Mr. Cramer had but little when he 
was married, but by industry, economy and hard labor he has acquired 



BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. 899 

a nice property, consisting of one hundred and nineteen acres of fine 
farm land. He has held the office of school director two years, and 
school trustee two years. His parents were natives of Virginia. He 
is a republican in politics. 

E. P. Grimes, Danville, farmer, was born in Pike county, Ohio, on 
the 20th of August, 1822 ; was raised a farmer, and has followed that 
occupation successfully through life. He came to this state in 1838, 
settling five miles northwest of Danville, where he remained until 
within a few years. Mr. Grimes was married in this state, in 1852, to 
Elisabeth Cassia, who was born in 1835. They had by this union ten 
children, eight living: John M., Elisha C, Alvin, Ella, Charlie, May 
B., Austin and Edward. The deceased were Jacob and William H. 
Mr. Grimes has acquired a good property, consisting of three hundred 
and four acres of good land. In an early day he has frequently gone 
to Chicago with a team, loaded with apples, and came back with salt. 
His parents were natives of Pennsylvania. He is republican in politics. 

George G. Smith, Higginsville, farmer, section 33, owns three hun- 
dred and fifty acres, worth $30 per acre, was born in Scioto county, 
Ohio, on the 31st of August, 1829, and was brought up on a farm. He 
went to school in winter and worked on farm in summer. He came 
with his father to this state in 1839, settling in this township ten miles 
northwest of Danville. He was married on the 25th of March, 1852, 
to Eliza A. Fairchild, who was born in this county on the 27th of No- 
vember, 1833. He is the father of nine children: Elisabeth L., John 
E., Elias D., Marshal M., "Wesley C, Sarah, Eva J., Woodford G. and 
Josiah O. Mr. Smith has held the office of collector one term, office 
of supervisor of township ten years, which office he still holds. His 
grandfather on his father's side was in the war of 1812, and was in the 
battle at which Hull surrendered. His parents were natives of Vir- 
ginia. Mr. Smith has given entire satisfaction in the filling every 
office he has held. He is well respected by all who know him. 

Harrison Fairchild, Danville, farmer and stock-dealer, section 34, 
was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 25th of December, 1840. 
His father, Daniel Fairchild, was a very noted Methodist minister, and 
was one of the pioneers of this county, coming here in 1829. Mr. Har- 
rison Fairchild was married to Sarah E. Leanhorn on the 8th of March, 
1865. She was born in this county on the 11th of September, 1845. 
They are the parents of seven children : Daniel W., born on the 28th 
of September, 1866; Lillie J., born on the 3d of January, 1869 ; Ettie 
O., born on the 23d of July, 1870 ; Oscar H., born on the 2d of Jan- 
uary, 1872 ; Joseph, born on the 13th of November, 1873 ; Myrtie, 
born on the 28th of August, 1875, and Roscoe S., born on the 12th of 



900 HISTOEY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

May, 1878. Mr. Fairchild enlisted in 1861 in the late war, with Co. 
B, 25th 111. Inf. Vol., and served three years. He was in the battles of 
Pea Ridge, Perry ville (Ky.), Nolansville, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, 
and was at the siege of Corinth. He received a slight wound in the 
arm, and another in the leg, and was mustered out at Springfield, Illi- 
nois. He lost two brothers in the war. Mr. Fairchild fattens from 
two to three car loads of cattle annually, and from seventy-five to one 
hundred head of hogs. He has held the office of school director five 
years, and overseer of roads five years. He owns three hundred and 
fifteen acres of land, worth $25 per acre. He is a republican, and in 
religion a Methodist. 

Nathaniel R. Fairchild, Danville, farmer and stock-dealer, section 3> 
was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 15th of August, 1843. 
He has followed the occupation of a farmer through life. He attended 
the high-school at Danville for four years. Mr. Fairchild has been 
twice married : first to Elisabeth Fitzgerald, on the 21st of April, 1869. 
She was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 8th of November, 
1844, and died on the 19th of August, 1874. They had by this mar- 
riage three children, two living : Marshal C, born on the 26th of Jan- 
uary, 1870, and Ada B., born on the 11th of September, 1871. The de- 
ceased was an infant. Mr. Fairchild was then married, on the 30th of 
March, 1875, to Sarah Dore, who was born in Vermilion county in 1842. 
They have by this union two children : Daniel J., born the 19th of 
January, 1876, and WesLey E., born on the 28th of July, 1878. The 
father of Mr. Fairchild, Daniel Fairchild, was one of the early settlers 
of this county, having come here in 1829. He was a very noted min- 
ister of the Methodist church. He is a republican and a Methodist. 

John J. Cosat, Danville, minister of the gospel, section 13, was 
born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 13th of March, 1844, and 
spent his boyhood days on a farm. He had but little opportunity for 
acquiring an early education, but by close study at home he suc- 
ceeded in acquiring a sufficient education to enable him to teach school, 
which he continued for thirteen years. He commenced preparing for 
the ministry at the age of twenty-five. He was ordained in the Chris- 
tian church in 1873, and has charge of two churches. He is also elder 
in the church. He was married on the 11th of July, 1869, to Emma 
Cline, who was born in Vermilion county, this state, on the 30th of 
September, 1851. They have six children, three living: Ernest H., 
born on the 15th of May, 1870 ; Pleasant, born on the 5th of May, 
1872, died May 8th, 1872 ; Theodore W., born on the 30th of Septem- 
ber, 1873 ; John D., born on the 25th of October, 1875, died on the 
14th of November, 1876 ; Lafayette, born on the 26th of August, 1877, 



BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. HOI 

and died on the 2d of October, 1877 ; Everett M., born on the 25th of 
September, 1878. Mr. Cosat has held the office of town clerk one term, 
township assessor four years, justice of the peace two years, and 
this office he is still holding. He enlisted in the late war in 1864, in 
Co. I, 5th Wis. Inf., as corporal. He was one of the six men who cap- 
tured Lieutenant Ewell. He served one year and was in the battles of 
Cedar Creek, Petersburg, Sailor Creek, and several other engagements. 
He is a republican in politics. His parents were natives of Kentucky. 
Mr. Cosat's father came to this state in 1831, hence was one of the 
early settlers of this county. 

Elkanah Fairchild, Danville, farmer, section 2, was born in Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, on the 14th of June, 1845, and is a son of 
Daniel Fairchild, one of the pioneers of the county, and a minister of 
the Methodist church of considerable note, and a man of great influ- 
ence. The subject of this sketch was married on the 25th of January, 
1866, to Emily Fitzgerald, who was born in Vermilion county, this 
state, on the 21st of May, 1847. They are the parents of five children, 
four living : Ina O., born on the 10th of April, 1869 ; Benjamin F., 
born on the 16th of January, 1872 ; Ella G., born on the 13th of April, 
1873 ; Grant, born on the 1st of July, 1878 ; Minnie A., born on the 
21st of October, 1866, and died on the 9th of January, 1867. Mr. Fair- 
child enlisted in the late war in 1864, in Co. B, 135th 111. Vol. Inf., 
and served five months. He did picket duty, and was mustered out at 
Mattoon. He sells a few cattle and hogs every year, and farms quite 
extensively. Mr. Fairchild owns two hundred and sixty acres of land, 
is all in all a well-to-do farmer, and well respected by all who know 
him. He is a republican and a Methodist. 

Joseph M. Ingrain, Danville, farmer, was born in Franklin county, 
Ohio, on the 24th of July, 1844, and spent his early days in working 
on a farm. He came with his father to this state in 1852, settling ten 
miles north of Danville. He was married on the 17th of June, 1867, 
to Elizabeth Fairchild, daughter of Daniel Fairchild, quite a noted 
Methodist minister of this township. She was born in Vermilion 
county, this state, on the 9th of January, 1850. They have by this 
union seven children, six living: Harrison M., born August 9, 1869; 
Daniel E., born May 30, 1871; Earl K., born Sept. 6, 1873; Nora F., 
born January 21, 1876; Elsie K., born March 22, 1877; Ordilla M., 
born December 25, 1878; and one infant deceased. Mr. Ingram en- 
listed in the late war in 1864, in Co. K. 135th 111. Inf. Vol. He served 
five months, and was mustered out by general order. His parents 
were natives of Kentucky and Virginia. He is a republican and a 
Methodist. 



902 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

Johnson Gararael, Danville, farmer, section 34, was born in New- 
Jersey in 1843. His parents died when he was but three years of age, 
and he was then raised by his uncle. He came to this state when he 
was twelve years of age. He enlisted in 1864 in Co. E, 51st 111. Inf. 
Vol. He served one year, and was in the battles of Dalton, Dallas 
and New Hope. He received a gunshot wound in the left arm in the 
battle in Tennessee, for which he receives twelve dollars per month 
pension. Mr. Gammel was married on the 6th of October, 1871, to 
Mary Lemmon, who was born in this county on the 26th of February, 
1844. They have by this union three children : Nettie, Eddy and 
Lula. Mr. Gammel has held the office of school director one year. 
He is a well-to-do farmer, and is in good standing in his neighborhood. 
He had but little property when he commenced for himself, but has 
acquired a good property consisting of one hundred and seventeen 
acres of splendid farm land. He is a republican and a Methodist. 

John Brandt, Danville, farmer, section 11, was born in Pennsylvania 
on the 3d of October, 1825, and was raised on a farm. At the age of 
fourteen years he entered a general store as clerk, and there remained 
for a period of twelve years, after which he taught school four years. 
He was married in 1857 to Nancy Starr, who was born in Pennsyl- 
vania in 1826. By this marriage they are the parents of two children : 
Frederick E. and Abraham L. Mr. Brandt has held the office of school 
director several years. He had no property when he married ; but, by 
economy, industry and perseverance he has acquired one hundred and 
fifty acres of land. His parents were both Dunkards. He is repub- 
lican in politics. 

Francis M. Fairchild, Danville, farmer and stock-dealer, was born 
in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 10th of November, 1858, and is 
a son of Daniel Fairchild, one of the early settlers of this county, and 
a minister of considerable note of the Methodist church. He married 
more couples and preached more funeral sermons than probably any 
other man in the county. The subject of this sketch was married on 
the 30th of March, 1870, to Ina B. Fitzgerald, who was born in this 
county on the 20th of April, 1848. They are the parents of five chil- 
dren, four living: Charles "W\, born December 4, 1870; Lola M., born 
August 14, 1872; Daisy W., born November 9, 1875; Oliver L., born 
June 28, 1877. Mr. Fairchild has held the office of collector one term, 
and has been Sunday-school superintendent. He fattens and ships 
from two to four car-loads of cattle a year, and some hogs. He owns 
three hundred and eighty-eight acres. Mr. Fairchild is a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics is a republican. 

G. W. Justus, Danville, farmer and nurseryman, was born in Mont- 



BLOUNT TOWNSHIP. 903 

gomery county, Indiana, on the 3d of May, 1834, and at the age of 
twenty-two he went into mercantile business, which he continued for a 
period of seven years. He has been three times married: first, to 
Eliza Smith, on the 18th of September, 1856. She was born in Foun- 
tain county, Indiana, on the 30th of September, 1841, and died on the 
16th of September, 1860. They had two children by this union: 
Sarah C. and Clara D., now deceased. Mr. Justus was then married, 
on the 4th of August, 1861, to Margaret Graves, who was born in Ken- 
tucky on the 14th of May, 1829, and died on the 1st of February, 1872. 
One child by this marriage: Elizabeth, now deceased. He was then 
united to Hannah Cunningham on the 3d of September, 1873. She 
was born in Vermilion county, this state, on the 3d of September, 
1840. They have had four children by this union, two living: Alia 
L. and Bertha; the deceased were William V. and one infant. Mr. Jus- 
tus has held the office of constable one year; justice of the peace, six 
years; school director, three years; postmaster, three years, and is 
deacon and elder in the Christian church. 

William Vancamp, Danville, physician, was born in Clark county, 
Ohio, and was engaged working in an oil mill owned by his father 
until twenty years of age. His chances for an early education were 
limited. He came to this state in 1856, and settled in Coles county, 
where he remained one year. Some time afterward he removed to 
Indiana, where he practiced medicine thirteen years, and then, in 1869, 
came to this state, and settled in Pilot Grove, where he remained till 
1871, during which time he had an extensive practice, attended with 
good success. From Pilot Grove he removed to Danville, where he 
practiced six years. In 1864 Mr. Yancamp enlisted in the late war in 
Co. I, 130th Ind. He had charge of the hospital, and during this 
time he discovered a remedy for cerebro-spinal meningitis that has 
proved to be almost a specific. The Doctor has been twice married : 
first, on the 15th of May, 1853, to Nancy A. Lymill, who was born in 
Indiana on the 13th of February, 1838, and is now deceased. They 
had by this marriage five children, four living. Mr. Yancamp was 
then married, on the 4th of July, 1865, to Elizabeth Sorett, who was 
born in Indiana on the 22d of August, 1837. They are the parents of 
six children, four living. The Doctor has been very benevolent, doc- 
toring the poor without any hope of pay. He is a Methodist and a 
Mason. 



904 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 



PILOT TOWNSHIP. 



No section of country in this part of Illinois presents a more at- 
tractive view than that occupied by Pilot township. Pilot is one of 
the original townships reported by the committee appointed to divide 
the county into townships, in December, 1850. It has the name then 
given. The committee's report, submitted on the 27th of February, 
1851, bounded the township as follows: Beginning at the southeast 
corner of section 34, in town 20, range 12, go north to the east corner 
of section 3 in said town ; thence to the southeast corner of section 33, 
town 21, range 12 ; thence north to the northeast corner of section 
21 in said town 21 ; thence west on the section line to the north- 
west corner of section 22, in town 21, range 14 ; thence south on the 
county line to the southwest corner of section 34, town 20, range 14 ; 
thence east on the south line of town 20, to the place of beginning. 
Since that time the township has undergone some changes in boundary, 
the principal one being the two-mile slice from the south side upon the 
formation of Oakwood township in 1868. At present it is bounded as 
follows : Beginning at the southeast corner of section 20, town 20, 
range 12, go north one-half mile ; thence west one-fourth mile; thence 
north one and one-half miles ; thence west to the northwest corner of 
section 17 in said town ; thence north two miles ; thence west to the 
southeast corner of section 35, town 21, range 13 ; thence north two 
miles; thence west one-half mile ; thence north one mile; thence west 
to the county line; thence south on the county line to the southwest 
corner of section 22, town 20, range 14 ; thence east to the point of 
starting. From these boundary lines it will be seen that Pilot now 
contains sixty-five and one-eighth square miles ; that it is ten miles 
from east to west in its longest portion ; that it is seven miles wide, 
and that it lies mostly in ranges 13 and 14, only a small portion being 
in range 12. Pilot is bounded on the north by Middle Fork township, 
on the east by Blount, on the south by Oakwood, and on the west by 
Champaign county. It occupies the middle of the western side of Ver- 
milion county. 

The surface of this township is undulating, or gently rolling, in the 
central part. In the south and southwest portions the tendency is 
to flatten out and become too level. Along the eastern edge we have 
the brakes of the Middle Fork. There is a high portion of the town- 
ship which is known as California Ridge. It is the watershed between 
the waters of the Salt and Middle Forks. It is exceptionally high 
ground for this country, and has on it some of the most desirable farms 



PILOT TOWNSHIP. 905 

in the state of Illinois. Nearly all of the land is prairie. There is 
some timber on the eastern side along the Middle Fork, though not 
much of the Middle Fork timber extends into Pilot township, and 
there is a small grove near the center of the township known as Pilot 
Grove. This point of timber, away out in the prairie, away from any 
stream, and on the highest portions of land in the country, very natu- 
rally attracted the attention of early settlers. It was called Pilot on 

account of its peculiar situation, this rendering it a kind of guide, a 

kind of beacon-light to the explorers of the prairie. The township de- 
rived its name from this grove. There are no streams in Pilot of im- 
portance, with the exception of Middle Fork, which skirts the edge on 
the east, now in and now without the limits of the township. The 
head waters of Stony Creek take their rise in the western part, and 
there is a small stream flowing into Middle Fork from the northeastern 
part, called Knight's Branch. But water is furnished by good wells in 
sufficient quantity for man and beast, and is elevated to the surface by 
the power of the wind, which in this country has free scope, and is 
almost constantly blowing. 

There is no village within the borders of Pilot. It has one post- 
office and store, but a village has not been laid out. Neither is there 
a railroad across its territory. It is entirely devoted to agricultural 
interests, and these are well represented. The soil is black, deep and 
fertile. In some places it is necessary to drain in order to secure good 
results, but there is a greater portion of this township that will yield 
good crops without draining than of any other, perhaps, in the county. 
Corn, wheat, oats, flax and grass, are the principal products. Cattle 
and hogs are grown in vast numbers. There is more than the usual 
amount of grazing and cattle-growing. Sheep are kept quite exten- 
sively by a few, and they report the business successful. It is said to 
be the best paying business that can be followed in this country. Very 
little of the vast acres of corn are shipped. It is generally bought up 
by the cattle-feeders in the neighborhood. A good thing in Pilot is the 
herd law. People fence in their stock instead of their grain. This 
they found easier and less expensive. Vast areas of corn and other 
grain may be seen growing by the roadside, with nothing in the shape 
of a fence anywhere in sight. Pilot, like some other portions of West 
Vermilion, suffers socially from a number of large land-owners. "When 
this country began to settle up, men who realized the importance of 
the movement strove to get possession of large areas, that they might 
have the advantage of the rise in value. The prairies of Pilot offered 
as attractive farms as any in the country, and accordingly we find here 
a number of farms, each of which includes vast areas. These would 



906 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

not have been as detrimental to the best interests of the community, 
had the owners been able, in every case, to improve them and keep 
them up with the progress of the times. 

THE PIONEERS. 

The points for early settlement were two, — the timber of Middle 
Fork and Pilot Grove. Accordingly, we find settlements made at the 
places at quite an early date. The first white settler within the limits 
of this township is not now positively known. So many conflicting 
stories reach the ear that one cannot positively affirm that such and 
such were actually the first persons withing certain limits. It is proba- 
ble that James McGee was the first man in here. He came, as near as 
can now be ascertained, in 1824 or 1825. The McGees (for there were 
a number of them afterward) remained in the neighborhood for a long 
time, but finally moved away. Mr. Griffith, we are told by some, 
came before this man. Griffith was in what is now Oakwood township, 
but just on the edge, and in the same neighborhood. In 1827 Morgan 
Rees and the Juvinalls came into the township and settled on the 
Middle Fork, above where the others had stopped. Morgan Rees is 
still living in Blount township, but on the west side of the creek, near 
where he settled fifty-two years ago. He has been most of his time 
right here, and is, perhaps, better acquainted with the history of this 
part of the county than any other man living. The Juvinalls were 
well known in this community, all through the years of pioneer life. 
The old man, father of a number of boys, came with his family at the 
early date before mentioned. His first name was John, and his sons 
were Andrew, David, James, and John Juvinall, jr. David and An- 
drew were married when they came. The children of Andrew still 
live in the neighborhood. The Juvinalls came from Ohio. The Mor- 
rison family came in a little farther up, about the same time. Morrisons 
were important elements in the neighborhood, but they finally went 
away. William Trimmell came about the year 1828. He settled in 
the same neighborhood. There are still a few of the name found in 
various parts of the county. Samuel Bloomfield came up to Middle 
Fork about 1829 or 1830, to improve his farm. He had come to 
Quakers' Point as early as 1823, and had lived in other parts of the 
county, before he came up here, some six or seven years. His family 
was raised mostly here, and many comparatively old settlers have all 
the time thought that this was his first stopping-place in the county; 
but we learn from his daughter, Mrs. Deamude, that her father came 
to the county in the spring of 1823. Mrs. Deamude was then but a 
child, but remembers the coming. She has been here, then, more than 



PILOT TOWNSHIP. 907 

fifty-six years. She is much the oldest settler living in the township. 
Mrs. Atwood, her sister, who lives here, was born in the township. 

In 1828 Absalom Collison came to the settlement on the Middle 
Fork. He stopped with the Juvinalls for a while. They were all 
from Ohio, and Mr. Collison was a single man at the time, and needed 
a home. He did not content himself with that kind of a home long — 
he concluded to have one of his own. He paid his respects to Mary 
Chenoweth, who accepted his offer for better or worse, and they were 
married in 1829. This, we presume, was the first marriage in that 
neighborhood. Miss Chenoweth had come to the neighborhood in the 
same year with her father's family. They went to the farm that they 
occupied so long, immediately. Here they remained and brought up 
their family, and here Mr. Collison died in 1853. The widow still 
survives at an advanced age, living on the same farm that she began 
her married life upon " full fifty years ago." 

The Atwoods came to the east end of Pilot township in 1829. 
They, too came from Ohio. Alfred Atwood, whose biography ap- 
pears elsewhere, was a prominent member of society. He came 
with his parents when only six years old. Eli Helmick, who came 
first to Salt Fork in 1833, came to the east side of Pilot township in 
1836. At an advanced age he still lives and enjoys good health in the 
same neighborhood where for forty-three years he has been one of 
the principal men. When we remember that this man came here at 
the age of thirty-four, and that a man in the middle of life may go 
into a new country where there is nothing but vast wastes of unoccu- 
pied land, and where but few white men are to be seen, and yet live to 
see a populous, thriving, well-to-do community spring up around 
him, with all the facilities for culture and refinement to be had in any 
locality, no matter how old, we realize that this is an age of progress, 
and that life means more than it did a hundred years ago. What if 
Methuselah did live nine hundred and sixty-nine years; did he see such 
progress as " Uncle Eli " has seen within his days. 

We have mentioned the principal pioneers of Middle Fork in Pilot ; 
others may have lived here who deserved a preservation of their 
deeds in the history of their community, but no matter how deserv- 
ing, unless some one is left to tell the story, their deeds of heroism 
must sink into oblivion, or, perchance, live in the better lives of 
those who have been led they know not by whom. The first settler 
at Pilot Grove is in dispute. Rumor has it that a man by the name 
of Girard, — a relative of old Stephen Girard, of Philadelphia, — was 
the first white man who lived there ; but others tell us that Mr. All- 
corn was the first. Certain it is that Mr. Allcorn was there in 1830. 



908 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

It is said that he was succeeded by a Mr. Wheat. The grove, and 
quite a large scope of land around it, is now occupied by W. H. Fow- 
ler. For some time this has been the seat of a large farm. It certainly 
is a good place to excite the energy of an ambitious man. The first 
settler in the western part of the township, in the prairie, was Robert 
Butz ; but this was recent as compared with the settlements on the 
Middle Fork. His son, J. K. Butz, has one of the best improved 
farms in the county. He began on it as wild prairie in 1859. Eph- 
raim B. Tillotson was the first settler in the northwest part. He came 
to section 31, T. 21, R. 13, in 1856 ; he has remained there ever since, 
and has one of the best farms in the township. The earliest settler in 
the northeastern part was a Mr. Knight, who settled on a branch that 
has since borne his name. In here the only old settler still living, so 
far as we could learn, is William R. Furrow, who came with his 
mother and her family in 1844. He has held on to his early efforts 
here with advantage and profit. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

The early settlements in Pilot township were so scattered along the 
creek that they did not become sufficiently numerous in any one vicin- 
ity to support a school until a comparative recent date. In the neigh- 
borhood of the Juvinalls, but just across the creek in Blount township, 
school was taught at a very early day by Morgan Rees. Children 
from this settlement would attend the school across there, and conse- 
quently in those days school was not necessary on the western side of 
the creek. The first school-house built in Pilot was put up on sec- 
tion 20, T. 20, R. 12. This was in 1836 or 1837. Ezekiel Lewton 
taught the first school in this building. There had been, however, a 
school previous to this, in a cabin, taught by a Mr. Beard. This was 
about the year 1834. These schools possessed the usual primitive 
character. The days of loud schools had not gone. The ambitious 
youth were taught to exercise their vocal organs, and the more noise 
made the more successful the school. The present condition of educa- 
tional affairs is quite satisfactory. Good school-houses are seen in 
nearly all the districts, and competent teachers manage successful 
schools as a rule. 

CHURCHES. 

Pilot is without villages, but is not lacking in churches. Within 
the narrow limits of one small township we find five churches and 
several societies that hold meetings without owning any house of wor- 
ship. Not only do we find a number of churches, but there is a large 
membership. 



PILOT TOWNSHIP. 909 

The very first meetings within the limits of this township were 
held, as nearly as we can ascertain the facts, under the auspices of the 
McGees. As before noted, these people came here very early. The 
elder McGee was a minister. These were one branch of the Christian 
church. They seem to have been neither what is called Campbellite 
nor New Light, though probably a branch of the latter. They had an 
organization quite early. Stephen Griffith was one of the members at 
that time, — or, at least, an influential man among them. They held 
meetings in private houses for some time. It is related that, about 
1828 or 1829, they got up quite an excitement. They concluded to 
follow the apostolic order and have all things common. But this did 
not suit all concerned, and difficulty arose in camp. They did other 
things not considered orthodox at present : such as meeting and wait- 
ing for the descent of the Holy Ghost. This society was strong and 
influential in the first days of the neighborhood, but it finally suc- 
cumbed, and left no vestige of its former strength. 

Christian chapel, located in the south edge of Pilot township, was 
built by the Christians (New Lights) in 1873. It is a neat country 
church, 26x40 feet, and cost $1,200. The society that meets here had 
its origin in Oakwood township, for the first efforts of Emly and Wil- 
kins are recorded there. When the society left the Craig school-house 
it met at the Snyder school-house next. The meetings in the Snyder 
school-house were first held in 1862. There was a time when it be- 
came almost disorganized; some of the members were gone away to 
the army, and others had moved away, until things were in rather a 
dilapidated condition. But a revival of the work was begun, and has 
continued ever since. Meetings were held in the Snyder school-house 
until the building of the church. Since that time services are regu- 
larly held in the chapel. A flourishing Sabbath-school is generally 
kept going; good feeling prevails; there is little clashing with other 
denominations, and the society holds a membership of about one hun- 
dred and thirty. Thomas Snyder is the present pastor, and has held 
the position for sixteen years. He resides in the neighborhood, being 
a descendant of one of the earliest settlers of the county. There is a 
society of this denomination in the western part of the township, 
which meets at the Hope school-house. It was organized on the 4th 
of April, 1874, with forty-four members. It was organized under the 
supervision of Thomas Snyder. Previous to the organization of the 
church here, J. K. Butz and wife, Mr. Hedge and wife, and Mr. 
Thompson, were the only members of this denomination in the neigh- 
borhood. Meetings are now held monthly. The Kev. Mr. Rippey is 
the present pastor; before him, Elder Green officiated. There are now 



910 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

about fifty members. The school-house at Hope is one of the best 
country school-houses in the county. It was put up with a view to the 
accommodation of religious, as well as educational, enterprises. In 
this house there is a well organized and enthusiastic Sabbath-school. 
The parents take an interest in it. They see that their children have 
a good place to go to on Sunday. 

There are several members of the Campbellite division of the 
Christian church within the limits of Pilot, but those on the south side 
belong to the society that meet at the Gorman school-house in Oak- 
wood township. The people of the north have built themselves a very 
pleasantly appearing church on the north side of the township. It is 
24 x 36 feet, but cost them only about $400. There is quite a flourish- 
ing little society here. The main man of this organization is Ephraim 
B. Tillotson. 

In the northeast part of the township is located Knight's Branch 
church, as it is generally known. It is so called from its location on 
the branch first settled by a Mr. Knight. The proper name of the 
church is Olive Branch. This society is the only early organization of 
United Brethren in this part of the county. The first member of this 
society, or of this denomination, in this part of the country, was Abra- 
ham Peterson. He came in here about 1839 or 1840. The next man 
of influence of this persuasion was P. A. Canady. He arrived in this 
neighborhood about the year 1850. Peterson was a minister and did 
the first preaching for these people. He held meetings at his own 
house. The class was soon organized. They built the church in 
1867. It is 42 X 50 feet. It cost $2,700. It was dedicated by Bishop 
Weaver. At the time of the dedication there were nearly one hundred 
members, but the society has not been prosperous of late years. There 
are now only about twenty-five persons belonging to the church. The 
present pastor is the Rev. Scott. They have a Sabbath-school in suc- 
cessful operation, superintended by Elon Sperry. Before the building 
of the church, while meetings were held in the school-house, there was 
a great interest manifested. During harvest-time, prayer meetings 
were kept up every day of the week. Men would stop the reaper to 
go to meeting. As a result of this deep interest, there were seventy- 
five or eighty additions to the church at that one time. 

Pilot Class of United Brethren was organized about seven years ago, 
at Pilot Grove school-house. The first members included D. C. Butz, 
W. B. Tillotson, H. K. Curtis and wife, Mrs. Endicott, Austin Endi- 
cott and wife. The first to hold meetings for this society were Ira 
Mater and Joseph Cooper. There are about twenty members in this 
class. W. B. Tillotson is the class-leader, and H. K. Curtis is steward. 



PILOT TOWNSHIP. Q\\ 

We have yet to notice the Methodists in this township. They are 
among the strongest here, and their origin in this country dates back to 
the earliest pioneer days of the white settlements in this part of the 
country. The Morrison's and Juvinalls were Methodists. Their early 
settlement here has already been noticed. Meeting was regularly held 
at the residence of Mr. Morrison till he went away to Wisconsin. 
This was for some years after the first settlements. The earliest minis- 
ter recollected is the Eev. McKain, who was here in the earliest times. 
Meetings were sometimes held at the residence of the Juvinalls. After 
the school-houses began to be built, meeting was held in them. The 
Pilot chapel organization met in the Collison school-house till the build- 
ing of the church. Pilot chapel was built in the early part of the year 
and dedicated in June, 1871. The Eev. David Brewer was the pastor 
at the time of building. This is a well-built, attractive country church, 
and has a flourishing society with a good membership. The preacher 
in charge, at present, is the Rev. Eli Helmick. His career has already 
been dwelt upon at length in these pages, and will simply mention 
here that he is one of the old wheel-horses of Methodism in this coun- 
try. He came in here as early as 1830. He traveled all over this 
country, at that time and subsequently, and preached in almost every 
settlement in early times. In 1830 he traveled with " Old Freeman 
Smalley," whom the old settlers will recollect as one of the most re- 
markable pioneers of early times. The author of these lines met the 
old man, in late years, on the frontier, where, at an extreme old age, he 
still made his way to the school-houses wherever Baptist congregations 
gathered to worship. But he is gone ! His comrade lingers on the 
shores of time, but will soon join the innumerable hosts of pioneers, 
where nearly all the old settlers have already gone. 

Emberry is the name of a church built by the Methodists on the 
south side of the "California Ridge," and within two miles of the 
south line of the township. The society that occupies this church was 
organized by Rev. John E. Vinson. This was at what was called the 
Sand Bar school-house, about the year 1857. Mr. Yinson was a mem- 
ber of the Illinois Conference of Methodist Itinerants. He was, at that 
time, appointed to the "circuit" that included this territory. The 
Sand Bar school-house continued to be a regular place appointed to 
hold services for this membership until the building of the church. 
The first members of this society consisted of Rev. Yinson, wife and 
two children, and William Price and wife. If there were others their 
names are forgotten. In 1855, while Rev. John Long was on the 
circuit, there was an extensive revival here. More than forty persons 
united with the church; the Cassell family, the Deamude family, the 



912 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Cannon family and others were taken in at this time. The church was 
built in 1875. This was during the pastorate of Rev. I. Groves. The 
building is an elegant frame, and cost $2,300. When the day of dedi- 
cation came this amount was all provided for, and nothing was asked 
of the congregation. There is a prosperous society, and a reasonable 
membership. 

In the western part of the township there are a number of persons 
of the Roman Catholic faith and practice. They have no church, but 
we understand that services are held semi-occasionally in private 
houses whenever the priest can come out from Danville. 

POLITICAL AND WAR RECORD. 

In politics, Pilot is not only republican, but radically so. In all 
state and national elections, Pilot heaps up heavy majorities for the 
regular republican candidates. The township offices are seldom 
changed. Little ambition is manifested in securing them. 

In war, as in peace, the people manifest much interest in the gen- 
eral welfare of the country. There is one soldier of the Black Hawk 
war living in the township, and one living just across the line in 
Blount township, that went from this. The former is John Cassell, 
and the latter, Morgan Rees. They were under Col. Moore. These 
two companions of forty-seven years ago remain with us. If there 
were others from this part of the county their names are not remem- 
bered. These linger at advanced ages, but they will soon be gone, and 
the soldier of the Black Hawk war will be of the past. If there were 
any in the Mexican war we failed to find them ; but, during the stormy 
days of the republic, when men were rushing to the front to stop the 
ravages of an infuriate foe, Pilot furnished her own proper proportion. 
Eli Helmick lost two sons: George and Eli R. George was in the 21st 
111. Inf. under Gen. (then Col.) Grant. He died at home. The other 
was in the 35th, under Capt. Timmons. He died at Otterville, Mis- 
souri. Mr. Atwood also died from the effects of disease contracted in 
the army. We learned the names of no others. We are inclined to 
think that the soldiers from Pilot did not experience as great a mor- 
tality in their ranks as many sections have known. Within a limited 
area, smaller by far than Pilot, we have found the homes of nearly two- 
score men who lie on southern fields. But a good portion of Pilot 
lay open and unoccupied in 1861. 

A TILE FACTORY 

Is in successful operation in this township. The surface of the country 
here is not particularly level, but it soon runs into that kind of surface 



PILOT TOWNSHIP. 913 

as we go out from the "California Ridge." This factory was built 
in the fall of 1877. It is located in the northeastern part of the 
township, and was put up by James Acton. The factory is composed 
of kiln, shed and round-house. The kiln is 15x17 feet, the shed 
24x100 feet, and the round-house forty-two feet in diameter. The 
machine for molding the tile and grinding the clay is a four-horse 
Pennfield patent. It is capable of turning out two thousand six-inch 
tiles per day. It will mold tiles of 3, 3^, 4, 5 and 6 inches in diameter. 
They make the flat-bottomed tile. The factory is owned by James 
Acton and Conrad Friedrich, the latter having charge of and oper- 
ating it. They make tiling from remarkably peculiar, tough, blue clay. 
This is said to be the best for the purpose ; it certainly makes very 
good tile so far as appearance goes. The manufacturers claim that 
their tile is harder than the usual kinds ; it is almost, if not quite, 
as hard as the best burned brick. They are selling quite a large 
number of tiles. This country when thoroughly drained will be un- 
surpassed in fertility, as it is now in soil, in the United States. It is 
certainly commendable that an effort be made to manufacture so neces- 
sary an article in the community in which it is needed. 

HIGHWAYS. 

As Pilot lies principally on a prairie ridge, there were few public 
thoroughfares in early days. Persons traveled across the prairies in 
those days without roads, or even paths. For many years after settle- 
ments were made along the timber, the traveling over the prairie was 
done by direction. The traveler would ascertain the direction he 
must take to reach his desired destination, and then keep to his course, 
over pathless waste, crossing streams and swamps as best he could. A 
few roads along the Middle Fork date back to the days of early settle- 
ment; more recently nearly all the section lines have been made public 
highways. As the herd law is operative here, all that is necessary for 
a road in many places is a space left between the cultivated portions of 
adjoining farms. There are few streams, and consequently few bridges 
are required. In many places the roads present a pleasing appearance 
on account of the clover and timothy that grow beside them. 

ORGANIZATION OF PILOT. 

This was one of the first townships, as before stated. The commit- 
tee who fixed the original boundary and gave it the name Pilot, was 
composed of John Canady, Alvan Gilbert and Hamilton White. The 
township was represented in the first supervisor's court that met on 
the 13th of June, 1851, by Samuel Partlow. The next supervisor was 
58 



914 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Eli Helmick, who continued in the office a number of years. As be- 
fore remarked, the people of Pilot are not given to a great deal of 
changing of officers. Mr. J. E. Vinson was justice of the peace for 
twenty years, and the present supervisor, Mr. Keeslar, is serving his ninth 
term. At the election held on the 1st of April, 1879, the following 
officers were chosen : Charles W. Keeslar, supervisor ; L. Tillotson, 
town clerk ; J. C. Tevebaugh, assessor ; T. C. Smoot, collector ; John 
Z. Selsor, commissioner of highways; J. A. Knight, constable, and 
F. A. Collison, pound-master. The latter resigned and C. O. Ball 
was appointed to fill the vacancy. 

HOPE POST-OFFICE. 

Although Pilot cannot boast any villages, it has its post-office. We 
have yet to find in this part of the county a lovelier place for a little 
village than the spot where the post-office is located. But these people 
seem not to be ambitious in this line. No railroad facilities can ever 
be expected here, and these are necessary for a successful village in 
these days of fast traveling. This office is in the southwestern part of 
the township. It was first a special office, the people paying their own 
carrier. J. K. Butz was the first postmaster. The carrier at this time, 
came to Hope from Compromise, in Champaign county. In 1873 a 
regular office was established, and Mr. Butz was made postmaster, and 
continued till 1875. Since that time E. A. Donaldson has held the 
office at the " Cross-Roads." They now have two mails a week. The 
school-house here and the society of New Lights were noticed under 
the heading " Churches." In 1876 Mr. Butz put up a blacksmith-shop. 
Wicoff and son worked in it a while, and then J. T. Johnson swung 
the hammer and blew the bellows. At present, Gr. W. Cool manages 
the fires. Ezra Harrison began a mercantile business at this place in 
the spring of 1878. Although he has been operating for so short a 
time, he has built up a successful trade. He occupies a store-room 
16x38 feet. He carries on a general country trade, dealing in such 
things as are in demand in a farming community. Mr. E. A. Donald- 
son, the postmaster, who is also a school-teacher, carries a small stock 
of goods, for the benefit of the community and himself. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

Samuel Bloomfield, deceased, was one of the earliest settlers of 
Vermilion county. He was a native of Ohio, and came here in the 
spring of 1823. He stopped awhile in Indiana. The first place that 
he occupied in this county was Quaker's Point. He was the first set- 
tler there. He remained here two years and then moved close to 



PILOT TOWNSHIP. 915 

Georgetown. After a short residence there he moved to six miles 
southeast of Danville, and then two and a half miles below Danville. 
After a stay here he came to Middle Fork. He lived and died in that 
neighborhood. He died on the road home from mill, in 1862, of heart 
disease. His wife lived until 1871. They had five daughters and four 
sons. The eldest, Mrs. Deamude, lives on her farm in Pilot township. 
She was married to Samuel Deamude on the 3d of April, 1842. He 
was born on the 16th of August, 1807. He, too, was an early settler. 
He came in 1835. He had married Miss Hillery previously. Mr. D. 
died on the 27th of January, 1868. He had five children by first wife 
and four by second. They came to the farm in Pilot in 1848. He 
bought four hundred acres of land here. Mrs. D. still lives on the 
place. It has been divided up among the children, but the mother 
has a large and pleasant house to live in, and she still carries on a good 
deal of business. 

S. P. Leneve, Pilot, farmer, is one of the oldest persons that we 
have found who were born in this county. He was born here on the 
23d of December, 1828. His father was one of the very first in this 
country. S. P. Leneve grew to manhood on his father's farm. He 
then went to California in 1852. He had received a fair education at 
the Georgetown high school, and was prepared to make his way in the 
world. He went by way of New Orleans and the Isthmus. They 
touched at Acapulco. On the way they had some difficulty in regard 
to food. He first went to Mary ville. He worked in the mines at $110 
per month. From this he went to teaming, and followed the business 
fourteen years. He then went to Nevada and dealt in stock and grain. 
He made his home in Virginia City two years. He then came back 
to this county by way of New York city. In 1869 he married Adaline 
"Wilson. He has since lived on his farm in Pilot township. 

Alfred Atwood, deceased, Pilot, was a well-known character in the 
community in which he lived. He was born in Preble county, Ohio, 
on the 10th of October, 1823, and died on the 2d of June, 1865. He 
died of chronic diarrhoea, contracted in the United States service. He 
came with his parents to Illinois at the age of six years. They first 
stopped on Middle Fork, in the east end of Pilot township. Here he 
grew up, and on the 21st of January, 1847, married Diadama Bloom- 
field. She was born here on the 18th of June, 1832. She still lives 
here with her children. Mr. Atwood joined the Christian church in 
1850, and was ordained elder in 1852. He enlisted in the 125th Reg. 
111. Inf. in August, 1862. He maintained his Christian character 
through all the trials of war. He was earnest, devout, and often 
preached to his gathered comrades. On the 1st of May, 1864, he was 



916 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

sent to the hospital, and was discharged in 1865. He then came home 
and died as above. Funeral services were not held till the return of 
his comrades, on the 3d of September, 1865. He left a wife, three 
sons and one daughter to mourn his loss. He owned at that time one 
hundred and ninety acres of land in east end of Pilot. Mr. Atwood's 
Christianity was unchallenged. The goodness and piety of his life 
threw a radiant halo of eternal glory around his every action. Men 
loved and admired him, while his faithful performance of duty enno- 
bled his life and established confidence in humanity. 

David H. Lindsey, Higginsville, farmer, is a native of Kentucky, 
having been born in Harrison county on the 26th of July, 1817. His 
father died when he was young, and his mother married Mr. Martin. 
They came to Illinois in the fall of 1829. David came along, and has 
made this his home ever since. They stopped close to state line, where 
the family grew up. Mr. Lindsey married Mariah Boyd on the 30th 
of June, 1839. She died, and he married Sophronia Canady on the 
19th of March, 1844. Upon her death he took to himself Minerva J. 
Wood, on the 30th of April, 1852. He was united with his last wife, 
Ordelia Anderson, upon the death of the third. Her father was a 
pioneer Methodist preacher in earl}' times. Mr. L. has five children 
living. He came to Pilot in 1849. He bought a large tract of land 
here at first. He now owns two hundred and fifty-four acres. He is 
a member of the M. E. church, being steward and trustee. 

W. H. Price, Pilot, farmer, came to Vermilion county when young. 
He was born in Ohio on the 4th of July, 1827. He reached Illinois 
in 1830. His father's family came to two miles north of Danville. 
Here the son stayed till he was sixteen years old. At that time he be- 
gan life for himself, with nothing but his ability to start on. He 
worked out three years. He remained in the neighborhood of State 
Line till twenty-three years old. He was married in January, 1850, to 
Mary A. Cazzatt. He moved to where he now lives in Pilot township, 
in the spring of 1852. He bought two hundred acres of land when 
nineteen years old, and paid for it by working at nine dollars per 
month. He now has six hundred and forty acres. He has five chil- 
dren. He is a member of the M. E. church, and of the A.F. & A.M. 

"Uncle Eli," as Eli Helmick, retired farmer and minister, is known 
all over the country, is one of the few remaining old settlers who came 
here at a very early day, and yet was old enough to have quite a family 
when he came. He was born in Randolph county, Virginia, on the 4th 
of August, 1802. Plis father, Jacob Helmick, was in the war of 1812. 
The family had moved to Warren county, Ohio, in 1805. Jacob Hel- 
mick died there in 1815. While his father was in the war, Eli thought 



PILOT TOWNSHIP. 917 

to go ahead with the work, and in making a wooden wedge for the 
purpose of rail-splitting, he cut oft' his thumb with the ax. He lived 
in Warren county from 1805 till 1819, and in Clinton from 1819 till 
1833. In 1830 Mr. Helmick and old Mr. Freeman Smalley, whom 
the old settlers will remember, came to Illinois on horseback. They 
traveled all over this country, and would have moved the next year 
had not the threatening Indian troubles kept them back. But when 
things quieted down after the war of 1832, they began fixing up for 
the journey. They reached Vermilion county in 1833. They first 
stopped two and a half miles east of where Homer now is. Mr. Hel- 
mick hauled the first load of goods that ever went to Homer, in 1834. 
He stayed on this place till 1836, and then came to the east side of 
Pilot township, where he has lived ever since (residence first in section 
20, town 20 north, range 12 west ; residence now in section 13). When 
he first came to Pilot he bought six hundred acres of land, but has sold 
off and given to his children till he now owns three hundred and thirty- 
eight acres — two hundred and forty prairie, and ninety-eight timber. 
On the 28th of July, 1825, Mr. Helmick was married to Kachel Villars. 
They had nine children, eight of whom lived to be grown. Four of 
these are now living. His son George was in the 111. Vol. Inf., 21st 
Reg. He went out with the first three-years men. He was in Grant's 
regiment. George took sick at Iron Mountain and came home and 
died on the 28th of March, 1862. Eli R., a younger son, volunteered 
in August, 1861, and went with his regiment (35th) to Otterville, 
where he died on the 7th of October, 1861. These sons were both 
buried in Mt. Pleasant cemetery. Thomas A. was also in the army, 
but he returned. John W. is a traveling minister in the Illinois Con- 
ference M. E. church. Thomas A. was also a minister, but died in 
August, 1877, in Kansas. Eli Helmick was married a second time on 
the 8th of February, 1848, to Amanda Oak wood, daughter of Henry 
Oakwood. They had three children. Amanda died on the 19th of 
January, 1875. His first wife had died on the 7th of March, 1846. 
"Uncle Eli" has been a member of the M. E. church for fifty-seven 
years. He was ordained local deacon in the M. E. church on the 22d 
of October, 1843, by Bishop Andrews, at Crawfordsville, Indiana. He 
was ordained elder at Decatur, Illinois, on the 4th of October, 1857. 
He now has charge of the Pilot circuit. He was elected supervisor 
from Pilot township to fill vacancy made vacant by Samuel Partlow. 
He was thus second supervisor from the township, and continued in 
the office for a number of terms. He is now growing old, but is vig- 
orous and hearty for one in his seventy-seventh year, he spending 



918 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

his time preaching, thus being ready for the Master when he declares 
the harvest ended and the work done. 

Matthew Laflen, Pilot, farmer, is one of the oldest settlers of this 
township now living. He was born in Monroe county, Ohio, on the 
13th of September, 1816. He stayed in Ohio till fourteen years old, 
and then came to Indiana in 1830. He then came to Vermilion county, 
Indiana, in 1832. He remained in that place two years and then came 
over to Illinois in 1834, to two and a half miles east of Danville. He 
remained there till 1843, when he came to where he now lives, town 
20, range 13, section 13. He then bought one hundred and ten acres 
of land, now he has four hundred and fifty acres. He was married to 
Eliza J. Lamm in 1836. She is a daughter of Edward Lamm. She is 
the mother of twelve children, all of whom are living. They had two 
sons in the late war. Amos W. was in the 125th, and William A. 
was in the 4th Iowa under Col. Dodge. He was in the Pea Ridge 
fight, but went into invalid corps ; was discharged and enlisted again. 
Amos W. went through with the 125th. Matthew Laflen has been a 
member of the M. E. church since 1833. 

Andrew J. Michael, Pilot, was born in this county on the 30th of 
December, 1834, at New Town. His father is Robert Michael. He 
came to this county in October, 1834. Mr. Michael was brought up 
on a farm near the place of his birth. In 1856 he began for himself. 
In 1859 he went to the gold mines in Colorado. He broke prairie 
previously with ox-teams for five years. His health had failed, and the 
western trip restored it. He came back in 1860. He went to farming 
where he now is in 1863. He married the widow of Joseph English, 
of the 25th 111. Vol. Inf. They have five children. Mr. Michael has 
made all his wealth since 1856. He owns two hundred and fifteen 
acres of land, which is clear of incumbrances of all kinds. 

John Cramer, deceased, was born in Virginia on the 22d of March, 
1815. He moved first to West Virginia, and then to Ohio. From 
Ohio he came to Illinois in 1835, and settled about five miles north- 
west of Danville. In 1836 he married Malinda Lewman, daughter of 
Aaron Lewman, who came to Illinois from Kentucky in 1827. After 
their marriage they lived in different parts of the same neighborhood, 
till he bought land near the West Lebanon church. They remained at 
this place till 1857, when they moved to the prairie, in Pilot township, 
where they bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, and where the 
family still live. Mr. Cramer died on the 8th of November, 1865. He 
left a w>fe and six children. He was a member of the M. E. church 
for more than twenty years. 

The Vinsons are a well-known and much respected people in the 



PILOT TOWNSHIP. 919 

western part of Vermilion county. John E., farmer and minister, was 
born in Kentucky on the 10th of November, 1823. His father, Hen- 
son Vinson, sen., was one of the earliest settlers of Parke county, In- 
diana, having reached that state in 1828. Mr. Vinson, sen., came with 
his family to Middle Fork in 1837. John E. grew to manhood on his 
father's farm, southwest of New Town. On the 12th of June, 1841, 
he married Elizabeth E. Trimmell, daughter of William Trimmell, sen. 
She was born half a mile north of New Town. They moved, first, to 
the east side of Pilot township, and staid there three years. They 
then moved to their present home farm on the highlands of Pilot 
township. Here they were alone in the prairie for some time. Mr. 
Vinson first bought land here in 1845. The home place has four hun- 
dred acres. Besides this, he owns land in Kansas and some other land 
in this state. Mr. Vinson has been a member of the M. E. church for 
fort}'-one years. He has been a local minister for twenty-two years. 
In 1853 he was elected justice of the peace, and served in that capacity 
for twenty years. Mr. Vinson went out with the 125th in Co. I, as first 
lieutenant, his brother, Levin Vinson, being captain. He remained 
with the regiment till they reached Nashville. He was taken sick just 
after the Perryville fight. He resigned his commission in January, 
1863, and came home. He was sick for some time, but recovered in 
time to recruit a new company in the spring of 1863. Mr. Vinson 
started out as captain of this company, but gave it up in order to 
hasten the organization of the company, and took the first lieutenancy 
again. They were mustered in at Mattoon. They were now in com- 
pany I, 135th. Their service was mostly in Missouri. They went out 
as one-hundred-day men, and were mustered out in the fall of 1863. 

Martin H. Watson, Fithian, farmer, is a native of the county. He 
was born on the 6th of May, 1840. His father, John R. Watson, of 
Danville, came to the county at a very early date. Martin was born 
on the farm three miles north of Danville ; he grew to manhood on 
that farm. On the 3d of April, 1860, he married Martha A. Cunning- 
ham, and moved to Pilot township the same year. They have eight 
children. Mr. W. owns three hundred and sixty acres of land, lying 
in a square on the southwest corner of section 24, T. 20 N., R. 14 W. 
They have lived on this place since 1860. Mr. W. is a member of the 
regular Predestinarian Baptist church. 

Matthew Barkman, Higginsville, farmer, resides on section 1, T. 20, 
R. 13, where he owns one hundred and seventy-five acres of land. He 
came to this place twenty-five years ago, and has been living here ever 
since. He was born in Licking county, Ohio, on the 16th of April, 
1824. He remained there till he was eighteen years old, and then 



920 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

came to Pilot township, this county ; this was in 1842. Mr. Bark- 
man married Ruamia Juvenal, a daughter of one of the first settlers 
here, in 1847. Mr. B's earl}' advantages were very limited, but he has 
by energy and perseverance gained a competency. 

George Watson, Hope, farmer, is another of those whose parents 
came to Vermilion in the earliest days of pioneer settlement. George 
was born in this county on the 27th of February, 1844, in Newell 
township. He lived there till he was twenty-three years old. He 
moved to Pilot township in the fall of 1867. He has three hundred 
and eighty-two and a-half acres of land and is in good condition. He 
married Rebecca J. Olehy, daughter of John Olehy, on the 30th of 
July, 1865. They have four children living. 

Few grown men have been in Pilot township longer than W. R. 
Furrow, of Potomac, and but few can show as good a record of success 
under difficulties. He was born in Madison county, Ohio, on the 9th 
of May, 1826. He stayed there till eighteen years old. He went to 
school till his father died, and then he had to work out. His mother 
was left a widow with five children. She settled on Knight's Branch 
in 1844. Mr. F. says that next season would have seen them in Ohio, 
but they were too poor to go back. At one time he walked to Indian- 
apolis ; he also went to Arkansas, but didn't stay. He married Ava- 
rilla Bailey, daughter of Henry Bailey, in 1850. He moved to his 
present residence in 1865. They have four children. Mr. F. has two 
hundred and forty acres of land which he puts mostly to grass, and 
pastures it. He is a member of the Knight's Branch church of United 
Brethren. 

Dr. Samuel H. Vredenburgh, Higginsville, physician, is one of the 
oldest practitioners in this part of the county. He was born in Indi- 
ana on the 3d of September, 1820. His father was a Methodist preacher, 
and the Doctor began life as a teacher. He followed this profession 
five years, and then changed off to the practice of medicine. He 
began the latter at the age of twenty-six years. He came to Illinois in 
June, 1846, and began the practice of medicine in New Town. He has 
since remained in this part of the county, running a farming business 
and practicing medicine. He belongs to the old school of allopathic 
practice and has been quite successful in life. He still superintends 
his farm and waits upon the afflicted. 

John Cessna, Hope, farmer, is a native of Ohio. He was born on 
the 29th of June, 1833. He lived there three years, and then moved 
to near Toledo. The family then moved to Cairo, this state. At this 
time there were only three houses in Cairo. His father died there. 
He then went to Ohio and stayed till he came to this county, in the 



PILOT TOWNSHIP. 921 

fall of 1848. His mother had married again, and he came with the 
family. He remained in Blount township till twenty-four years old, 
and then went to California. He was on a ranch there two years. He 
came back in January, 1860, having had a profitable trip. He was 
married on the 12th of July, 1862, to Ann R. Trnax. She died in 
January, 1876. They have five children. On the 1.4th of June, 1877, 
Mr. Cessna married Nancy J. Reed. They have one child. Mr. C. 
bought first one hundred and twenty acres of land here, but has in- 
creased it to two hundred and twenty. 

Nathan Smoot, Pilot, farmer, was born in Ohio, on the 31st of 
March, 1840. He came to this county in 1849, with his parents. They 
stopped first in section 13, town 20, range 13. His father bought one 
hundred and eighty-seven acres of land here. Nathan now has one 
hundred and sixty. He was married on the 12th of October, 1871, to 
Minnie Michener. He was in the 125th Reg., Co. I, under Capt. Vin- 
son. He was with the regiment at all times, except when he had the 
measles, at Bowling Green, Kentucky. He was then away from the 
regiment only one month. Otherwise he was in all the actions of the 
125th, and was mustered out with it at Washington. He is now com- 
missioner of highways in Pilot township; was elected in April, 1877. 
He has been assessor five years and collector one year. He was also 
town clerk for five years. 

J. C. Mosier, Pilot, farmer, lives in the east side of Pilot. His 
father's name was Solomon Mosier, who was born in Virginia, on the 
15th of September, 1796. Solomon lived in Virginia till the war of 
1812. He was in the latter part of this war. He came to Ohio in 
1818, and from Ohio to Indiana in 1836. He came to Pilot and bought 
his home in 1848, and moved in 1849. He had five children. He died 
on the 1st of April, 1871. J. C. was elected justice of the peace in 
1*874, and has been since. The Mosiers are noted for their intelligence, 
talent and general information. The father was particularly noted in 
the neighborhood as being well "posted." 

Clapp Sumner, Pilot, farmer, a Yankee by birth and training, has 
become thoroughly westernized. He was born in Corinth, Orange 
county, Vermont, on the 19th of November, 1831. He remained there 
till twenty-one years old. He came to Vermilion in July, 1852. He 
worked at the carpenter trade for two years, after first coming to Dan- 
ville. He came out to Pilot township in 1854. He owns forty acres 
of land in section 13, town 20, range 13. He has lived in this part of 
the township since 1854. He married Mary Smoot in the spring of 
1854. They have five children. Mr. Sumner was one of the charter 
members of the New Town A.F. & A.M. He was special deputy under 



922 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Myers and Gregory for a number of years. He has been constable 
some time. 

J. K. Butz, Hope, farmer, is the elegant man of the township. He 
would take the premium for taste in fixing up his residence, and for 
neat farming, too, perhaps. He was born in New Jersey, on the 17th 
of September, 1835. He came with his father's family to Macon 
county in 1852. He then came to Vermilion county in 1854. He 
married Rebecca Tillotson in 1859. They have six children. They 
moved to the place where they now live in 1861. They have four 
hundred acres there. They began on wild prairie, and now have one 
of the finest farms in the state of Illinois. He keeps his place mostly 
in grass, and raises stock. He has a great number of trees of different 
kinds on his place, both fruit and forest trees. He is an active mem- 
ber of the Christian church, and by his efforts it has gained a good 
footing in his neighborhood. 

J. P. Tevebaugh, Pilot, farmer, is a native of Virginia. He was 
born in Hardy county on the 1st of July, 1835. At the age of twenty 
he came with his parents to Illinois and settled on Middle Fork, near 
Higginsville. He has remained in this part of Vermilion county ever 
since that time. In 1858 he was married to Catharine McScott, daugh- 
ter of Charles McScott, of Pilot township. In 1867 they moved to 
the south side of Pilot township, where Mr. Tevebaugh bought eighty 
acres of prairie. They have remained here ; have improved the wild 
prairies, bought more land, and become independent. Mr. Tevebaugh 
is a member of the New Town lodge of A.F. & A.M., and has belonged 
to the horse compauy for twenty years. 

Newell E. Pice, Hope, farmer, was born in Alleghany county, New 
York, on the 22d of December, 1823. His father was a farmer, and 
taught his boy to be skillful in the art. Mr. Pice lived in New York 
till the 27th of August, 1855, when he started for Illinois. He stopped 
in Danville in 1856. He went up to Will county, but came back and 
began making ties on the T. W. & W. P. P. He first farmed on the 
Spencer farm. He was here one year, and then went to Warren county, 
Indiana, and staid two years. He then staid one year on the Neal 
farm, and then went to southeast of Catlin and remained two years, and 
came to the west side of Pilot on the 11th of April, 1866. He has 
remained here ever since. He married Vilinda B. Hartley in 1861. 
She died on the 29th of June, 1873. They had two sons. Mr. Rice 
is a member of the A.F. & A.M. 

Jacob A. Freese, Hope, farmer and shepherd, is noted for his fine 
sheep. He has over two hundred American Merino. His main ram 
that he had a short time ago yielded fifteen pounds of wool at one 



PILOT TOWNSHIP. 923 

year old, and when two and three years he gave twenty-three pounds. 
He also has a fine ewe that yields sixteen pounds every year. Quite 
a number yield ten pounds apiece on the average. He now has a tine 
lamb, a few weeks old, worth $25. Mr. Freese came to Illinois from 
Ohio, where he was born, in 1836. He came, in 1856, to five miles 
west of Danville, and then to near Catlin, in 1862. In 1869 he came 
to his present residence on section 11, T. 20, K. 14. He owns half of 
a section here. He was married in 1867 to Lisle Fleming, of Muskin- 
gum county, Ohio. They have four children — two sons and two 
daughters. Mr. Freese is a member of the New Town Lodge of A.F. 
& A.M. 

E. B. Tillotson, Hope, farmer, is one of those men that you often 
hear of when in their neighborhood, both on account of his public 
spirit and his integrity as a man. He was born in New York on the 
28th of December, 1811. He lived there only two years, and then 
came to Hamilton county, Ohio. Here he remained fourteen years, 
and removed to Warren county, Indiana, in 1825. His parents both 
lived and died in Warren county, Indiana. Here Mr. Tillotson re- 
mained until January, 1856, when he came to section 31, T. 21, R. 13, 
where he has since remained. He bought government land here then. 
It was comparatively cheap. He was married in 1833 to Mary Cronk- 
hite. They have reared nine children. Mr. T. is a prominent member 
of the Christian church. By his industry he has made a competency 
and the desert to blossom as the rose. 

Charles W. Keeslar, Pilot, farmer, president of the board of su- 
pervisors, deserves an extensive notice, but as we have not sufficient 
data, we must content ourselves with a bare outline. Mr. Keeslar was 
born in New York on the 13th of January, 1835. He went to Branch 
county, Michigan, in 1837, and there he remained till 1858. At this 
time he came to Danville. Fourteen years ago he came to the farm 
where he now lives. In October, 1860, he married Sarah Snyder. 
They have three children. Mr. Keeslar is now serving his ninth term 
in the supervisor's court, and is president of the same. Township 
offices have been put on him quite frequently, having always had the 
pleasure of holding some kind of an office. He is a member of the 
Christian church, and of the New Town Lodge of A.F. & A.M. 
He was one of the charter members of the last. He is also anxious 
tiat it be known that he is a temperance man, and will not support 
anyone who indulges. 

Lonzo Campbell, deceased, was a native of New York state. He 
was born near Adamsville on the 3d of June, 1824. Mr. Campbell 
came first to Cook county, and lived there a while. He came to Yer- 



924 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

milion county in 1859. He lived on his farm in Pilot township until 
his death on the 22d of July, 1871. His widow carries on the farm of 
two hundred and forty acres, raising cattle and hogs, and conducting 
other farming interests with a great deal of skill. In 1877 she built a 
very pretty residence at a cost of $1,000. She has only one child, a 
daughter fifteen years old. She has one of the most attractive resi- 
dences in the township. 

Still clinging to life at a good old age, we found Anthony Long, on 
the extreme border of the county. He was born in Pennsylvania, 
near Harrisburg, on the 5th of April, 1805. He lived there about 
twenty-one years. He began the carpenter's trade at seventeen. He 
lived in various parts of Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio till 1851, 
when he went to California. He went overland, and came back by 
sea. He worked part of the time in the mines and part at his trade. 
He went back to Ohio and staid till 1863, when he came to this county. 
He has one hundred and twenty acres of land here. He was married 
twice, and had six children by his first wife and three by the second. 
Those that are living are scattered abroad in different parts of the 
Union. Mr. Long has been a member of the M. E. church for a long 
time. 

Thomas Collison, Hope, farmer, is a native of England, having been 
born in the county of Kent on the 12th of April, 1836. He was 
farmer, and his father was farmer and huckster there. He was married 
in April, 1849, and set sail for America the same spring. He went to 
Oneida after landing at Long Island ; from Oneida to Buffalo, and 
then to Cincinnati in 1851. He went to Bartholomew county in 1853. 
In 1864 he came to Danville, and remained six years, and then came 
to the west end of Pilot. He bought two hundred and forty acres 
where he now lives in 1869. He has seven children living. Mr. Col- 
lison was a member of the Independents in England, but belongs to 
the Christians here. Mr. Collison had only five shillings when he 
landed in New York. His ancestors were wealthy, but were cheated 
out of the property on the death of his grandfather. 

Samuel Freese, Hope, farmer and dealer in fine stock, is one of the 
neat farmers. He is not so extensive a dealer as some men in Pilot, 
but he maintains that all that he handles is his own. He is a native of 
Licking county, Ohio, born in 1832. He remained in his native state 
till 1865, when he came to this county. He staid near Catlin seven 
years, and then went to Danville and remained two years, and then 
came to the southwest of Pilot township and bought eighty acres of 
land. Mr. Freese has been dealing in American merino sheep. He 
has taken the prizes in nearly all the fairs in this part of the country. 






PILOT TOWNSHIP. 925 

He also keeps fine horses and cattle. His aim is to stock up his place 
with thoroughbreds of all stock. He married Mary E. Evans in 1857. 
They have six children. Mr. F. is a member of the A.F. & A.M., and 
also of the M. E. church. 

Dennis S. Blew, Hope, farmer, was born in Champaign county, Ohio, 
on the 6th of November, 1833. He was reared on his father's farm in 
that county. He remained in that part of Ohio till April, 1866, when 
he came to section 10, range 14, town 20. They bought the place in 
1877. Mr. Blew was married in Ohio, in 1856, to Lucy Hekner. 
They have live children. Van is the oldest, then come Henry H., 
Abraham H., Jesse J. and Cora A. Mr. Blew is laboring under a 
chronic attack of disease that has made him unable to work for several 
years. 

Jacob V. Ludwig, Pilot, farmer, is a young farmer with flattering 
prospects. He occupies one of the most desirable situations in the 
county. He was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, on the 13th of 
November, 1853. He came to this county in 1867. His father came 
with his two sons and bought four hundred and eighty-six acres of 
land. There are. two hundred and forty acres in the farm that J. V. 
occupies. He was married on the 20th of November, 1875, to Char- 
lotte G. Stevens. They have two children. Mr. L. is a member of 
the New Town Lodge of A.F. & A.M. 

Ezra Harrison, Hope, merchant, was born in Chautauqua county, 
New York, on the 24th of September, 1848. He was reared on a 
farm. He remained a farmer till "of age." He came to this county 
in 1867. He came to Danville first. His parents reside in this town- 
ship on a farm. Ezra began merchandising at Hope post-office, in 
March, 1878. He has done a good business for a country store. He 
remains in single blessedness, notwithstanding he is the only successful 
merchant and consequently the most desirable man in a large scope of 
territory. 

Elijah Henry, Potomac, farmer, was born in Mason county, Ken- 
tucky, in 1836. He lived there till fifteen years old, when he came to 
Fountain county, Indiana. He remained in Indiana till 1871, when 
he came to Book waiters farm in Pilot township. He has lived here 
ever since with the exception of three years that he spent in Muncie, 
Illinois. In February, 1876, he married Mary Mahoma, of Fountain 
county, Indiana. 



926 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 

The pioneers were early attracted to this section of country. Its 
rich soil, pure water, abundant timber, and picturesque configuration, 
afforded strong inducements to them to accept with cheerfulness the 
deprivations of the border. The earlier settlers came mostly from 
Ohio and Kentucky. In those theaters of stirring experience they had 
been trained to vigorous exercise and ingenious resource. Their capi- 
tal — steady and industrious habits, strong wills and constitutions — was 
the best for the times and the circumstances; with little else, they 
came to build homes and to gather around them the ordinary conveni- 
ences of civilized life. To leave comfortable firesides and happy asso- 
ciations and emigrate to this wild region, was no trifling episode in 
their lives. It was not unmixed with trials and difficulties, which 
abounded with disheartening constancy. The splendor and mazy 
activities of the present day so monopolize our interest that we cannot 
content ourselves, while looking back, to dwell on the picture long 
enough to get a distinct view of objects. The failure, therefore, nigh 
universal, to comprehend and appreciate the personal sacrifices of these 
resolute men and women, is not surprising. But the fact, however, is 
the same — that they laid the foundations of the local inheritance and 
prosperity of this generation. To the Le Neves must be accorded the 
honor of making the first beginning in Newell township. In the fall 
of 1823, Obadiah Le Neve journeyed on horse-back from Yincennes to 
St. Louis, and thence into Northeast Missouri, and on his homeward 
trip made a circuit in northern Illinois. With very correct judgment 
he pronounced the region enclosed in the present limits of Newell 
township the best that he had seen. Obtaining the numbers of the 
following tracts— W. i N.W. \ Sec. 23, and E. i N.E. \ Sec. 24, town 
20 N., range 11 W., 3d principal meridian — he returned home, and a 
public land sale shortly after occurring, he purchased those pieces. 
Just prior to Christmas, in the year 1824, Obadiah and John Le Neve 
left their relations in Lawrence (then Crawford) county, Illinois, and 
with a team loaded with provisions and a small outfit of bedding, they 
set out for their future home. A third person accompanied to take the 
team back. On arriving at their destination, they rived a few rails and 
laid up a square, chinking and filling the interstices with pulled grass, 
and covering one half of the rude structure with puncheons. The 
Indians were numerous, and came to their camp with freedom, and 
behaved in the most friendly manner. They never disturbed anything 
while the men were away, though they often came about the place 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 927 

during their absence. They proved themselves honest and conscion- 
able neighbors. When the pioneers spread their homely meals, the 
Indians, if any were present, were invited to the repast, and they always 
accepted with the best familiarity which hunger and gratitude could 
prompt. The immigrants had other neighbors far less companionable. 
These were the wolves that came about in great numbers, making the 
woods resonant with their hideous nocturnal serenade. The two 
brothers had come to prepare for their ultimate removal, and during 
the whole winter, which they spent in this neighborhood, were splitting 
rails. Toward the latter part of February they began to prepare for 
their departure. They first erected a cabin on section 14, town 20, 
about forty rods west of where John Le Neve has always lived. This 
was for occupation by Ben. Butterfield, who was expected to arrive 
soon with his family. He came near the close of the month, and two 
or three days later the Le Neves went back. The actual settlement of 
Newell township was thus begun by Butterfield, in February, 1825. 
In the course of the summer and fall quite numerous additions were 
made to the number of inhabitants, as the following list will show: 
John Current arrived from Virginia. The Howards — Henry, Lack- 
land, Amos, Aaron and Nathan — and William and James Delay emi- 
grated from Ohio. Jeremiah Delay, son of James Delay, probably 
came at the same time. Oliver Miller settled on Stony Creek in sec- 
tion 14. The Le Neves returned in November or December. Samuel 
and John Adams and Joseph Martin came together, from Harrison 
county, Kentucky. The first located on section 22, town 20, where he 
has always resided. William Newell, from the same place, settled on 
section 23, just east of Adams. John Lamb and his son Simeon 
(Quakers), natives of North Carolina, came from Indiana. John 
Goodener, Elijah Hale and John Swisher settled in the timber between 
Samuel Adams' and Solomon Rodrick's. Three brothers of John 
Swisher — Samuel, Lewis and Jacob — also lived in the same neighbor- 
hood, but the date of their settlement cannot be given. All these per- 
sons were from Ohio. George Ware came to Vermilion county this 
year. He made a farm on section 16 in this township. The next year 
Adam Starr came up from Georgetown. Samuel Swinford, Richard 
Blair, William Adams, Edward Martin and James Newell came from 
Harrison county, Kentucky. The last came the year before to examine 
the country, and entered land on section 10, on the 5th day of October. 
Abraham and Frederick Stipp, from Virginia, settled on section 9. 
John Watson settled in the south part of the township. In 1827 Will- 
iam Current, from Virginia, settled on section 36, town 20. David 
Tickle, Jacob and George Swisher, and Eli Hewitt, came from Ken- 



928 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

tucky. Nathaniel Taylor settled in the Le Neve neighborhood, and 
afterward went to Denmark. Joseph Gundy began improvements 
near Myersville, but did not bring his family until the next year. 
Luke Wiles, from Indiana, settled across the Fork from Myersville. 
In 1828 Hugh Bolton and Solomon Rodrick emigrated from Ohio. 
The latter settled where he now lives, on section 34, town 20. Dr. 
John Woods, a native of New York, located in the southeast part of 
the township as early as this year. It is believed that his father-in-law, 
Supply Butterneld, came not far from this time. Those from Kentucky 
were Thomas Hendren, Jehu Chandler, Jacob Eckler, James Duncan 
and his sons Asa, Alpha, Darius and James. In 1829 Ralph Martin 
and his step-son John P. Lindsey, Henry Ferguerson, William Cun- 
ningham and his minor sons James and Joseph, Harrison Oliver, 
George W. Smith, Samuel Oliver and his son Bushrod, John Shafer, 
and James and Andrew Makemson. arrived from Kentucky. Ambrose 
Andrews and his family, including his son Ambrose Phelps, just then 
of age, Nathaniel Glaze and family, Thomas Carter and family, Jacob 
Bumgardner, William Longshore, Robert Thornsburg, and John Stal- 
cup, came together. Abram and Josiah Henkle, Henry Wood, Peter 
Starr, a native of North Carolina, William G. Blair, a native of Ken- 
tucky, Andrew Davison and his sons James and Robert, Virginians, 
all came from Ohio. Samuel Torrence came this year or earlier. In 
1830, George Stipp, Robert Price, Richard Brewer, William J. Barger, 
and Consider Scott, a native of New York, came from Ohio. Valen- 
tine Leonard and his sons-in-law, Charles S. Young, John Young and 
Otho Allison, emigrated from Kentucky. The next year Caleb Worley 
arrived from Kentucky, and George French from Indiana. Louis 
Neely came in 1832; also Daniel P. Huffman came from Kentucky. 
John Campbell, and Samuel Campbell, jr., migrated from New York 
in 1833. In the following year Harper J. and Joseph Campbell, 
brothers to these, and Samuel Campbell, sr., located in this township. 
Clarendon E. Loring, a native of Maine, came from Indiana. Zacha- 
riah Robertson, Jacob Huffman, John Deck and John Rutledge, 
arrived from Kentucky. Michael Deck probably came at the same 
time. Jacob Deck, a Pennsylvanian, settled here in 1835. John 
Stipp, a brother to those who had already located in the township, and 
John Williams, recently from England, came about this time. The 
following is a list of early settlers who came perhaps not later than 
1835: Armenus Miller, Michael and James Leonard, Edward Morgan, 
Samuel Briarly, Isaiah Treat, William Stevens, a preacher, Robert 
Layton, from Kentucky, Abel and Vatchel Newborough, Duncan 
Lindsey, a man named Long, and another named Moss. The latter 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 929 

built a tannery on section 26, town 20, but in 1834 sold his place to 
Samuel Campbell, sr., and settled in Danville township, where he built 
another tannery. 

Henry Wood came from Ohio about 1829, arriving in October. He 
split rails and laid up a square, covering it with clapboards, which he also 
rived, and this he occupied for a house. Mrs. Wood, with her four chil- 
dren, used to stay alone in this place over night while her husband was 
away at the Wabash after provisions. The wolves and Indians abound- 
ed in the neighborhood, seemingly in equal numbers; but, fortunately 
for Mrs. Wood's equanimity of mind, the former exhibited the greater 
anxiety to cultivate acquaintance. By Christmas they had a more 
substantial habitation enclosed. Though neither door nor floor was 
made, nor chinking and daubing done, they were forced to occupy it. 
One day about midwinter the Henkles came over, and the three men 
chinked and daubed the house. That night it set in cold, and con- 
tinued so a long time. The fire-place was planked up only as high as 
the mantel, and their experience with a " smoking chimney " was in- 
deed distressing. In course of time, as opportunity was given, the 
floor was put down, the door hung, and the flue raised to its proper 
height. This is a specimen of the experience of quite a number who 
came early. Those who came later were generally in better circum- 
stances. They had means to enter a little piece of land for a home, 
some eighty, some one hundred and twenty, and a few one hundred 
and sixty acres. Until they had built and become settled they camped 
out and bunked down in the most convenient manner. As a rule, all 
had to struggle hard to get a living, and were content if they could 
make a few scanty improvements. Making rails became the staple 
employment for those who could spare any time from home, and they 
eagerly sought the opportunity to work for thirty-seven and a hall 
cents per hundred, and did not feel themselves unfortunate if they got 
but twenty-five. 

In the summer and fall of 1832 John Johnson worked on the 
Wabash, rafting logs. He came home on foot Saturday nights, a dis- 
tance of thirty miles, bringing on his back provisions for his family. 
The hard situation of all things was so grievously borne by many that, 
could they have returned, they would gladly have accepted any occa- 
sion. About all they possessed was required of them to reach the 
place, and then it was only through much fortitude that they could 
remain, even after it seemed impossible for them to depart. It may 
seem strange to the later generation in Newell township that any dis- 
content should ever have been excited by the course of life here, and 
that there could have been a heart that yearned to leave the place for- 
59 



930 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

ever; but many bitter thoughts and burning tears of women have 
indelibly impressed on the memories of many venerable ones now 
living, in the midst of every comfort, the simple story of their trials. 
Sickness added more, perhaps, to the discouragements of those who 
were heart-sick in their new homes than any other thing. The preva- 
lent diseases were ague, typhoid fever, milk sickness and congestive 
chills. Usually in summer and fall, sickness prevailed to a melancholy 
extent throughout the country ; very often, whole families were down 
together. Dr. John Woods was the first regular physician. James 
Makemson borrowed books and studied physic with the view to treat 
his own family, and his success soon became so conspicuous that his 
neighbors began to employ him, and in a little time he had a good 
practice and reputation. 

James Makemson was one of the earliest blacksmiths. He worked 
some at his trade in connection with farming, until he got to doctoring. 
William Current, though not a shoemaker by trade, began doing such 
work as soon as he came. Richard Brewer, who came a little later, 
was a regular tradesman. Customers bought leather at Moss' and Tay- 
lor's tanneries, and employed the shoemakers to manufacture it into 
boots and shoes. The tanneries furnished a considerable business to 
the people in peeling and hauling bark, which increased either their 
available funds or their stock of leather. Their harnesses, which were 
of the chain-tug pattern, were home-made. The collars were fast at the 
top, and had to be forced over the horses' heads. 

The "hard winters," universally mentioned as such, were in 1830-1 
and 1831-2. Deep snows covered the ground all winter. The first 
was the more remarkable for the depth of snow and the severity of the 
weather. The snow began falling on the 27th of December, 1830, and 
lay on until March. Fences were buried out of sight. First a thaw 
and a rain came, and afterward a freeze, forming a crust, when stock 
roamed about at will, and teams were driven over fences and fields. 
The eaves of the houses did not drip for forty-one days. Game of all 
kinds perished in great numbers. Deer became a prey to the wolves 
who pursued them to the woods, where they slumped so as to be una- 
ble to escape, and were devoured. Wild turkeys totally disappeared. 

At the time of which we write, the inhabitants of this region, lack- 
ing the agents of locomotion which annihilate time and space, were 
removed from the markets of the world by toilsome distances. 

Flat-boating soon became general. Boats built on the Wabash were 
commonly about one hundred and twenty feet long and fourteen feet 
wide, but those constructed on the Vermilion were about sixty feet 
long. A Yermilion boat was manned by a steersman and two oarsmen. 



NKWELL TOWNSHII'. 931 

These boats were laden for New Orleans, and the freight comprised 
hogs, staves, poultry, produce, hoop-poles, baled hay, barreled pork, 
etc. The hogs and poultry were not fully fattened when put aboard, 
but became so on the trip, which lasted about six weeks. This time 
included numerous stoppages at points along the Mississippi, tor trad- 
ing with merchants and planters. They sold their boats and cargoes 
for what they could get, and then returned,— some on foot, some buy- 
ing horses or mules and riding; but all, however, taking care to keep 
well back from the river, to avoid the numerous banditti who infested 
the shores. After the steamboats got to plying the rivers they came 
back on them. William Guthrie was one who did much of this busi- 
ness. He walked back from New Orleans two or three times. Will- 
iam Martin was another. 

Before the invention of matches, people used flint and steel to strike 
fire, igniting a piece of tow with the sparks. On one cold winter morn- 
ing, at the house of George W. Smith, the flint and steel would not 
fulfill their office, and one of the family was dispatched to a neighbor's 
for a coal. Mrs. Smith could not wait so long, so placing a handful of 
tow in the fire-place, she charged the gun with powder and fired into it, 
when she soon had a blazing hearth. 

DENMARK. 

This ancient town, situated on the left bank of the North Fork, two 
miles above Danville, was settled by Seymour Treat, probably in 1826. 
In "Coffeen's Hand-Book of Vermilion County" we find this informa- 
tion: "The first settler within the present limits of this county was 
Seymour Treat, in 1819, or perhaps in 1820. He came with a man by 
the name of Blackburn, to the salt springs, on Salt Fork, for the pur- 
pose of manufacturing salt. He afterward settled Denmark and built 
a saw-mill at that place." Treat's mill was a "corn cracker" and saw- 
mill combined. He was the first blacksmith in Newell township, and 
besides operating his mill, worked some at his trade. 

In a few years a considerable settlement had been made. Two dry- 
goods stores were started, one belonging to Alexander Bailey and the 
other to Stebbins Jennings. Probably the former was the first estab- 
lished in business. He attained to much local prominence. Jennings 
was gifted with practical talents. His acquirements, also, were good 
for the times. He took a leading interest in business and educational 
concerns, and was freely intrusted with responsible duties. James 
Skinner, too, was an early settler and prominent citizen. He kept a 
store, and with William McMillin, purchased the mill from Treat. It 
is said by some that he opened the first inn. McMillin came from 



932 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Franklin county, Ohio, about the latter part of 1832. He was a 
farmer. Before there was a tavern in the place he regularly furnished 
entertainment to whomsoever drew up to his door. Jonathan Patter- 
son settled here in quite an early day, and opened a public house. 
Robert and Thomas Wyatt and John Williams, also came quite early, 
the latter in 1834 or 1835, and the others about the same time. These 
and some others had, at different times, an interest in the mill. The 
Wyatts were the last owners who ran it with profit, either to them- 
selves or the community at large. Williams kept a general store. 
John Hunt and John Hathaway kept groceries. Several of these were 
supported in the place. A " grocery " was what is now called a saloon. 
Only liquors were kept and sold. Abel and Vatchel Newborough 
were early blacksmiths. John Young had a smithy in the neighbor- 
hood, across the Fork. John Knox, who settled in Blount, worked 
here at the shoemaker's trade. Solomon Kooder was the carpenter. 
He built the first bridge across the North Fork, which was located at 
the Denmark Crossing. Nathaniel Taylor, who settled in the Le Neve 
neighborhood about 1828, came the following year to Denmark and 
started a tan-yard. About 1835 an independent rifle company was 
organized, and regularly drilled here. William G. Blair was the cap- 
tain. 

Denmark was laid out before Danville. During the final agitation 
of the county-seat question a strong effort was made to have the seat 
of justice located here. This desired object was nearly realized. As 
the history of this matter will be fully related in its proper connection 
elsewhere, no details upon the subject will be attempted at this point. 
Denmark became a noted place. The bad name it received was first 
deserved. Whisky brought it to ruin. Brawls and street tights were 
an everyday occurrence. Religious worship was scarcely known. 
Daniel Fairchild preached there some at an early time, but the obdu- 
racy of the place evidently caused it to be abandoned in despair. 
From 1835 to 1842 was the period of its greatest prosperity. 

BLACKHAWK WAR. 

Newell township, as well as other sparsely settled localities which 
contributed men, felt the serious burden of the Blackhawk war. The 
demand for volunteers fell chiefly and heavily on the frontier settle- 
ments. While these, lying first in the pathway of the savages, were 
the more concerned in the events of the war, they also needed, more 
than people in the remoter and older settlements, their whole time to 
raise a crop, and to fit up comfortable abodes. Those most exposed to 
danger are always justly expected to evince the greater alacrity, and to 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 933 

make the greater sacrifice for their defense. So it devolved upon 
these people to leave the plow in the furrow, with but a part of the 
sod turned, and much of that implanted, and to shoulder their pieces 
and go from the fields of domestic peace and rural song to those which 
resounded with Indian yells and mortal conflict. The following is 
believed to be a complete list of those who went from this township : 
Charles S. Young, Asa Duncan, Alpha Duncan, James Cunningham, 
Ambrose P. Andrews, Bushrod Oliver, Obadiah Le Neve, John Le 
Neve, William Current, William G. Blair, Soam Jennings, John Deck, 
Samuel Swinford, Jacob Eckler, Jeremiah Delay, John Watson, George 
Ware and Alexander Bailey. The two last commanded companies. 
Bailey's was the largest in Col. Moore's regiment. John Young went 
too, but, notwithstanding he was a leading spirit in Denmark, he does 
not properly belong to Newell township, for he lived across the Fork. 

The only percussion-gun in the regiment was one owned and brought 
from Virginia by Abraham Stipp. Uncle Charles Young borrowed it 
from Stipp, and bore it through the campaign. The people left at home 
were harassed with racking apprehensions, and, as a consequence, kept 
in continual readiness for surprise or flight. After the axes and pitch- 
forks had been brought inside at night, all the doors were safely barred. 
Many retired for rest haunted with the terrible fear that they would 
be killed and scalped before morning. Only a part at a time laid 
down, and those never with left-off clothing. The horses were kept 
standing in harness, and the wagons with covers on. Dishes and 
household utensils were buried. Only a few, to be placed in the wagon 
at the alarm, were reserved from concealment for present use. The 
number of those who " died a thousand deaths in fearing one " was in 
extravagant disproportion to the number actually harmed, for there 
were a good many of the former and none of the latter. 

The volunteers, having returned home, set themselves industriously 
at work mauling rails to make a support, as they had lost by their 
service the season for raising a crop. 

THE MORMONS. 

The Mormon church was organized by Joseph Smith at Manchester, 
Ontario county, New York, on the 6th of April, 1830. This delusion 
was energetically propagated, and at once spread into Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. No later than the following year 
missionaries, in the persons of Orson and Parley Pratt, appeared in 
Newell township. The former is now a prominent leader in the 
church at Salt Lake City. His brother Parley is represented as having 
been the abler and more eloquent of the two. It is conceded that he 



934 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

was one of the brightest intellectual lights in the church of the Latter 
Day Saints. The center of their operations was in Blount township. 
The first preaching point they made in Newell was at the house of 
Oliver Miller. Afterward they occupied the Eckler school-house, and 
made appointments at Harrison Oliver's and Jehu Chandler's. The 
latter neither joined them nor approved their customs. Elders Sherer, 
George Morey, Coon, Packard, Jackoway, and perhaps others, labored 
in disseminating the Mormon doctrine. Very bitter opposition was 
encountered from some. In preaching, they called themselves "the 
children of the kingdom"; they pretended to heal the sick, and talked 
some of raising the dead, but made very little point of this last ingre- 
dient of the imposture. The efficacy of their treatment consisted in the 
laying on of hands. In several instances they tested their healing 
powers with ignominious failure. Consider Scott was one of their first 
converts. Harrison Oliver, Louis Neely and Oliver Miller also em- 
braced their doctrine, and, taking their families, went to Independence, 
Missouri, with the missionaries, when the latter shook the dust of 
Newell township from their feet. A number who had joined them 
refused to follow. 

The following grotesque incident is related : The Mormon elders 
made a convert of one Robert Baxter, an itinerant tailor, who was as 
deaf as a stone. A day was fixed for his baptism at Denmark; he 
attended punctually. It was winter, and pretty cold. On approaching 
the water he looked up and all around as if in torturing doubt whether 
to be plunged beneath the chilly wave, or openly and flatly to retract 
his profession before a crowd of gaping spectators. At length, with an 
uneasy twitch of his shoulders and a toss of his head, he cried out, 
abruptly, in wretched voice, " I guess I'll withdraw ! " " Oh, no ! you 
must not withdraw now," said the officiating elder. He looked pain- 
fully about him again for a moment, then blurted out, excitedly, "I 
guess I'll withdraw!" and at the same instant broke and ran at the 
top of his speed till he was out of sight. 

'SCHOOLS. 

Kentucky and Ohio gave liberally to Newell township of the flower 
of their emigrant population. These people had been reared in com- 
munities where habits of thrift and general intelligence were promi- 
nent objects of private care and public patronage. That they should 
cherish the sentiments which underlie these constituents of societary 
and political growth — which are the pabulum of the state — and labor 
to cultivate the same in their new position, was to be looked for with 
just expectation. They engaged early in organizing schools, and socie- 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. <)35 

ties for religions worship. The pioneer log school-house was one of 
the simplest, yet most celebrated, institutions that has figured in the 
settlement of our country. It was built of round or hewed logs, and 
contained one room. Puncheons covered the floor; a rude fire-place 
in one end reached nearly from corner to corner: in the other end an 
opening had been made by leaving out a log, and in this upright 
pieces were placed at proper intervals, and oiled paper pasted on 
them to admit light. The furniture consisted of rough benches. Pins 
were driven into the logs, or wooden hooks fastened up, on which the 
boys hung their caps, and the girls their hoods and shawls. At the 
window a long writing-board was put up, with the customary pitch, 
and a bench which reached across the room was placed before this 
desk. Here, in the flood of light, the scholars practiced their copies. 

This period antedates the establishment of the free system by the 
state. Schools had to be inaugurated by direct exertion, and supported 
by private contribution, and only those who paid received their ben- 
efits. School-houses were built in the same voluntary manner. The 
settlers met at a place agreed on for the site; some cut down the trees, 
others hauled them up ; while another set of hands were employed 
in cutting, saddling and putting them in place in the building. On 
the frontier, where the distribution of labor was little equalized, and all 
men had to depend principally on their own hands to fabricate ar- 
ticles of necessity, most people were more or less skillful with tools. 
In the public gatherings of this kind, the best workmen took the 
lead and did the most particular portions of the work. Schools were 
not limited to those houses alone which were built for that purpose, 
but vacant cabins, suitably located and not less commodious than the 
school-houses themselves, were customarily devoted to this use. Who- 
ever proposed to organize a school, went around among the settlers 
and took subscriptions for the number of scholars that each would send. 
If a stranger came into the settlement and announced a like inten- 
tion, someone would volunteer to accompany and introduce him to 
all interested in that object. The usual price paid was $1.00 and $1.50 
per term of three months for each scholar, but sometimes twenty-five 
cents extra were added for a winter term to pay for fuel. Often those 
whose financial ability would permit, and who were much concerned 
to have a school, would subscribe for three or four scholars when they 
had not more than half the number. Others, who had three or four 
old enough to be instructed, could subscribe, perhaps, for only one, and 
would divide the attendance among them, or between the two older, 
by sending them alternately a week at a time. Heading, writing, 
spelling and ciphering comprised the studies. 



936 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

The first school-house in Newell township was on section 23, at the 
four corners just east of Samuel Adams', situated on William Newell's 
land, and was called the Newell school-house. It was built in 1827. 
A man named Scott, who is described as a good-natured, fatherly old 
soul, was the first teacher. The second was Duncan Lindsey. He 
directed the shooting ideas of the young with frequent and vigorous 
applications of the hickory. Corporal punishment was little remarked 
in those days, and was, as a rule, laid on in scripture quantity, accord- 
ing to the inexorable dictates of supposed duty. It is not to be 
doubted that Duncan Lindsey used the rod with a zeal worthy of a 
holy cause. His liberal disposition in this respect left impressions 
which are distinct to this day. This man's scholars learned well, 
and in other respects he taught a good school. Present methods of 
school government are in striking contrast to this barbarous and de- 
grading recourse for correction. The second was known as the Eekler 
school-house, and was built on land owned by Jacob Eekler. It was 
situated between Joseph W. Osborne's and William R. Campbell's. A 
person riding along that road will not fail to see a large beautifully 
spreading walnut tree standing in the southwest corner of Mr. Os- 
borne's pasture. Just back of that a few paces was the site of this 
house. It was built in the fall of 1830. Valentine Leonard, who 
came with his family about that time, lived in it the following winter. 
The next summer the first school was opened, with Miss Elizabeth 
Stipp as teacher. 

As early as 1833 a school-house stood on the banks of the North 
Fork, about eighty rods south of Denmark. Mary Beasly, Noah 
Sapp and Elizabeth Stipp were among the earliest teachers. After 
a few years the building was abandoned, and a private house in Den- 
mark used. The latter is yet standing. The Lamb school-house, 
located on the southeast corner of section 26, was built about 1835. It 
had a window on each side, consisting of a single row of 8x10 inch 
panes placed close up to the eaves, and running the whole length of 
the building. Among the teachers at this place may be mentioned 
Robert Price, John McKee, J. Poor and James A. Davis. An inci- 
dent is related as having transpired at this school-house : The door 
fastened on the outside by means of a padlock. An irate youth whom 
the teacher had just punished, went out and secured the door, and then 
climbed on top of the building and covered the chimney. Coming 
down, he seated himself on a log to await developments and to enjoy 
his revenge. Blinded and almost suffocated by smoke, the school was 
soon in exasperated confusion. At length the teacher thought to ex- 
tinguish the fire from the water-pail, when one of the boys crawled up 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 937 

the flue and uncovered it. The Cunningham school-house was built 
about 1840, and for a number of years stood some distance west of its 
present site. Levi Cronkhite is said to have been the first teacher. 
Since 1858 the town elections have been held at this place. Wonder- 
ful and happy changes have occurred in Newell township, but in noth- 
ing is the revolution greater than in the matter of the education of the 
youth. The old log hut with its puncheon seats and paper windows, 
has given way to comfortable little temples of learning, with the mod- 
ern patent iron-framed desks. Blackboards, charts and apparatus, 
which in the pioneer times were unknown, now tempt the willing feet 
rapidly along the path and up the hill of science. 

RELIGIOUS HISTORY. 

The first preaching in Newell township was at the house of Win. 
Delay, in 1826. One day a Methodist preacher was passing, and Mr. 
Delay invited him to stop, and before he left he delivered a sermon to 
the neighbors who had been collected to hear him. The Delay class 
was immediately organized, and circuit preaching begun. Mr. Delay 
and his wife Susan were original members. At different times between 
this date and 1835 the following, with many others whose names can- 
not be obtained, joined the society : Mary Boston, Anthony Howard, 
John Brewer and his wife, Lavina; Aunt Polly Makemson, and her 
husband, James Makemson ; Christina Brewer, Sarah Rodrick, Jane 
and Jacob Delay, Aunt Polly Current and her husband, William Cur- 
rent. Aunt Polly Current is the only living representative of this 
class. The next point was at Peter Starr's. Services were commenced 
there soon after his settlement in the township, in the fall of 1829. 
This was a stated place of worship for several years, and became a 
noted resort for christian people. The genuine piety and hospitality 
of Mr. and Mrs. Starr endeared them to all the brethren. Mother 
Starr still lives at a very advanced age, to cheer the hearts of her chil- 
dren. The Eckler school-house, in the same neighborhood, was also 
used for services, and by several denominations. The Methodists, Pre- 
destinarian Baptists, the Disciples or Campbellites, and a sect distin- 
guished by the local name of Radical Methodists — all had classes here. 
James Harshy and Wrisley were the first Methodist preachers ; either 
one or the other filled the appointment fortnightly. James Norris was 
the first to the Baptists, and Dr. Hall the first to the Disciples. An- 
other prominent preaching place was at Jeremiah Delay's. Subse- 
quently, meetings were held several years at John Johnson's and Wm. 
G. Blair's. The United Brethren held monthly meetings at Samuel 
Adams' a few years, and afterward at the Newell school-house. The 



938 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Christians held meetings in an early day at William Cunningham's. 
Some of the earliest preachers in that denomination were Dr. Hall, 
Walters, Hibbs, Watson Clark, Solomon McKinney, John Ashb}^, Sears, 
Law and Thunnan. 

In 1834 or 1835 the christian society called Walnut Corners church 
was organized, and held meetings at the house of William Cunning- 
ham and at the Eckler school-house. Several years later the place of 
worship was changed to the Cunningham school-house, a very good 
frame building for those days. In the summer of 1850 the meeting- 
house at the Corners was built, Frank Stevens and Samuel Mussulman 
being employed to do the work. It is a low-post building 30x40 
feet. Its cost cannot be known. Money was subscribed and work 
given by the people, regardless of church or other affiliations. It was 
erected as a Union house, though its control has either been assumed 
by the Christians or left to them by general consent. Its pulpit has 
been freely used by ministers of all denominations. About nine years 
ago the larger part of the Christian society settled in State Line City, 
and built an edifice there, but the brethren remaining in the vicinity 
of the old church preserved their membership with the majority. 
After standing unused, and in a dilapidated state, for some time, the 
house was lately repaired, receiving fresh coats of paint and plastering, 
and it is now in a condition for indefinite use. The repairs were made 
by the community at large. This was the first frame church ever 
erected in Newell township. At present the pulpit is not regularly 
supplied. A flourishing Sunday-school is maintained in the summer- 
time. 

The Asbury church building is Methodist property, and was erected 
in 1851. The community contributed the timbers and hauled all the 
material. The work was done by Frank Stevens and a man named 
Wilson. About $700 in cash were distributed by the society in its 
construction. It is 26x36 feet, low-posted, and what would be 
called an old church. The frame is of the old-fashioned kind, and con- 
sequently substantial. Should the building be kept in repair there can 
be no doubt that it will outlast many more imposing structures. It is 
situated on land given for the purpose by William Current, sr., in sec- 
tion 36, town 20. The house was consecrated on the 4th of April, 
1852, Elder Fairbanks preaching the dedication sermon. Religious 
services are held once every three weeks. Rev. G. B. Goldsmith is 
the preacher in charge the present year. A Sunday-school is kept up 
through the summer season. 

The Christian church, called Pleasant View, is located in the Leon- 
ard settlement. The society was organized at the Nauvoo school-house 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 939 



were an 



about the year 1848 or 1849. Among the original members 
old lady named Morris, Abram Long and his wife Barbara, Elizabeth 
Clapp, Augustine Clapp, and a few others. In the course of the first 
year numerous additions were made. Isaac Emily, who was so nearly 
blind that on dark days he was obliged to have a guide, was the first 
minister. He was a noted organizer of churches, both in Illinois and 
Indiana. He and his successor, Z. M. Wilkins, were the leading spirits 
of this society. Samuel Gregory and Absalom Kearny were the two 
next elders. In the summer of 1852 a house of worship, 30x40 feet 
in size, was built at a cost of $1,200. The site was donated by 'Squire 
Leonard. Four years ago it underwent a general refitting, and is at 
present in first-rate condition. This organization was once very numer- 
ous, having as many as three hundred. Though now decreased to one 
hundred and fifty, it may yet be said to be strong. The church enjoys 
a fair degree of prosperity. The Eev. Jones is pastor the current year. 
On the 11th of June, 1871, Mahlon Thrapp and his wife Sarah, 
Mrs. Francis F. Scott, Elizabeth Campbell and Mary Knott organized 
a United Brethren society, and arranged for holding regular monthly 
meetings. Mr. Thrapp and the local preacher at Danville, George 
Holycross, conducted the services. The former was appointed class- 
leader. In the fall the Rev. William Coffman was stationed at Dan- 
ville, and this charge was attached to his circuit. At his first ministra- 
tion Ruth Saunders and Martha Campbell united with the church. 
A protracted meeting was commenced at an early day and eighteen 
were added to the membership. In the following spring subscriptions 
were taken for erecting a house of worship. The undertaking received 
liberal encouragement, and before autumn the house was built. Farm- 
ers Chapel is a plain, substantial structure, supported by a brick under- 
pinning. Its size is 30x40 feet. Its cost was $1,400, exclusive of 
considerable donations of labor. Alexander Johnson gave an acre of 
ground for a church and a grave-yard. It is situated in the Blair neigh- 
borhood on section 21. The membership is fifty-seven, and the class, 
of which Francis F. Scott is leader, is in a nourishing condition. Reg- 
ularly on the 1st of May of each year a Sabbath-school is organized and 
maintained in excellent life, until the cold weather and the bad roads 
of winter render its discontinuance expedient. During the winter sea- 
son a regular weekly prayer-meeting is kept up. 



MYERSVILLE. 



The first improvement in Myersville was the Chrisman mill, which 
formed a nucleus for this once thriving and important village. The 
Gundys, Davisons, Henkles, Wiles, Kerr, Wood, Andrews, Carter, 



940 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Glaze, Barger and a few others were living in a cordon around the 
place. In 1838 Peter Chrisman, of Indiana, bought the mill site and 
commenced work on the building. He designed erecting a combined 
saw and grist mill, but when the first was up, and before the second 
was begun, his son, Joseph, was killed while prosecuting the work, 
which melancholy event so affected him that he left it unfinished. A 
sharp ridge lay transversely to the mill-race which the men were cut- 
ting, and it was determined to tunnel it to avoid removing so much 
earth. Young Chrisman had driven the digging too far without prop- 
ping up the immense weight overhead, and it broke down, instantly 
crushing him to death. This occurred in February, 1839. The exact 
spot of this accident is pointed out at the north side of the bridge 
across the race. In the fall Chrisman sold the property to a man 
named Koontz, living in Indiana. He employed John and Samuel 
Myers, who were millwrights, to come and complete the work which 
was begun. They arrived in the spring of 1840, and not long after- 
ward bought out Koontz. Early in 1841 they removed their families 
from Indiana. These brothers, besides running the saw-mill, at once 
put in a run of stones, and also set a carding-mill in operation. In 
June, 1843, they raised the grist-mill. This last is the only one re- 
maining. They owned and operated it nearly twenty years. It has 
been a paying property. Joseph Smith, of Danville, is the present 
owner. William and Andrew Zeigler, of Attica, Indiana, built the 
first store and sold the first goods in the place. William Briggs suc- 
ceeded them, and he in turn was bought out by Green & Gundy 
(Joseph Gundy) in the spring of 1852. Columbus Crossen started the 
first wagon shop, and Thomas L. Silvey was one of the earliest black- 
smiths. Dr. John B. Holloway located here as early as 1844, and 
opened a drug store, but he was not an early settler. Early in 1854 
Andrew Gundy took charge in his own name of the business previous- 
ly carried on by Green & Gundy. In 1857 he retailed $36,000 worth 
of goods from the establishment. His business embraced corn and 
wool-buying, and the feeding of cattle and hogs, and this branch by 
itself considerably exceeded $100,000 that year. People came here for 
distances of seventy miles to trade and to get milling done. That in- 
toxicating liquors were never sold in this place is the best possible evi- 
dence of the high social and moral character of the people. Joseph 
Gundy and the Myers owned the land, and they guarded the interests 
of the little community as men having a lively sense of their responsi- 
bility, and of the evils of this costly and unholy traffic. Myersville 
has always excelled in celebrations of our national holiday. The pretty 
location of the place upon the North Fork, the adjoining wood, and 






NEWELL TOWNSHIP. <»41 

the public spirit of the citizens, have contributed to recommend it to 
everybody. The matrons of the place have always borne a prominent 
part in these affairs, and it is but jnst to add that their spirit and their 
services were indispensable. Aunt Sarah Holloway, Aunt Susan Hea- 
den, Aunt Katie Duncan, Mrs. Joseph Smith and Mrs. Ava Tuttle 
constitute this roll of honor. The first post-office established here was 
called Myers' Mills, but owing to some irregularity it was discontinued 
for awhile, and when it was reestablished was named Myersville. Prior 
to this change the village had always been designated by the first name. 
Before they had a post-office in this place the people got their mail at 
Samuel Gilbert's, in Ross township. 

The early history of the Methodist society at Myersville is nearly 
dissolved under the triturating wheels of time. As near as we have 
been able to ascertain, it came into existence as a complete organization 
about 1840. James Davison, Henry Wood and his wife, Jesse Wood, 
Robert and Elizabeth Davison, Nathaniel Glaze and Joseph Kerr are 
all the original members who can now be recalled. All these were 
pillars in the church, but this distinction is particularly applied to 
James Davison. Meetings were held at Henry Wood's, John Hum- 
phrey's, James Davison's, and the Kerr school-house. In 1854 the 
meeting-house at Myers' Mills (since Myersville) was built, and called 
Wesley Chapel. It is thirty by forty feet on the ground, one story of 
fourteen feet, four windows on each side, and two in one end. It is a 
heavy, substantial frame, and cost $1,375. On the 28th of July John 
B. and Sarah Jane Holloway conveyed the site in fee simple to the 
trustees. The church is experiencing some lukewarmness, but there 
are hopeful indications of a recovery of interest. The society num- 
bers about sixty members. A flourishing Sabbath-school has been do- 
ing continuous work for the four last years. Joshua A. Shockley is 
the superintendent. The Rev. G. B. Goldsmith has been the pastor 
during the last conference year. 

BISMAEK. 

The Coal Branch of the C. & E. I. R. R., which intersects the main 
line at this place, was surveyed and built in 1872. Charles S. Young 
and Dr. John B. Holloway each gave twenty acres of land for a town 
site. John Myers added ten acres, reserving the alternate lots and 
selling the remainder to the railroad company. The town was laid 
out in the fall. The first building put up in the place was by Robert 
Kerr, a year or more anterior to the laying out of the town, and was 
used for a store. He was succeeded by John Leonard and Asa Bush- 
nell. The latter bought out the former, and, entering into partnership 



942 HISTOEY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

with Francis M. Gundy, they erected a commodious building, and are 
now keeping a general store. They also deal largely in hogs and some 
in cattle. William Tate first sold lumber and bought corn. He put up 
several buildings. At the end of two years he sold out to John R. 
Carter, who is engaged in the grain trade. Green & Phillips kept a 
grocery and provision store two years, and were succeeded by the 
Phillips Brothers, who are not now in business. In the winter of 
1871-2 the post-office was removed from Myersville to Bismark. 
Robert Kerr was the first postmaster. Asa M. Bushnell is the present 
incumbent. About four years ago the railroad company built an en- 
gine-house and turntable here. The former was destroyed by fire in 
the spring of 1879, and another was erected. The district school-house, 
standing in the village, is very old, having been in use nearly thirty 
years. On the 24th of May, 1879, at an election held for that purpose, 
the people authorized an issue of bonds to build a new one. The prin- 
cipal buildings are the depot, engine-house, a general store, drug store, 
wagon and blacksmith shop, and a boarding-house. About thirty fami- 
lies live here. Two physicians have established themselves in the 
place. In 1876 a voting precinct was established at Bismark, and the 
first poll held at the general election of that year. 

The Methodists have held meetings at Bismark about six years. 
The United Brethren had meetings much earlier. The former have no 
regular organization ; their membership is at Myersville. The Rev. 
James T. Barr began preaching for them. Services have been con- 
tinued at this place ever since. They have a successful Sunday-school, 
with an average attendance of about fifty. The Rev. Gilbert B. Gold- 
smith is the present pastor. An effort is making to build a church at 
an estimated cost of $1,500 — $600 being subscribed, and a small portion 
of the sum paid. Their plan and specifications are drawn, and if they 
succeed in raising the necessary funds to erect the house as contem- 
plated, it will be a Gothic, 30 x 50 feet on the ground, fourteen-foot 
posts, arched ceiling, two class-rooms and a gallery. When the house 
shall have been erected the Myersville society will be removed, and the 
two appointments merged in one. 

The Christian Society was organized on the 11th of January, 1879, 
by the Rev. Henry H. Gunn, assisted by the Rev. John A. Clapp, 
with eleven members. Subsequently, seven were added. The Rev. 
Gunn is pastor of this congregation. They have no house of worship. 

DESCRIPTION AND ORGANIZATION. 

Newell township is bounded on the north by Ross, on the east by 
Indiana, on the south by Danville township, and on the west by 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 943 

Blount. It embraces all of township 20, range 11, except a strip on 
the west side three-fourths of a mile wide, but includes about an equal 
quantity of range 10 on the east. It further comprises all the sections 
from 19 to 36 inclusive, in township 21, range 11, except the west half 
of sections 30 and 31, which belong to Blount, making an irregular 
west boundary with four mediate right-angles. It covers an area of 
about fifty-three sections — the first tier in township 20 being short one 
half — and, with a trifling variation, is eight and one-half miles from 
north to south, and six miles from east to west. It presents a boldly 
undulating surface of prairie and timber land, the latter embracing the 
three southernmost tiers of sections, and the remaining space west of 
the Chicago & Eastern Illinois railroad. The more valuable timber- 
growth is found in the southern portion, and consists of the common 
varieties, including some beech. Great quantities of black walnut 
abound. Stony and Lick Creeks are the principal streams. The 
North Fork of the Vermilion winds along the western border, crossing 
it half a dozen or more times. 

At the election held on the 5th of November, 1850, Vermilion 
county adopted township organization. John Canady, Alvan Gilbert 
and Hamilton White were the commissioners to divide the county into 
townships. Newell township was originally named Richland. At the 
first meeting of the board of supervisors on the 13th day of June, 
1851, the name was changed to Newell, as there was another town of 
Richland in the state. The town bears its present name in honor of 
'Squire James Newell, the first justice of the peace. The first elec- 
tion in the township after the adoption of the new system of county 
government was the annual town election on the first Tuesday in 
April, 1851, held at the house of Otho Allison. John Woods was 
chosen moderator, and Benjamin Stewart, clerk pro tempore. The 
electors then proceeded to elect a moderator and a clerk of the town. 
John Woods received twelve votes for the first position, and William 
R. Chandler, eleven, and Benjamin Stewart, two, for the second. The 
remaining offices were filled by the election of the following persons: 
Asa Duncan, supervisor; William G. Blair, Samuel Copeland and 
Solomon Clapp, commissioners of highways; Willard Brown and Ben- 
jamin Stewart, justices of the peace; David Cosatt, constable; Augus- 
tine Clapp, assessor; J. C. Rutledge, collector; and Peter Starr, over- 
seer of the poor. At this meeting two pounds were established ; one, 
known as the East pound, was located at Peter Voorhees', and the 
other, described as the West pound, at David Cosatt's. It was voted 
to hold the next annual town meeting at the Nauvoo school-house. 
Elections were held at this place till 1857. No minutes of this meeting 



944 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

were recorded. Those of the previous one show no action on the ques- 
tion of removal ; and as it appears by the record that the annual meet- 
ing of 1858 was held at the Cunningham school-house, we infer that 
the change of polling-place was voted at the spring election of 1857. 
The value of the town records is greatly affected by the numerous 
hiatuses which occur, one of which, in the very important period of 
the war, covers a space of four years. The annual meetings have 
since been held at the Cunningham school-house, but at the last elec- 
tion (April, 1879) the polling-place was transferred to the Le Neve 
school-house, where, for the first time, an election will be held in the 
fall of the current year. Stock has always been permitted to run at 
large. The town has uniformly been democratic, and may boast with 
no unseemly pride that it is free from debt. 

In 1856 Fremont (now Blount) township was created from Newell 
and Pilot townships. In the formation of this new town Newell lost 
about one third of its area. 

WAR HISTORY. 

The defective town records oblige us to resort to verbal information 
for much material which otherwise would be documentary and far 
more complete and reliable. This recourse is especially enforced in an 
account of the raising of funds to hire substitutes in the time of the 
war. Whatever errors or omissions occur in this relation should be 
attributed to the natural weakness and failure of the memory — no 
more in those who have supplied these scanty materials than in the 
great mass of men. Sometime in the summer or fall of 1864 a requi- 
sition was made on Newell township for twenty-eight able-bodied men 
for the military service. Several public meetings were convened at 
the regular polling-place at the Cunningham school-house. At the 
first of these, committees were appointed to obtain subscriptions to a 
fund for hiring substitutes and filling the quota of the town. Fourteen 
thousand dollars were subscribed in sums varying from ten dollars to 
two hundred dollars. Andrew Gundy and Harry Ross were deputed 
to go to Cairo, Illinois, to contract the required number of men. This 
duty they performed with entire success and satisfaction. Early in the 
succeeding winter a demand for twenty-eight men was again made on 
the township. An election was ordered to ascertain the will of the 
people in regard to issuing bonds for another quota of money to avert 
a draft. Authority was given by a large majority to issue fourteen 
thousand dollars of bonds. This measure met with some opposition 
from the wealthier men of the town, and it was sought to defeat it by 
stratagem after it had been decisively carried. The town-clerk was 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 945 

secured by this faction to act in their interest. He was to postpone his 
signing of the bonds until the latest moment, when he was to resign 
his office, and so leave no competent authority to complete the transac- 
tion. The party favoring the issue of the bonds got notice of this 
snare in time to have a qualified person on the ground to be imme- 
diately appointed by the town board. The arrangement was fully car- 
ried out on both sides, and the bonds were issued in pursuance of the 
authority granted by the people. The face of the bonds was twenty- 
five dollars and fifty dollars, with ten per centum annual interest. 
They were offered for sale on the fair grounds at Danville, and were 
disposed of at par. Solomon Starr bought the first one, and Joseph 
W. Osborne the largest amount, one thousand dollars. When put up 
for sale, announcement was made that they should be received for the 
taxes of that year — which announcement, of course, contained no legal 
obligation. This promise was fairly observed, though it was not strictly 
lawful for the collector to receive bonds in payment of taxes. To 
avoid trouble, and to satisfy any scruples which might be felt, the 
town-clerk (we think it must have been the supervisor) daily receipted 
to the assessor in a sum equal to the amount of the bonds he had 
taken. 

The present town officers are: Andrew Gundy, supervisor; Richard 
M. Jenkins, town clerk; William O. Cunningham, assessor; T. J. 
Scott, collector ; Joseph Cunningham, Martin Adams, and J. D. Camp- 
bell, commissioners of highways; J. S. Johnson and William R. Wil- 
son, justices of the peace; Stephen Daniels and William R. Osborne, 
constables. 

The Newell Horse Company was organized in 1854, and held its 
first quarterly meeting in October of that year. It was composed of 
many of the best citizens of Newell township. The earliest records 
are not extant. The objects of the association are expressed in the 
preamble to the constitution to be " to shield us from the depredations 
of horse-thieves, counterfeiters and swindlers, and to afford mutual 
assistance in reclaiming stolen horses and in apprehending thieves." 
Depredations had been extensively committed in the township by 
horse-thieves. Just over in Indiana was a nest of them, who combined 
counterfeiting with their other crimes. John Deck, sr., Geo. Luckey, 
and one or two others who had been sufferers by their operations, after 
vainly urging upon the citizens the organizing of some means of pro- 
tection, entered into a compact, pledging themselves to assist and pro- 
tect one another. Soon others were attracted to the company, and 
when the number had increased to twenty-five, they effected a perma- 
nent organization, at the Nauvoo school-house, by adopting a constitu- 
60 



946 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

tion and by-laws, and electing officers. This body steadily grew in 
numbers and efficiency, till it became so formidable to the depredators 
that it was a standing menace to them, and an invaluable protection to 
the community. They captured counterfeiting presses, recovered stolen 
property, and ferreted out and apprehended horse-thieves and counter- 
feiters. They broke up and dispersed the gang that had infested this 
region of country, and so completely overawed one of the ring-leaders, 
named Lane, that whenever applied to by them he gave information 
against his fellows, and rendered material aid in bringing them to jus- 
tice. He afterward moved to another county, where he and his son 
became so notorious in stealing and counterfeiting that both were killed. 
One notable instance of summary execution occurred in the early days 
of this organization. A horse had been stolen in the vicinity. The 
company overtook the thief at Beaver Lake. He was about to escape, 
when Abiah Luckey snatched a fowling-piece from a gamester in their 
midst, and, after commanding the escaping criminal to halt without 
heed to the summons, shot him dead. For several years at first this 
company held meetings at the Nauvoo school-house, afterward at the 
Rutledge school-house, and still later at the Smith school-hou.se. Like 
most other mutual organizations, this has lapsed at times in interest 
and vigilant operations, for want of employment. It is a member of 
the Wabash General Association of Detective Companies, which in- 
cludes forty-eight similar bodies. 

STATE LINE CITY AND ILLIANA. 

The site of State Line Cit}^ and Uliana was the western terminus of 
the Toledo & Wabash railroad. The Great Western, built and owned 
by another company, and a continuation of the same route to the south- 
west, about the same time formed a junction here, whereupon the town 
began immediate growth. State Line City was laid out in the spring 
of 1857, by Robert Casement, and on the suggestion of A. P. Andrews 
was christened by its present name. Not long afterward that part of 
the town lying on the Illinois side was laid out by Parker Dresser and 
Edward Martin, and designated Illiana — a name formed from the first 
two syllables of Illinois and the last two syllables of Indiana. Two 
engine-houses and a passenger depot with a large eating-house attached 
were at once erected by the railroad companies. Passengers changed 
cars, and all local freight was trans-shipped here. A large region, em- 
bracing the towns of Covington, Perrysville, Eugene, Rossville, Myers- 
ville and Marysville, shipped and received freight at this point. 
About forty railroad hands were kept employed. Some time during 
that season John Briar and A. P. Andrews, under the firm name of 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 947 

Briar & Andrews, built a general merchandising establishment. Will- 
iam Toole started a grocery and saloon. In the fall Robert Casement 
erected two large buildings north of the track, for a grain elevator. 
The next year Perrin Kent and his son William, and Col. E. F. Lucas, 
under the firm name of Kent & Co., built, on the same plan, another 
elevator. Harvey Barkley opened a dry-goods store, and Boyd & Part- 
low a drug store. Dr. Porter came in the fall. Robert Craig and 
John Ludlow set up in the blacksmith business. By this time a con- 
siderable number of shanties had been put up by railroad employes, 
and also a few good dwellings by other persons. In the fall of this 
year Prof. Elbridge Marshall, with a view of establishing a manual 
labor school, solicited subscriptions to that object, and issued stock 
certificates entitling the holders to tuition for the amounts subscribed. 
He purchased ten acres of ground and erected a two-story brick build- 
ing, 40X42 feet in dimensions, at a cost of $4,000. This institution 
was named Evans Union College. Marshall was a thorough instructor, 
and under his able management the school gained a pleasing efficiency. 
In 1864 his connection with it ended, and John H. Braiden became 
the controlling spirit in its affairs. Prof. Aaron D. Goodwin succeeded 
as principal. These changes became the fruitful source of sectarian 
dissension, and the prosperity of the school rapidly diminished. Two 
or three years afterward the trustees of Kent township purchased the 
house for $2,700. It is now used for the public school. 

In June, 1865, the passenger house and railroad hotel were burned. 
The two roads having been consolidated, the engine-houses were re- 
moved to Danville. The town suffered from this last event, and per- 
haps still more from the building of other railroads, which cut off terri- 
tory tributary to it, and in consequence has undergone serious decline. 

The question of incorporation having been presented to the people, 
the issue was decided affirmatively at an election held for that purpose 
on the 26th of April, 1873. An election for trustees was held in June. 
The board consists of five members. State Line City contains a popu- 
lation of about three hundred ; has eight business houses, one large 
three-story flouring-mill, three churches and two secret societies. 

The Methodist society was organized in 1857. About 1865 they 
erected a substantial and imposing meeting-house, whose dimensions 
are 35 X 55 feet. Samuel Beck was the preacher in charge at that time. 
A Sunday-school is maintained throughout the year, with an average 
attendance of twenty-five. The Rev. Jonathan B. Coombs was the 
pastor during the conference year just closed. 

The edifice in which the Presbyterians worship is 32x48 feet 
The Rev. Edmund Post is the shepherd of this flock. The history of 



948 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

this society we have been unable to obtain, after using " due diligence " 
to that end. 

In the summer of 1864 the Rev. Jacob Wright came to State Line 
City, and began holding meetings in the seminary. A society of the 
Christian denomination was soon organized, when the one at the Wal- 
nut Corners united with them. In 1867 they began and enclosed a 
brick church, 36 feet wide by 54 feet long, and 18 feet high from floor 
to ceiling, and in the following year completed it. The building cost 
$3,000. Asa Duncan, George A. Miller, John H. Braiden, James H. 
Simpson and James Hoover were elected trustees. The first two are 
dead, and the vacancies have not been filled. Not long after the erec- 
tion of this church the society at the Kiser School-house transferred 
their membership to this place. Both the church and the Sunday- 
school have been animated by little interest for some time past, but 
members express a hopeful belief that there will be an early reawaken- 
ing. At present no regular preacher is employed. 

Mound Lodge, No. 274, A.F. & A.M., received a dispensation from 
the Grand Lodge of Indiana, on the 19th of December, 1860, and a 
charter on the 29th of May, 1861. The first officers under the charter 
were Walker Hurd, W.M. ; William Jones, S.W. ; William Dixon, 
J.W. In May, 1865, this Lodge purchased the hall in the railroad 
hotel, which was consumed the succeeding month. The same year, in 
conjunction with R. Munnell, they erected a building 22 feet wide by 
50 feet long, of which he owned the lower half, and they the hall 
above. The cost of the latter was $850. They own, besides, an undi- 
vided half of the building lot. Munnell's part of the property is now 
owned by James Cunningham. The new hall was dedicated on the 
21st of December, 1865. The present officers are : E. R. Burch, W.M.; 
Amos Brooks, S.W.; Lester Leonard, J.W.; C. H. Campbell, Treas.; 
B. F. Marple, Sec; A. M. Porter, S.D.; Martin Current, J.D.; John 
P. Lucas and John D. Campbell, Stewards, and William Barger, Tyler. 
The membership is thirty-seven. The Lodge enjoys a fair degree of 
usefulness. Its regular communications are on the first Wednesday of 
each month, before the full moon. 

The charter of Illiana Lodge, No. 240, 1.O.O.F., was granted by the 
Grand Lodge of Indiana, on the 17th of May, 1865, on the application 
of John Simmons, Divan Smawley, R. S. Burke, Thomas S. Jones and 
John M. Knox. The Lodge was instituted by Milton Herndon, G.S., 
on the 13th of June, 1865. The following officers were elected and 
installed at the same time : John Simmons, N.G.; R. S. Burke, Y.G., 
and J. M. Knox, R.S. The present officers are : Martin Lindsey, N.G.; 
John W. Clapp, Y.G.; B. F. Bonebrake, R.S.; W. O. Cunningham, 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 949 

P.S.; A. M. Porter, T.; Job Stevens, W.; S. J. King, C; T. K. Wil- 
son, O.S.; A. F. Cunningham, R.S.N. G.; Philo Knapp, L.S.N.G.; 
Robert Hunter, R.S.G.G.; P. Cavanaugh, R.S.S.; M. Cordell, L.S.S. 
This Lodge is in a healthy condition, and numbers about forty mem- 
bers. It was first named Simmons, but was afterward changed to 

TIT 

llliana. 

The Order of Patrons of Husbandry was instituted to ameliorate 
the condition of the agricultural population by fostering diversion and 
social intercourse ; by combining more calculation with muscle in the 
operations df the farm ; by providing a medium of popular education 
on all topics relating to their occupation ; and by avoiding unnecessary 
middlemen, bringing producer and consumer nearer together, and en- 
abling them to secure better returns for their labor, — not by produc- 
tion alone, but also by a check upon the waste of profit. It compre- 
hends the highest and broadest culture, and the encouragement of every 
useful industry. It may be doubted if any institution, not professedly 
religious, devoted to more lofty and practicable ends, has ever been de- 
vised, or has ever reached such a degree of general favor among any 
class of people as this did. The most noted grange that existed in 
Newell township was Star Grange, No. 909. It was organized on the 
13th of January, 1874, by John Abbott, county deputy, with twenty- 
three charter members. The first officers were George W. Smith, M. ; 
George W. Woods, O.; George W. Cunningham, L.; Thomas J. Alli- 
son, S.; James Starr, A.S.; Mary C. Woods, L.A.S.; John A. Wilson, 
C; Solomon Starr, T.; Zachariah Starr, Sec; George W. Allison, G.K.; 
Cleantha Starr, C; Jeanette Wilson, P., and Margaret E. Wilson, F. 
The growth of this grange was prodigious. At the end of the first 
year the membership amounted to one hundred and fifteen, and at last 
reached one hundred and forty-five. The present number is seventy- 
six. Just now the grange is in a lethargy. A revival of interest at 
an early day may be justly and confidently expected. In 1874, in 
conjunction with district No. 8, town 21, this grange erected a 
brick building, 24x36 feet, the lower part being used for a school- 
room and the upper part for a grange hall. The members of the 
grange subscribed and paid $750 toward the construction of this build- 
ing. At Stewart's Grove, on the 4th of June, 1874, the Order held a 
picnic which was a notable affair. A programme of uncommon merit 
was prepared for the occasion, and Col. R. M. Johnson, and the Rev. 
Theodore L. Stipp, delivered addresses. Two tables, each ninety feet 
long, were spread with provisions of such richness and delicacy, as quite 
to surpass the powers of ordinary description. A year later another 
festive gathering was held at the same place. 



950 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

In 1849 cholera raged with great mortality in many northern cities. 
In July it appeared in Danville township where its ravages were mostly 
confined. The disease was at its height in August, and the last cases 
occurred in September. The former month was very rainy, and with 
every shower it seized other victims. Jacob Herrin's cooper shop was 
taken for a hospital. The number of deaths was thirty -four. Three 
of those who died were inhabitants of Newell township, namely : Joab 
Martin, Jacob Olehy and his wife. The two last volunteered as 
nurses and died at the post of duty, which discovers the noblest 
humanity, and compels, if we except truth and honor, the highest 
sacrifice. 

A post-office was once established at the Walnut Corners, which is 
thought to have been the first in the township. Ambrose P. Andrews 
was the postmaster. Another, at Myers Mill, was probably opened 
about 1854. Still another, called "Kentucky," was first located oppo- 
site Pleasant Yiew church, and was kept by Mordecai Wells, a blind 
man, who had a little store at that place. He held it only a short time, 
when 'Squire Philip Leonard became the postmaster, and retained the 
office above twenty years. The fourth is at Bismark. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

William F. Adams, State Line, farmer, was born in Harrison county, 
Kentucky, on the 20th of November, 1822, and is the son of Samuel 
and Nancy (Martin) Adams. His father was born in the same place 
on the 27th of April, 1800, of Nancy (McCarty) Adams. His grand- 
father, William Adams, was a native Virginian. His parents were 
married on the 7th of February, 1822, — his mother being the sister to 
Joseph Martin, one of the earliest settlers of Newell township, and the 
first carpenter in it. The family came from Kentucky in 1825, and 
Samuel Adams located where he now lives. His first wife died on the 
31st of March, 1847, and he married a second time, on the 30th of 
April, 1848, to Sarah Wiles, relict of J. Rails. They have fourteen 
living children. For a number of years circuit preaching was held at 
his house regularly each month. Though he never united with any 
denomination, he has always been a friend to the cause of religion, and 
a well-wisher of those who were trying to live pious lives, and now in 
his eightieth year looks back on a life of humble usefulness, and for- 
ward to a state of reward for those who have done well. The subject 
of this biography is one of the substantial citizens of Newell township. 
He was married on the 7th of March, 1844, to Jerusha Price, who was 
born on the 18th of February, 1824, and died on the 17th of May, 
1860. His second marriage, on the 1st of December, 1863, was to 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 951 

Josephine Booe, who was born on the 9th of July, 1832. They have 
five living children : John L., William M., Samuel R., Eleanor S. and 
Elsie I. In politics Mr. Adams is a democrat, and in religion a Chris- 
tian or Disciple. 

Andy Gundy, Bismark, was born in Ross township, near Myers- 
ville, on the 20th of November, 1828, and is a son of Joseph and Sally 
(Davison) Gundy. His father was born in Pennsylvania or Ohio on 
the 20th of August, 1796. He lived a short time in Indiana, and re- 
moved to Illinois, and settled in Ross township, Vermilion county, in 
1828, where he resided until his death. His business was farming and 
stock buying and raising. This he carried on quite extensively for the 
times. Between 1852 and 1854 he owned an interest in the principal 
store in Myersville. He was an influential and highly respected man, 
and died on the 9th of July, 1864. Mrs. Gundy died on the 24th of 
April, 1857, aged nearly fifty-four years. Andy began his school life 
under the tutorship of George Stipp, a pioneer school teacher, in a 
vacant private house on the Luke Wiles place, just west of the North 
Fork, at Myersville, and finished his education at Georgetown, under 
Prof. J. P. Johnson. At the age of twenty-three he commenced busi- 
ness on his own account, engaging in merchandising in Myersville. 
He carried on an extensive outside business in wool, grain and stock. 
Mr. Gundy has held various offices of trust and responsibility. He was 
a member of the twenty-ninth general assembly. Mr. Gundy had a 
large private interest in coal lands, and was recognized as a person 
well qualified to serve on the committee on mines and mining. He 
was a member of the finance committee, and one other not remem- 
bered. He is at present serving his third term as supervisor of Newell 
township. At one time Mr. Gundy owned about eighteen hundred 
acres of real estate, but in the failure of the banking firm of J. C. 
Short & Co. he was a loser to the extent of $150,000. He owns some 
six hundred or seven hundred acres. He is an original whig; on the 
dissolution of that party joined the republicans, in which he has since 
faithfully served. Probably it was out of respect for the wish of St. 
Paul, that all men were like himself, that Mr. Gundy never married. 

James Cunningham, State Line City, Warren county, Indiana, was 
born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the 5th of March, 1810, and 
is a son of William and Mary (Humes) Cunningham. His parents 
removed with him at an early age to Harrison county, Kentucky. 
There Wm. Cunningham and his sons, of whom he had seven, cleared 
one-half of a farm of one hundred and fifty acres. Much of the land 
in those parts was military land, and the titles were defective. Mr. C. 
paid for his land twice, when a third man presented himself and his 



952 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

title to the unimproved half (which was now fenced). Declining to 
buy this claim, he shortly after sold the remainder and removed to 
Vermilion county, Illinois, settling in Newell township in the fall of 
1829. The subject of this sketch was married on the 8th of Septem- 
ber, 1833, to Mary Andrews. He was bred to farming, and by hard 
labor and careful management acquired a good property. He was a 
member of Col. Moore's regiment during the Sac war. Shortly after 
his return from this campaign he improved a farm, on which he has 
always lived until within fourteen years, since which time he has re- 
sided in Illiana, doing no business. His son William occupies the old 
homestead. He is the father of four children : Hannah C, Ambrose 
F., William O. and James A. In politics he is a republican. Both 
Mr. and Mrs. C. are Presbyterians. 

Ambrose Phelps Andrews, State Line City, farmer, was born in 
Madison county, New York, on the 22d of October, 1808. In Decem- 
ber, 1818, his parents, Ambrose and Hannah (Phelps) Andrews re- 
moved, and settled on the Scioto bottom, in Pike county, Ohio. Here 
his father bought a farm, but, losing it through a bad title, was induced 
to emigrate to Illinois. Accordingly, in 1829 he settled in Newell 
township. The subject of this sketch removed hither with him and 
others who came in company. He was married on the 8th of April, 
1832, to Elizabeth Newell, daughter of 'Squire James Newell. She 
died on the 11th of May, 1856. Mr. Andrews has always been a 
farmer, which vocation he has followed with profit and success. For 
some years he was engaged in merchandising in State Line City. He 
served in the Blackhawk war as a member of Col. Moore's regiment. 
At one time he owned three hundred and forty-two acres, but has sold 
all but one hundred and thirty. He has six living children : Amelia 
H., Sophia, Ellen, Helen Victoria, Austin S. and James O. He is a . 
republican in politics. 

David P. Andrews, deceased, was born in Madison county, New 
York, on the 17th of July, 1815, and was a son of Ambrose and Han- 
nah (Phelps) Andrews. He was reared a farmer, and pursued that 
calling during life. His parents removed to Ohio when he was quite 
young, and from thence to Illinois, settling in Newell township, near 
Bismark, in 1829. On the 14th of July, 1848, Mr. Andrews was mar- 
ried to Rhoda Zumwalt, who was born on the 21st of February, 1818. 
He led a successful life, and acquired the respect and confidence of 
the community. He died on the 17th of February, 1879, leaving four 
children: Dewit C, born April 20, 1849; James A., June 3, 1850; 
Charles R., April 26, 1853, and Clara J., June 25, 1858. He was a 
republican in politics. 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 95,3 

Joseph Cunningham, State Line City, Indiana, tanner, was horn in 
Harrison county, Kentucky, on the 27th of February, 1828, and is a 
son of William and Mary (Humes) Cunningham. His father removed 
to Newell township in November of 1829. Mr. Cunningham was mar- 
ried to Mary Ann Swisher on the 5th of April, 1849. He is always 
found on the side of right, encouraging justice, good morals and good 
government. He has filled the office of commissioner of highways the 
past six years. He has six living children: Cleantha, John I., Nora, 
Eddie, Ida M., Joseph S. He owns two hundred and eighty-five acres 
of land, worth $11,000. In politics he is a democrat, and in religion, 
a Christian or Disciple. 

Philip Leonard, Bismark, farmer, was born in Harrison county, 
Kentucky, on the 20th of December, 1820, and is the son of Valentine 
and Mary (Fowler) Leonard. His father was a native of North Caro- 
lina, and for several years in his youth was a captive among the 
Indians. He died at the extreme old age of ninety-six years. In the 
fall of 1830 the family settled in Newell township on the tract of land 
now owned and occupied by William R. Campbell, on section 3, T. 20, 
E. 11. 'Squire Leonard was married on the 25th of March, 1841, to 
Angelina E. Williams. He was postmaster twenty years, and has been 
justice of the peace a longer period. Only two appeals were ever 
taken from judgments rendered by him; one of these was. to gain time, 
and in the other case his judgment was sustained. He was personally 
acquainted with Abraham Lincoln, and enjoyed his confidence, and, 
during the war, held a civil appointment at his hands. He took the 
stump and did effective service in enlisting men in Newell township. 
His son, John, was a member of Co. D, 125th Reg. 111. Vols. He was 
crippled in the army, and laid in the rebel prison at Richmond nine 
months. Mrs. Leonard was a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Bloom- 
field) Williams, and was born in Worcestershire, England, on the 17th 
of September, 1825. She came with her parents to America in 1831 
or 1833. Mr. Leonard has eight living children. In politics he is a 
democrat, and in religion a Christian or Disciple. He owns two hun- 
dred acres of land, worth $8,000. 

Charles S. Young, Bismark, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in 
Woodford county, Kentucky, on the 16th of September, 1809, and is a 
son of James and Lucinda (Baldwin) Young. When sixteen years old 
he moved into Harrison county, Kentucky, and on the 14th of Janu- 
ary, 1829, was married to Elizabeth Leonard. He emigrated to Newell 
township, Vermilion county, Illinois, where he arrived on the 14th of 
October, 1830, and settled near the present site of Pleasant View 
church. He served as a volunteer in Col. Moore's regiment during the 



954 HISTOKY OF VEKMILION COUNTY. 

Blackhawk war. In 1843 Mr. Young engaged in the stock business, 
which from that time forth grew into an extensive trade. Seventeen 
summers in succession he bought and drove horses to market, in 1846 
extending his business to include cattle, and, during the whole of that 
year, kept stock in Cincinnati on sale. He was a heavy patron of the 
Chicago, Danville & Yincennes Railroad, donating to the company on 
certain conditions twenty acres of land on which Bismark stands, and 
deeds to the "right of way" for six and a half miles of track of the 
Branch road through Newell township. As agent of the company he 
superintended their improvements about Bismark. He has changed 
his abode but once since he came here. In 1860 he bought and occu- 
pied the farm where he now resides. He commenced in Newell town- 
ship with two ponies and seventy-five cents in cash, and is now one of 
the wealthiest farmers in Yermilion county, and has made his riches 
without aid from anybody. Mr. Young has some two thousand acres 
of land and twenty-one tenants. He reared three sons and six daugh- 
ters. One of the former served in Co. B, 125th 111. Yols., and was 
discharged shortly before his term of service expired, on account of 
disability. He since died. Mr. Young cast his first vote for Andrew 
Jackson, and has been voting "Old Hickory" principles ever since. 
His wife died on the 21st of November, 1871. 

Thomas Elder, State Line, farmer, was born in Pike county, Ohio, 
on the 3d of March, 1822. His parents, Thomas and Rachel (Boiler) 
Elder, moved to Perrysville, Yermilion county, Indiana, in 1830 ; 
thence in 1838 to Danville township. His father was a native of 
North Carolina, and his mother of Yirginia. On the 11th of Decem- 
ber, 1840, he was married to Sarah Brewer, who was born also in Pike 
county, Ohio, on the 12th of Ma}', 1824. In 1828 her parents removed 
to the neighborhood of Lafayette, Indiana; thence to Newell town- 
ship, Yermilion county, Illinois, in 1830. Mr. Elder settled in Newell 
township in 1841, and in the following year moved to Marion county, 
Illinois, returning from there to Newell in the fall of 1848. He be- 
gan poor ; split rails for twenty-five and thirty-seven and a half cents 
per hundred to buy a few necessary articles for housekeeping and farm- 
ing, but by industry and frugality has acquired an honorable compe- 
tence. Mr. and Mrs. Elder have been members of the M. E. church, 
respectively, since 1843 and 1839. He has held the office of school 
trustee in town 20, range 10, for twenty-two consecutive years, and 
been steward in the church twenty-three years. He is the father of 
seven living children : Richard M., Simeon A., Rachel, Charles W., 
John H., George A. and Frank. He owns four hundred and twenty 
acres, worth $16,500. 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 955 

Benjamin Brewer, Danville, farmer, was born in Pike county, Ohio, 
on the 14th of June, 1820, and is a son of Richard and Christina 
Brewer. His father was born in Ohio in 1789; was a soldier in the 
second war with England, belonging to Gen. Cass' detachment, and 
was surrendered with that body on its return to Detroit after the capit- 
ulation of Gen. Hull, on the 16th of August, 1812. On his return 
home he immediately married Christina Rodrick. In the fall of r830 
he migrated to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled in Newell town- 
ship on the farm now owned and occupied by the subject of this sketch. 
The latter was married on the 26th of April, 1847, to Rebecca Van 
Kirk. He has the following children : Joseph W., John R., George 
E., Anna. He owns four hundred acres, worth $16,000. In politics 
he is a democrat. 

Edward Rouse, Danville, farmer, was born in Scioto county, Ohio, 
on the 18th of March, 1825, and is a son of Reason and Martha (Olehy) 
Rouse. His father dying when he was live years old, his mother, with 
six small children, removed to Danville township in the fall of 1830. 
In the following March she died and left her family to be cared for and 
reared by friends. Five were taken back to Ohio, and while on the 
return trip the oldest child, a girl, was stricken down and died soon 
after reaching the destination. Two years later the surviving members 
returned to Danville, since which time the subject of this sketch has 
resided within five miles of the city. He was married on the 4th of 
October, 1846, to Minerva Martin. He has been school trustee, super- 
visor, and a prominent member of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. 
He was a director in the Vermilion County Association, having head- 
quarters at Danville, after the business was put into the hands of an 
assignee. Mr. Rouse is the father of eleven living children : Martha 
Ann., Dennis H., Susan, John B., Rosan, Mary Ann, Rebecca Ann, 
Julia Ann, Minerva Ann, Sarah Ann, Edward Austin. He owns two 
hundred and twenty acres of land, worth $9,000, and is a democrat in 
politics. 

Nathan J. Norris, M.D., Bismark, fanner and physician, was born 
in Brown county, Ohio, on the 14th of December, 1824, and is a son 
of James and Elizabeth (Carter) Norris. His father was born in Mason 
county, Kentucky, August, 1798. At the age of nine years he removed 
with his parents to Ohio. In November, 1833, he settled in Oakwood 
township, and in the spring of 1845 moved into Newell, where he 
died, on the 21st of September, 1850. The subject of this sketch mar- 
ried Martha Norris, on the 29th of January, 1852. He removed to 
Brown county, Ohio, in 1854, and engaged in the practice of medicine. 
In February, 1858, he graduated from the American Medical College, 



956 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Cincinnati. In 1864 Mr. Norris returned to Newell township, where 
he has since lived, tilling the soil and practicing his profession. He 
has been supervisor of Newell township five terms. He owns one 
hundred and twenty acres of land, worth $4,800. In politics he is a 
democrat, and in religion a Baptist. 

Austin S. Andrews, State Line, farmer, was born in Newell town- 
ship, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 31st of December, 1836, and is 
a son of Ambrose P. and Elizabeth (Newell) Andrews. He was bred 
a farmer, and has always followed that occupation. He enlisted in Co. 
C, Capt. W. I. Allen, 12th Keg. 111. Yol. Inf., Col. McArthur, and mus- 
tered into United States service on the 7th of September, 1861, at 
Paducah, Kentucky. He was orderly sergeant of the company, and 
bore a share in the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh and Corinth (Oc- 
tober, 1862). In the winter of 1863-4 he was detached and put in 
command of twenty-four mounted men to guard the railroad from 
Pulaski to the Tennessee Eiver, and to do general scouting duty. He 
served throughout the Atlanta campaign, being engaged in the two 
great battles in front of Atlanta on the 22d and the 28th of July, 1864. 
He was mustered out on the 8th of September, 1864. Mr. Andrews 
was married on the 27th of November, 1867, to Eliza J. Clark. He 
owns two hundred and thirty acres, worth $9,000. He has six living 
children: Morton C, Herbert S., Betty A., John O., Nancy E. and 
Eliza J. In politics he is a republican. 

Ambrose F. Cunningham, State Line, farmer, was born in Newell 
township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 2d of November, 1836, 
and is a son of James and Mary Ann (Andrews) Cunningham. He 
was married on the 17th of March, 1859, to Mary Ann Lockhart. He 
has been assessor of Newell township two terms. Mr. Cunningham 
has six living children : Oscar, Charley, Mattie, Ella, Morton and Eolla. 
He owns one hundred and ninety-four acres, worth $6,000. He is a 
republican in politics, and an influential Odd-Fellow. 

William C. Saunders, Danville, abstract clerk, was born on the 28th 
of May, 1824, in the county of Norfolk, England. In 1835 he came 
with his parents, John and Maria (Kaynor) Saunders, to America. A 
residence of one year was made in Indiana, when they came to this 
county and located in Danville, his father engaging in blacksmithing. 
His mother died on the 26th of September, 1842. Shortly after this 
he became employed in the county clerk's office, by Amos Williams, 
who at that time held all the important offices. In 1844 he went to 
Iowa, and on the 28th of November, 1848, Mr. Saunders was married 
to Ellen Sleef. He was the first mail messenger from Chicago to Bur- 
lington on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, which position 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 957 

he held five years, when he was transferred to the Burlington & Mis- 
souri Kiver railroad. In the spring of 1862 he returned to Danville, 
and since that time has been engaged chiefly in the county and circuit 
clerks' offices. 

Watkin W. Williams, Bismark, farmer, was born in Worcestershire, 
England, on the 11th of August, 1826, and is a son of John and Eliza 
(Bloomfield) Williams. He emigrated with his parents to America in 
1831 or 1833; settled and lived in Ohio two or three years, when the 
family removed to Illinois, and located at Sugar Grove, Champaign 
county ; but, not liking the place, his father traded his farm to James 
Skinner for the Denmark mill, taking Robert Wyatt as a partner. He 
changed his residence several times subsequent to this ; at one time 
living three years on the Kankakee river. The subject of this sketch 
was married on the 11th of November, 1854, to Marth Ann Worley, 
daughter of Caleb Worley, born on the 23d of April, 1831. They have 
eight living children : Emma C, Adelia C, William Sherman, Eliza- 
beth Ann, George Bunyan, Eliza C, Martha Jane and Simon Peter. 
He owns two hundred and ten acres. of land, worth $6,500. In politics 
he is a democrat. 

Francis M. Rodrick, Danville, farmer, was born in Newell town- 
ship, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 9th of July, 1838, and is a son 
of Solomon and Sarah (Brewer) Rodrick. His father was born on the 
Scioto River, in Pike county, Ohio, on the 15th of September, 1803 ; 
married three times, and has six living children. In the fall of 1828 
he came to Illinois, and settled in the south part of Newell township, 
where he has ever since resided. He speculated some in land, and 
until the building of the T. W. & W. R. R. kept tavern, from which 
he realized a handsome property. The subject of this sketch was mar- 
ried on the 21st of March, 1860, to Catharine Shindler. They have 
seven living children: Hester A., Emma M., Solomon, Peter, Alvin, 
Sarah, Simeon. He owns eighty acres, valued at $3,200. He is a 
democrat in politics. 

David Clapp, State Line City, farmer, was born in Orange county, 
North Carolina, on the 24th of November, 1817, and is a son of John 
and Margaret (Huffman) Clapp. He came to Newell township in 
1838 ; was employed during seven years, alternately, by 'Squire James 
Newell and Asa Duncan, and thus accumulated enough to buy the first 
piece of land. By successive additions he has increased the quantity 
to two hundred and fifteen acres, valued at $8,500. He was married 
on the 24th of February, 1847, to Hannah Blair, who died on the 11th 
of September, 1852. He married again on the 16th of August, 1854, 
to Mary Jane Cunningham, who was born on the 25th of July, 1834. 



958 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Four living children have been born unto them : Sarah Jane, John 
Wesley, James Henry, Charles Asbury. In politics he is a democrat, 
and in religion a Methodist. 

Noah Young, Bismark, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Newell 
township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 20th of July, 1838, on the 
Hollensworth farm. He is a son of Charles S. and Elizabeth (Leon- 
ard) Young, and has always been engaged in farming and the stock 
business. Mr. Young was married on the 19th of February, 1863, to 
Mary Cunningham, who was born on the 3d of August, 1844, on the 
Franklin Adams farm, and was reared on the Price or Martin Powell 
farm in Newell township. They have six living children : Halena, 
born on the 25th of December, 1863 ; Charles Scott, on the 9th of 
November, 1865; Ann Elizabeth, on the 7th of October, 1867; James 
"William, on the 17th of February, 1875, Josie Dean, on the 5th of 
June, 1878, and Lillie May, on the 10th of April, 1879. He owns 
three hundred and seventy acres, worth $15,000. In politics he is a 
democrat, and in religion a New Light. 

George W. Cunningham, Bismark, farmer, was born in Newell 
township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 18th of May, 1838, and is 
a son of John and Nancy (Lindsey) Cunningham. He was married on 
the 17th of November, 1859, to Holly A. Taylor, who died on the 5th 
of January, 1874. He married again on the 31st of July, 1874, to 
(formerly) Mary Lang, relict of Jonathan Lesher. He enrolled in Co. 
B, 125th 111. Vols., on the 12th of August, 1862, and mustered into 
United States service on the 3d of September following at Danville, 
Illinois; fought in the battle of Perry ville, Kentucky ; was detached 
form his command during the battle of Stone Eiver, with a squad of 
train guards, and had a sharp encounter of an hour's duration in repell- 
ing a cavalry attack. He fought subsequently at Chickamauga, Mission 
Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Buzzard Roost, Rocky Face Ridge, Dallas 
and Kenesaw Mountain. At the latter place Mr. Cunningham lost his 
right arm. He was discharged on the 10th of December, 1864, at 
Springfield, Illinois. He has served as collector of Newell township 
three successive terms. In politics he is a republican. 

William O. Cunningham, State Line, Indiana, farmer, was born in 
Newell township, Vermilion county, 111., on the 15th of December, 1838, 
and is a son of James and Mary Ann (Andrews) Cunningham. He 
spent five years in California, between 1858 and 1863. He was mar- 
ried on the 22d of February, 1865, to Matilda J. Chandler, who was 
born on the 27th of July, 1848. He is one of the substantial farmers 
and respected citizens, and the present assessor of Newell township. 
He has three hundred and forty-five acres of fine farming land, worth 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 959 

$13,000. He has four living children : Irvin, Alice, James and Porter. 
Mrs. Cunningham's father and mother, and a brother and sister, died 
in the same week of milk-sickness. 

Perry C. Cosatt, Danville, farmer, was born in Vermilion county, 
Illinois, on the 1st of January, 1838, and is a son of Peter and Nancy 
(Tooma) Cosatt. His father was born near Harrodsburg, Kentucky ; 
was a life-long whig ; settled in Blount township in an early day ; died 
in November, 1859. The subject of this sketch was married on the 
23d of September, 1858, to Ellen Wood, who was born on the 3d of 
January, 1839. He was formerly a republican, but is now neutral in 
politics. They are the parents of two children : Commodore P. and 
Sarah D. He owns one hundred and sixty acres of land, worth 
$6,500. 

John Myers, deceased, was born on the 28th of January, 1808, near 
Hagerstown, Maryland, and was reared there. The Myers family 
moved to Dayton, Ohio, in an early day. From there two of the sons, 
John and Samuel, removed to Indiana, and located near Lafayette. In 
1840 they came to Vermilion county and purchased the mill-improve- 
ment begun and owned by Peter Chrisman, and commenced building 
their grist-mill. In 1841 they brought their families to Newell. The 
village received its name from these brothers. They ran their mill 
about twenty years and sold it to William Goodwin. John now began 
farming, and for some years the brothers were engaged together in the 
manufacture of coffins. John Myers died on the 8th of January, 1878, 
leaving two children : Frank A. and Mary E. 

David K. Woodbury, Danville, saddler, was born in South Dan- 
ville on the 24th of August, 1840, and is a son of Gardner and Eliza- 
beth (Songer) Woodbury. He was married on the 18th of October, 
1866, to Mary M. Kerr. He has been town clerk of Danville town- 
ship. He owns a country residence and grounds of twenty acres of 
land near the fair grounds, and on the boundary between Danville and 
Newell ten acres lying in each township, valued at $5,000. He also 
owns six lots on Hazel street, three hundred feet front, containing two 
dwellings, worth $5,000. Mr. Woodbury is a manufacturer of harness 
and saddles, and a jobber in goods pertaining to that business. He 
is the father of one child, named Winstead. In politics he is a repub- 
lican. 

Samuel Duncan, Danville, farmer and stock-dealer, was born in 
Newell township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 23d of November, 
1840, and is a son of Darius and Margaret Duncan. His mother was 
a daughter of 'Squire James Newell, from whom Newell township 
derived its name. Mr. Duncan has been both assessor and collector of 



960 • HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

bis town. He was married on the 23d of September, 1869, to El- 
dora McDoel. Mr. Duncan's principal business has been dealing in 
stock. He has one child : Henry McDoel Duncan. 

John N. Le Neve, State Line City, Indiana, farmer, was born in 
Newell township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 7th of October, 

1841. He is a son of Obadiah and Polly (Lemons) Le Neve. He 
traveled in the south during the war; was a clerk in the sutler estab- 
lishment of Charles Pratt in Nashville, Tennessee, in the summer of 
1864. Previous to this employment Mr. Le Neve was a clerk in a 
dry-goods store in Vincennes, Indiana, six years. In politics he is a 
republican. 

John Watson, jr., Danville, farmer, was born on the 3d of April, 

1842, in Newell township, Vermilion county, Illinois. He was mar- 
ried on the 22d of September, 1859, to Amy Rabourn. He is the son 
of John R. and Susanna (Martin) Watson. He is the father of eight 
children : Eliza A., Susanna, Ida, Minerva J., Ada, Eben, Walter I., 
and Thomas. Mr. Watson owns one hundred and seventy acres of 
land, valued at $5,000. In politics he is a democrat, and in religion a 
Baptist. 

Francis M. Gundy, Bismark, merchant, was born in Ross township, 
Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 17th of May, 1843, and is a son of 
Joseph and Sarah (Davison) Gundy. He was married on the 15th of 
October, 1875, to Mary E. Smith, who was born in Attica, Indiana, on 
the 30th of September, 1854. Mr. Gundy has been engaged several 
years in selling goods, at Marshfield, Indiana, and at Myersville, 
Illinois. He is now keeping a general store at Bismark, in company 
with A. M. Bushnell. He owns an undivided half of eight hundred 
and sixty acres, worth $30,000. Mr. Gundy is the father of one child, 
Clara G., born on the 19th of September, 1878. 

Obadiah Phillips, Bismark, farmer, was born in Newell township, 
Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 22d of October, 1844, and is a son 
of William and Julia Ann (Luckey) Phillips. He enlisted in Co. B, 
25th 111. Vol. Inf., on the 4th of August, 1862, and was in the battles 
of Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Kenesaw Mountain, and 
Peach Tree Creek. The 25th was mustered out on the 4th of August, 
1864, and his time not having expired, he, with others, was sent to the 
headquarters of the fourth corps, where he remained, doing duty, the 
rest of his term. He was present at the battles of Franklin and Nash- 
ville, and was mustered out on the 9th of June, 1865. Mr. Phillips 
was married on the 25th of January, 1866, to Martha E. Kidwell. 
They have six living children: Nellie, Emma, Willie, Josie, Ross, and 
Morton. 



NEWKLL TOWNSHIP. '.Mil 

Martin J. Barger, Bismark, farmer, was born in Newell township, 
Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 11th of February, 1815, and is a son 
of William J. and Elizabeth (Rudy) Barger. His father died when he 
was quite young-, and his mother marrying again, he left home and 
apprenticed himself to the shoemaker's trade, which he learned. The 
subject of this sketch displayed a truly heroic spirit in his persistent 
effort to become enrolled with the Union defenders. At the beginning 
of the war young Barger endeavored to get into the army while he was 
yet but sixteen years of age. He was very small and delicate, and had 
a girlish appearance. At that time the physique of the volunteer was 
closely scrutinized, as the supply of men was greater than the demand. 
Co. B of the 25th Reg. 111. Yols. was organizing at Danville, and he 
presented himself to Capt. Thomas McKibben, who was recruiting it. 
The Captain "laughed him to scorn," and told him that they did not 
want boys, but men to fight, at the same time pointing to some stal- 
wart specimens standing by. After this rebuff, he repressed his mili- 
tary ardor until the early spring of 1862, when some of the Davison 
and Myers boys, of the 25th, were home on furlough. He now deter- 
mined on making another trial, in spite of the ridicule which beset 
him, from all who became acquainted with his intention. When his 
friends returned he- started with them, and on reaching Danville 
applied to be mustered into the service, in the hope of saving trans- 
portation expenses. Failing in this, he went on to Springfield, but 
was rejected there. Proceeding thence to St. Louis with his compan- 
ions, he was also rejected there. He then went to Rolla, and fared 
likewise there. This point was the end of railroad travel. A squad 
of convalescents was forming here to move forward to join their com- 
mands, and our hero stated his case to the commanding officer, and 
requested permission to join them and to be furnished rations. When 
they reached Springfield, Missouri, he renewed the effort, with the 
same ^disheartening result. He continued on with the squad to For- 
sythe, Missouri, where he joined the 25th 111. Reg. He was dressed 
in civilian clothing, and before he found the command, was arrested 
and taken before Siegel's provost marshal, but, on explaining himself, 
was released. Making application at once to Capt. Wall, of Co. B, he 
was told that it was no use, he would die in a few days. Foiled again 3 
and at the last resort of appeal, he did not know what to do, but 
finally decided to follow the army and be a soldier, if for nothing else 
than to triumph over all opposers and opposing circumstances. He 
was furnished arms and equipments, and an outfit of clothing. In 
about a week the army was in motion for Batesville, Arkansas. The 
first day he kept up, the second day did not get into camp with his 
61 



962 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

command, the third day did not arrive until late at night, and the 
fourth day entirely lost sight of the army. He had some money, and 
bought his meals along the route, camping out at night. He moved 
forward every day, way-worn and weary, almost fainting from fatigue. 
When he came into camp at Batesville about an hour after the com- 
mand had arrived, — not having been seen for nearly a week, and sup- 
posed to be either captured or dead — the cheers of the boys arose to 
greet him, and signalize his triumph. Henceforward he kept abreast of 
the best among them. From thence the army moved to Cape Girardeau, 
where, after a time, it was paid off. The captain asked him if he 
wanted pay. "If you think I will make a soldier," was the answer. 
" O, you'll do !" replied the captain, with an air of confidence and 
satisfaction. Having signed the pay-roll, he was legally a soldier; his 
hopes were realized and his triumph complete. Old soldiers know the 
meaning of "sand" and "grit," but few have seen a better exhibition 
of it. He was in Mississippi in the summer of 1862, and marched to 
Louisville under Buell, and was present at the battle of Perryville, but 
not engaged. He was in the battles of Stone River and Chickamauga ; 
wounded and taken prisoner at the latter place, and held about ten 
days, when he was released on parole. He was not exchanged until 
the next summer, while on the Atlanta campaign. Mr. Barger re- 
mained with his regiment until exchanged, but not doing duty. He 
fought his last battle at Jonesborough ; was present at the subsequent 
battles of Columbia and Nashville. The term of service of his regi- 
ment having expired, the recruits served out the rest of their time at 
Gen. Stanley's headquarters. He was discharged in March, 1865. His 
wound incapacitates him for hard labor, and he draws a pension. He 
was married on the 19th of April, 1868, to Mary A. Steward, who died 
on the 16th of August, 18T0. He was married again on the 25th of 
September, 1873, to Margaret W. Richie. They have four living chil- 
dren: Walter L. R., Anna M., Samuel B. and John W. Mr. Barger 
is a republican in politics, and in religion a Methodist. 

Thomas Watson, Bismark, farmer, was born in Newell township, 
Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 18th of February, 1846, and is a son 
of John R. and Susannah (Martin) Watson. He was married on the 
21st of September, 1865, to Sarah, daughter of Samuel Adams, born 
on the 1st of January, 1846. He lived in Danville during the years 
1873-4, engaged in the saddle and harness trade. In addition to his 
farming operations Mr. Watson buys and feeds a good deal of stock, in 
which business he enjoys a rare degree of prosperity and success. He 
is the father of four living children : Dora E., born on the 26th of 
July, 1866; Samuel R., February 13, 1868; Bertha A., March 26, 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 963 

1873; Earnest M., January 10, 1876. He is an independent in poli- 
tics. 

Corydon H. Campbell, Danville, farmer and fine-stock breeder, was 
born in Seneca county, New York, on the 19th of December, 1825, 
and is a son of John and Elmira (Hewitt) Campbell. The substantial 
prosperity which Mr. Campbell has wrought out for himself little 
indicates his humble beginning. His early life was spent in roving 
more or less in the southwest, and in handling and driving stock. In 
1840 he went to Missouri and lived there seven years, meantime buy- 
ing and driving hogs to the Cherokee nation, and returning with cattle 
to Milwaukee. He brought three herds through from that country. 
For many years he has been an extensive stock-raiser, and has devoted 
his attention largely to the breeding of blooded stock, of which he 
keeps the best strains in the country. Mr. Campbell was married on 
the 11th of November, 1849, to Julia A. Howard, who died on the 1st 
August, 1850. His second marriage, on the 22d of November, 1852, 
was to Mary "W". Brittingham, who died on the 13th of March, 1869. 
His third marriage was to Sarah E. Current, on the 1st of January, 
1870. He is the father of three living children: John J., Joseph B., 
Benjamin. He owns eight hundred and sixty acres of land, worth 
$34,500. 

Peter Voorhees, Danville, farmer, was born on the 26th of June, 
1827, in Butler county, Ohio, and is a km of Stephen and Rachel 
(Elliott) Voorhees. When he was two years old his parents removed 
and settled in Fountain county, Indiana. In 1848 he came to Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, locating in Newell township, where he now 
resides. He has been supervisor of Newell township, and held minor 
offices of trust and responsibility. Mr. Voorhees is a large-hearted, 
public-spirited man, who has been abreast of the foremost in the ac- 
tivities of his community, and who has made his energy felt on all 
occasions. He is a brother of Hon. Daniel W. Voorhees, present 
United States senator from Indiana, who has made a national reputa- 
tion as a lawyer and statesman. The management of a large farm has 
chiefly engrossed his attention during a busy life. Like thousands of 
others, he has not escaped the vicissitudes of the times. He was mar- 
ried on the 1st of April, 1848, to Mary Button. They have five living 
children : Rachel R., Julia E., Arthur E., Daniel, and Philip B. He 
owns five hundred and forty acres of land, worth $27,000. 

Jacob Robertson, State Line, Indiana, farmer, was born in Newell 
township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 22d of September, 1848, 
and is a son of Zachariah and Abigal (Starr) Robertson. He was mar- 
ried on the 6th of February, 1872, to Melissa Brittingham, who was 



964 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

born on the 24th of November, 1848. He has one child, Hallie Ger- 
trude. Mr. Robertson is an independent in politics, and in religion a 
Methodist. 

Theodore L. Stipp, Bismark, farmer, school-teacher and minister, 
was born in Newell township, on the 24th of December, 1848, and is 
a son of George Y. and America A. (Smith) Stipp. He began private 
law studies in 1868; was admitted to practice in the Circuit Court of 
"Warren county, Indiana, in the April term of 1870. He attended a 
course of lectures at the University of Michigan in the winter of 1870-1, 
graduating the 29th of March, 1871. Finding the law not congenial 
to his tastes, he abandoned the profession and became identified with 
the Church of Christ, and was ordained a minister on the 21th of Aug- 
ust, 1873. His labors have since been extended over a wide field, em- 
bracing Warren, Fountain and Vermilion counties, Indiana, and Cham- 
paign and Vermilion counties, Illinois. Mr. Stipp has never been a 
political aspirant for office, but in the campaign of 1875 was favorably 
mentioned as a candidate for congress on the independent ticket, and 
received the support of the Vermilion county delegation in the Tolono 
convention, which nominated J. H. Pickrell. He was married on the 
28th of March, 1872, to Emma P. Norris. They are the parents of two 
living children : Emma Belle and Theodore E. Mr. Stipp owns sixty 
acres of land, worth 81,800. 

Martin Powell, State Line, farmer, was born on the 13th of Decem- 
ber, 1811, in Llanwenarth parish, Monmouthshire, England, and came 
with his parents, Thomas and Jane (Pritchard) Powell, to America in 
the spring of 1823, and settled in Dearborn county, Indiana. At the 
age of twelve he went to Baltimore, Ohio, where he spent five years in 
learning the trade of cloth-dressing and carding, but he has never fol- 
lowed the business. On his return to Indiana he went into the woods 
and began clearing up land and farming. On the 12th of April, 1838, 
he was married to Jeanette Churchill. Between the years 1835 and 
1845 Mr. Powell labored in the capacity of pedagogue in the log school- 
houses of Indiana. At different times in his life he has filled the sacred 
desk. His two sons, Thomas and John, served in the army during the 
rebellion, the former three years in the 33d Ind. Inf., and the latter 
two years in the 86th. Mr. Powell is a highly-respected and valued 
citizen, who is always prominent in local enterprises. He has held 
some town offices. He owns six hundred and eighty acres of land, 
worth 820,500. He has five living children : William M., Thomas C, 
Mary A., Alvah M. and Eliza J. 

James A. Andrews, Bismark, farmer, was born in Newell township, 
Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 3d of June, 1850, and is a son of 






NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 965 

David P. and Rhoda (Zumwalt) Andrews. He was married on the 
2d of April, 1878, to Annie Johnson, who was born on the 18th of 
March, 1855. Mr. Andrews has an undivided half of two hundred and 
thirty acres of choice prairie land, and an undivided fourth of forty 
acres of timber, the whole valued at $4,000. He is a republican in 
politics. 

Samuel Chester, sr., Danville, farmer, was born in Ross (now Fair- 
field) county, Ohio, on the 9th of October, 1810. His father, Thomas 
Chester, was a soldier in the second war with Great Britain, and died 
of rheumatism and congestive chills in the year 1813. Samuel's 
mother, whose maiden name was Ruth Peterson, was thus left with 
seven small and helpless children, and being poor, as the majority of 
the people then were, Samuel was indentured at the age of seven to 
Elias Florence, and served with him till he attained his majority. Im- 
mediately on becoming of age he was married to Elizabeth Castel, on 
the 16th of November, 1831. In 1834 he commenced driving fat cat- 
tie and hogs over the Alleghany mountains to New York, seven hun- 
dred miles; to Philadelphia, six hundred miles, and to Baltimore, five 
hundred miles. His droves ranged from one hundred to one hundred 
and fifteen head. The round trip to New York occupied eighty-three 
days; to Philadelphia, seventy-three days, and to Baltimore, fifty days. 
He followed this business eleven summers, and while thus employed, 
bought one hundred and five acres of land in the neighborhood where 
he had been raised, for $525. In 1852 he sold it for $2,100, and moved 
to Vermilion county, Illinois, settling in Danville township, where he 
purchased six hundred and twenty acres on the Middle Fork. This he 
afterward sold for 88,500. Leaving the farm, he lived in Danville six 
years. In 1862 he bought and moved on the place where he is now 
residing, one and a half miles north of Danville. Mr. Chester's first 
wife died in March, 1858. On the 11th of June following he was mar- 
ried to Elizabeth Skeels. She died on the 14th of August, 1878. He 
married again on the 4th of November, L878, to Susan Barker. Mr. 
Chester received but two months' schooling. He made his start in life 
by investing in three ewes, the increase of which amounted, in seven 
years, to seventy-three head. In politics Mr. Chester is a staunch re- 
publican. He owns at present two hundred and eighty-seven acres of 
land, valued at §12,000. 

Robert Phillips, Bismark, merchant, was born in Switzerland coun- 
ty, Indiana, on the 22d of January, 1835, and is a son of "William and 
Julia Ann (Luckey) Phillips. He came and settled with his parents 
at Mversville in 1844. He worked nine years in the Myersvillc mill. 



966 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

He was married on the 20th of January, 1879, to Martha Gating. In 
politics he is a republican. 

Charles R. Andrews, State Line City, Indiana, farmer, was born in 
Newell township on the 26th of April, 1853, and is a son of David P. 
and Rhoda (Zumwalt) Andrews. He has been engaged in school- 
teaching since he was twenty years of age. Mr. Andrews graduated 
from Mayhew's Commercial College, Danville, in the spring of 1875. 
He has traveled across the continent. In politics he is a republican. 

Benjamin F. Bonebrake, State Line City, Warren county, Indiana, 
merchant, was born on the 22d of March, 1839, in Fountain county, 
Indiana. He is the son of Jacob and Mary Magdalen (Null) Bone- 
brake. His father was born on the 28th of February, 1789, near 
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and his mother near Richmond, Virginia. 
The family settled in Newell township on the 8th of October, 1856 ; 
the father dying on his farm on the 25th of July, 1869, and the mother 
on the 21st of March of the same year. Benjamin enlisted in August, 
1862, in Co. B, 125th 111. Vols., Captain Robert Stewart, and was 
mustered into United States service as private on the 3d of September, 
1862. He was promoted to sergeant on the 3d of December, 1862, 
and to the rank of orderly-sergeant on the 22d of February, 1863. He 
became sergeant-major of the regiment on the 3d of September, 1863, 
and was in the battles of Perry ville, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, and 
marched to the relief of Knoxville, Tennessee. After that he bore a 
part in the battles of Buzzard Roost, Resaca, Dallas and Kenesaw 
Mountain. At the last named place he received a severe wound in the 
head, fracturing the skull. He was in the hospital at Nashville five 
and one-half months, and rejoined his regiment at Savannah, Georgia, 
on the 14th of January, 1865. On his return a commission as first- 
lieutenant awaited him for gallant and meritorious conduct at Kenesaw 
Mountain, bearing date of December 5, 1864, and giving him rank 
from the 10th of December, 1864. He commanded Co. B thencefor- 
ward till the close of the service, participating in the final event which 
signalized it, namely : the grand review of Sherman's army on the 
25th of May, 1865, in the capital of the nation. He was mustered out 
on the 9th of June ; paid off at Chicago, and disbanded the 29th.- Mr. 
Bonebrake was married on the 2d of April, 1866, to Mary M. Lindsey. 
They have two living children: Ralph and Maud. Lillie died on the 
5th of August, 1875. 

Asa M. Bushnell, Bismark, merchant, was born in Cook county, Illi- 
nois, on the 8th of December, 1850, and is a son of Henry and Lavina 
(Dayton) Bushnell. He removed with his parents at the age of five 
years and settled in Steuben township, Warren county, Indiana. Sub- 



NEWELL TOWNSHIP. 967 

sequently they moved into Newell township, and after four or five years 
returned to Cook county, remaining there two or three years, when 
they went to Iroquois county and spent a year, after which they settled 
in Eossville. At this place, in 1873, Mr. Bushnell embarked in mer- 
chandising. He is postmaster at Bismark, and is keeping a general 
store in partnership with Francis M. Gundy. Mr. Bushnell was mar- 
ried on the 15th of October, 1873, to Wilhelmina Shockley, who was 
born on the 17th of April, 1856. They have three living children: 
Clyde, born on the 7th of June, 1875 ; Mabel, on the 30th of Septem- 
ber, 1876; Frank, on the 23d of April, 1878. In politics Mr. Bush- 
nell is a republican. 

James H. Burgoyne, Danville, brickmaker, was born near Union- 
town, Muskingum county, Ohio, on the 15th of June, 1834. When 
ten years of age his parents, James and Mary (Minor) Burgoyne, moved 
with him to Wayne county, Indiana. In 1859 he came to Catlin, Ver- 
milion county, Illinois, but after a brief stay went to Kansas, where he 
lived a year or two and then returned to Vermilion county on the 3d 
of September, 1862. He was enrolled for three years in Co. G, 125th 
111. Vol. Inf., and bore an honorable part in the battles of Perryville, 
Chicamauga, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, Tunnel Hill, Rocky 
Face Ridge, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesborough, and 
in Sherman's march to the sea, and in the later and greater campaign 
through the Carol in as, which practically ended with the battle of 
Bentonsville, in which he was engaged. He passed through Richmond, 
Virginia, on the homeward march, and was mustered out of the United 
States' service at Washington City, on the 9th of June, 1865, and the 
regiment disbanded at Chicago on the 2d day of July. Mr. Burgoyne 
was married on the 31st of December, 1867, to Miss Louie Butler. 
They have three living children. 

Joseph S. Johnson, State Line, farmer and stock-shipper, was born 
on the 16th of September, 1827, in Hendricks county, Indiana, and is 
a son of George and Polly (Walter) Johnson. He was married on the 
16th of March, 1854, to Matilda M. Kemper. He was engaged in 
mercantile pursuits from 1848 to 1855. He settled in Newell town- 
ship in 1864, and has taught school and music, and has traveled exten- 
sively in the middle portion of the Union. In Indiana he was county 
commissioner, real estate appraiser, deputy sheriff and notary public. 
In Newell township he has been assessor and collector, and at the 
present time is justice of the peace. Besides these, he has held other 
offices. He is the father of nine children. He owns eighty-five acres 
of land, and is an independent in politics. 

B. F. Marple, State Line, merchant, was born on the 28th of Feb- 



968 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

ruary, 1837, in Knox county, Indiana, and is the son of Jeremiah and 
Elizabeth (Boyd) Marple. His father died in October, 1842. His 
early life was devoted to farming. He clerked in the railroad office at 
State Line for some time, but abandoning this employment he em- 
barked in the drug trade, which he has since continued. He has been 
trustee of schools in Kent township three successive terms. Mr. Marple 
was married on the 16th of June, 1864, to Mary E. Duncan. They 
have three living children : Charles, Grace and Stella. In politics Mr. 
Marple is a democrat, and in religion a Methodist. 

¥m. R. Campbell, State Line, Indiana, farmer, was born in Lan- 
caster county, Pennsylvania, on the 23d of September, 1823, and is a 
son of Obadiah and Delilah (Treen) Campbell ; descended from revo- 
lutionary stock. When he was one year old his parents removed to 
Pickaway county, Ohio, thence, in 1830, to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, 
and in 1837 to Fountain county, where Mr. Campbell resided until 
1866, when he came to Newell township. He was married on the 28th 
of December, 1847, to Melinda A. Lucas, who was born on the 2d of 
January, 1828. He has been in the mercantile business six years. 
He served as school trustee several years, and filled the office of super- 
visor for Newell township four terms. He has four living children : 
Maria E., Josephine, John F. and Charles A. He owns three hundred 
and fifteen acres of land, worth $12,500. 

Jonathan Lesher, deceased, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania' 
in 1831. He was married on the 1st of November, 1855, to Mary 
Lang, in Fountain county, Indiana. He was a firm supporter of the 
war for the Union, and being examined was found unfit for military 
service; nevertheless he afterward furnished a substitute for the army. 
In 1869 he removed to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled in Newell 
township, where he died on the 1st of November, 1872. Mr. Lesher 
united with the Lutheran church at the age of fourteen, and continued 
a consistent member throughout his life. 

Ezra Peters, Bismark, ph} T sician, surgeon, oculist and aurist, was 
born in Licking county, Ohio, on the 4th of July, 1846, and is a son 
of Tunis and Mary (Dicas) Peters. He enlisted in Co. C, 95th Ohio 
Vol. Inf., on the 12th of August, 1862, when but sixteen years of age. 
He was engaged at Richmond, Kentucky, where he was taken prisoner; 
held three days and paroled ; took part in the battle of Jackson, Mis- 
sissippi, on the 14th of May, 1863 ; siege of Vicksburg ; siege of Jack- 
son : battles of Tupelo, Mississippi, and Nashville, Tennessee ; the 
siege of Spanish Fort, Alabama, and was mustered out on the 14th of 
August, 1865. He began his education at the University of Michigan, 
where he spent two years, taking two courses of medical lectures at 



VANCE TOWNSHIP. 969 

that institution. He practiced medicine first at Grand Rapids, Michi- 
gan ; then at Central City, Nebraska, and again at the former city — 
eight years altogether. He entered the Bennett Eclectic College of 
Medicine and Surgery, graduating therefrom on the 21st of February, 
1878, and on the 23d of the same month graduated from the Chicago 
College of Ophthalmology and Otology. Since his recent settlement 
at Bismark, Mr. Peters has successfully operated for cataract in a num- 
ber of cases, extracting the lens and restoring sight. He has contrib- 
uted one of these cases to the Chicago Medical Times. He was 
elected vice-president of Illinois State Eclectic Association, held at 
Springfield on the 4th and 5th of June, 1879, and was delegated to the 
national association, which convened at Cleveland, Ohio, on the 18th 
of June, 1879. He was married on the 1st of September, 1869, to 
Edith Conrad. 



VANCE TOWNSHIP. 

Vance township, as now bounded, occupies a position on the west- 
ern border of the county, and is in the second tier of townships from 
the southern line, having Oakwood on its northern boundary, Catlin 
on its eastern, Sidell on its southern, and Champaign county on its 
western. The Salt Fork of the Vermilion river runs through its north- 
ern part nearly the whole length, which is skirted by timber on an 
average of about one mile on either bank. The township is seven 
miles long east and west, and five miles wide, and contains one section 
less than a full congressional township. The State Road from Danville 
to Decatur runs through, keeping as nearly as possible about one and 
one half miles away from the Salt Fork; and the "Wabash railway runs 
very nearly through its center, having the village of Fairmount, a 
neatly built and pleasantly located town, situated about one mile from 
its eastern border. Abundance of building-stone is found along and in 
the bed of the stream, and ledges of calcareo-silicious stone crop out 
on the prairie near the center of the town, which is the best known 
material for making roads, and makes an excellent quality of lime for 
building purposes, and for dressing for wheat lands. This stone is 
hard enough to withstand natural destruction from the elements, and 
soft enough to wear smooth under wagon-wheels, giving just the 
quality suitable for McAdam roads. It is being sparingly used here as 
yet, but in other places in this state where it has been used for years 
its value has been thoroughly tested and abundantly proved. There is 
a mine of wealth in these ledges of stone, such as crop out on the Big 



970 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Spring farm of J. 0. Sandusky. The ridge, or divide, between the 
Salt Fork and the Little Vermilion runs along the southern border of 
Yance, and the prairie land all sheds toward the north, being freely 
supplied with streams and small branches, which beautifully water the 
farms and afford fine drainage. The surface is neither flat nor hill}', 
having sufficient undulation to make it capable of tillage all seasons, 
with here and there small mounds or easily rising hills, which add 
variegated beauty to the scene no less than real value to its worth. 
Originally about twelve square miles of its territory was timber land, 
being about one third of its present surface. This proportion is not 
much varied, for few farms have been made on that portion which was 
timber, although, of course, some of it was cut off by early settlers. 
It is as fine a tract of farming land as can be found in this or any other 
state. Let any one who has an eye to that which is both beautiful and 
useful in nature and in rural life drive along the State Road in May or 
June in the cool evening, and see, where only a few short years ago 
all was as nature had prepared it for man, the wealth which has sprung 
from well directed toil and the frugal lives of those who rescued these 
acres from wild nature, the substantial farm-houses, with their sur- 
roundings of groves, orchards, herds and buildings, well-tilled land 
and thrifty crops, and his doubting will be turned into conviction of 
the strongest type. Here one sees farm-life arrayed in its goodliest 
adornments. The small farms that have come down from father to 
son show the qualities which time lends. The tiresome appearance of 
newness which everywhere in the prairie country confronts us is want- 
ing. Everything which adds to comfort is here found. 

The earlier settlements were made along this State Road ; or, to 
state it more correctly, they were made along the border of the timber, 
and the State Road was made here because of this fact. At first the 
road wound in and out wherever clearings were made; and, through 
the influence of Col. Vance, who was then a member of the legislature, 
the road was straightened and adopted as a state road. 

The railroad was graded through this town in 1836. It was one of 
that network of "internal improvements" that the state proposed at 
that time to prosecute for the purpose of developing the country. It 
is looked upon now as a wild and visionary scheme. John W. Vance, 
from whom this township was named, aroused serious opposition, and 
destroyed whatever prospects he may have had for political promotion, 
by opposing the railroad scheme, or "ring" as it would now be called. 
His reasons for opposing it were, that it was far in advance of the 
necessities of the times, and must result in failure. He, of course, did 
not suppose that such a revulsion as came in 1837, was at hand ; but 



VANCE TOWNSHIP. 971 

his argument was based upon sure and certain business principles. He 
said, in justifying his opposition, that there was not then, and for years 
could not be, business to support so many railroads as they were pro- 
posing to build ; that a single road would carry all there was to be car- 
ried to market for years to come. This was undoubtedly true, and yet 
those whom he was opposing sought to find in his opposition some 
selfish, hidden reason. He was a statesman, and was about as far in 
advance of his time as the railroads of 1836 were. No better evidence 
of his ability as a legislator is wanted than his record on this matter. 
His brother was governor of Ohio, and it is said by those who knew 
them both, that John was by far the abler man of the two. The town- 
ship that received his name embraced a portion of what is now Oak- 
wood until 1866, and he resided in that part of the township. 

As soon as the railroad was located, Ellsworth & Co. entered all the 
land along its line, from Danville to Decatur, that had not previously 
been taken, and held it for speculation. Owing to the revulsion which, 
in due course of nature's law, must, and did, follow the flush times of 
1836, the speculators did not get an opportunity to sell their land for 
twenty years. With the actual building of the Wabash road came 
their opportunity to sell at from five to eight dollars per acre, so that 
their speculation was not a magnificent one by any means, for though 
taxation was much lighter then than now, the interest on their invest- 
ment, and taxes for twenty years, amounted to no inconsiderable part 
of the receipts. 

EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 

The first settler known to make a home within the bounds of Vance 
was Thomas Osborne, who made a little cabin in section 32, a mile or 
two northwest of Fairmount, in 1825. He did not do any large amount 
of clearing or farming, but spent his time in fishing and hunting, which 
latter was by far the most profitable business of that day and age. The 
skins and furs of a winter's crop were worth more than a corn crop. 
Osborne did not stay here long after the game began to grow scarce, 
but went on west. Mr. Eowell and Mr. Gazad had cabins near by, 
and, as " squatters," remained around here a short time. In the same 
neighborhood James Elliot, James French and Samuel Beaver com- 
menced a year or two later. They also pushed on farther west, and 
William Davis bought their claims when he came here soon after. 
Beaver was a tanner, and kept and worked a small tan-yard, the mate- 
rial for which business was plenty here at that time. His house stood 
exactly where the Baptist church was built, — in fact, the church was, 
for some reason not now known, built around the house, which was 
torn down and carried out after the church was enclosed. The church 



972 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

was built in 1835, and thirty years later was to have been moved to 
Fairmount, but was burned the night before it was to have started on 
its journey. Henry Hunter took up a claim in 1828, on section 33, 
just north of Fairmount. He sold to Jennings in 1833, and after liv- 
ing awhile here, died. His family are gone, some still living in Mis- 
souri. Jennings, a few years after, sold and went to the vicinity of 
Jacksonville, where his widow still resides. He was a peculiar man, 
and difficult to get along with ; was not, in fact, a popular neighbor, or 
a very agreeable man. The Catletts now own the land. "Win. Steward 
the same year (1828) took up land near by, and died in 1833. His was 
the second grave in the Dougherty grave-yard. He is spoken of as 
being a man of excellent character. His land also belongs to the Cat- 
lett farm. Near by were several old cabins of those who had been here 
for a short time. Thomas Redmond and Joseph Yount came the same 
year from Ohio, and took up claims in section 3, near Homer. They 
remained here until they died. Some members of the Yount family 
live on the place yet. 

The next year James Smith commenced a farm on section 2, near 
by. He died there, and his family are all gone except William, who 
lives on a portion of the land which is in section 1. John Cordts owns 
and occupies the old homestead. A little farther east W. H. Lee set- 
tled in 1829. He died there, and most of his family are dead also. 
Such as are living are in the neighborhood. Win. Hardin settled here 
at the same time. He was a prosperous and influential man in the 
community. He died about 1864. One son, Wm. M. Hardin, lives 
near by, and one resides in Iowa. These people, as far as known, com- 
prise the first settlers, and were all from Ohio. 

Wm. O'Neal came here in 1829, and three years later sold to Fran- 
cis Dougherty and moved farther north. His place was on section 34, 
just northeast of Fairmount. W. Fielder settled near there the next 
year, and W. H. Butler settled on the same section. He afterward 
went farther east, and made his home in Catlin township. James 
Buoy purchased his place, which is now owned by James M. Dougher- 
ty. Wm. Reynolds had a claim just north of these, in section 27, and 
also went to Catlin, where he was long an influential citizen, and a 
prominent local preacher of the Methodist church. B. M. Dougherty 
bought his claim. Mr. Nicholas Van Duzen also settled in this section 
in 1832, and lived here until 1840. The same year Peter Frazier set- 
tled on section 28, where he still resides. He is now more than ninety 
years old, and is nearly blind. His daughter, Mrs. Smith, lives on the 
farm, taking care of her aged father in his declining years. In 1831 
Aaron Dabley came to the same section to live. He sold to Henry 



VANCK TOWNSHIP. 973 

Hunter and removed farther north into Oakwood township, where he 
died. His family are nearly all dead, though some still reside there. 
Harvey Stearns took up a claim on section 5 in 1832. His widow 
lives on the farm yet, and his sons, Alvin, Calvin and Alonzo, live on 
farms near by. Luther Stearns had a farm in section 1, west of Har- 
vey's. He went to Texas. His son resides in Homer. Geo. Cnstar 
bought, and Mr. Saladay owns, the land. Pretty much all these set- 
tlements were on what was the old road, before it was straightened in 
conformity to the plan to make it the State Road. 

Francis Dougherty came here from Brown county, Ohio, in Septem 
ber, 1832, with teams to bring his family and worldly effects. His 
family then consisted of three daughters and one son, Samuel. His 
son Alexander came with his family at the same time, and another son, 
B. M., had come a year before. His son James and family, and 
daughter, Mrs. Ferrior, and family, came the next year. He purchased 
land of Mr. O'Neal, and afterward entered considerable, amounting in 
all to nine hundred acres. He was a man of enlarged views and strict 
business habits, industrious and frugal. When he came he had means 
enough to commence in a new country comfortably, and his boys had 
been brought up to work. It was not long before they got into easy 
circumstances, and were well enough fixed so that the revulsion of 
1837, which ruined so many, did not affect them much. He died in 
1860, at the advanced age of ninety-one, leaving to his children and 
grandchildren — who still live in the neighborhood, and have been 
among the most energetic business men — an honored name, and the 
memory of a well-spent life. Mrs. Dougherty died in 1851. Alex- 
ander, who was then just commencing life, still lives in Fairmount. 
Though now past his three-score and ten, and apparently feeble in 
physical strength, his mind is as clear and his recollection as accurate 
as need be. The writer has been placed under very many obligations 
to him for the facts for this sketch. He was a member of the first 
Methodist class ever formed in the township — by Father Anderson, at 
Henry Hunter's, in 1833, — and it may be added that, so far as knovvn, 
he has never fallen from grace. It is a real pleasure to spend an hour 
or two with such old citizens, whose minds are stored with the pleasant 
reminiscences of early days, especially now that so few are left who do 
really know any thing which the gleaner for historical statistics needs. 
Dr. Thomas Deacon had a residence in the part of this township which 
lies north of the Fork, as early as 1830. He acquired considerable 
land, and was a prosperous man and an excellent citizen. He has 
recently died, leaving behind him an honored memory for honesty, in- 
dustry and thrift. His family still reside there. 



974 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

That portion of the township which lies south of the railroad did 
not come into general cultivation until about 1855 or 1860. About 
1850 it became known that the railroad which had been graded four- 
teen years before, would be built. Senator Douglas had secured an 
assurance of the passage through congress of the Illinois Central Rail- 
road bill, and it was readily seen that the building of that would force 
the completion of the lines already begun. This called attention to 
land lying within a few miles of these lines, and soon every acre of it 
was taken up. Josiah Sandusky, who lived at Catlin, a prosperous and 
driving man, took the occasion to enter the land which he had long 
had his eye upon, for his son Jacob, just south of where Fairmount 
now is, and known as the "Big Spring" farm. The springs, bubbling 
up out of the ledge of lime-stone, way out on the prairie, was so notice- 
able that it had long attracted attention. Everybody in this part of 
the county knew the "big spring," and everybody thought "what a 
nice place that would be for a milk-house if this prairie ever gets set- 
tled up," and everybody thought they would like to own that farm some- 
time. What others thought, Josiah Sandusky, with his eye as usual 
on the main chance, did. Putting $450 into his pockets, he went to 
Danville and entered nine "forties" around this famous spring, making 
a square farm three-fourths of a mile each way, which thirty times that 
amount of money could not buy to-day. He soon brought it into culti- 
vation, and put on .it the old Butler house, which stood so long the mon- 
ument of the pioneer of Butler's Point. This was, aside from its asso- 
ciations, a famous house. The logs were of black walnut, hewn, and 
so large that they would now, if sawed into inch boards, bring almost 
enough, at market rates, to build a good-sized farm residence. "While 
everything about is good, the chief attraction is the magnificent spring, 
or really a series of springs, which furnish water enough for the stock, 
and has been utilized at the milk-house, and can be in many other 
ways. Isaac made his home at Catlin, and with his sons, a portion of 
whom lived there, became possessed of large landed property, buying 
up all the farms that were for sale around the mound. They are a 
remarkable family. In the history of Vermilion county no family has 
cut so important a figure in its business, social and agricultural con- 
cerns. 

FAIRMOUNT. 

Fairmount was platted and recorded December, 1856, by Capt. 
Josiah Hunt. He was chief engineer of the Great Western railroad, 
as it was then called, and bought this tract of Mr. Cornelius, after he 
knew there was to be a station here. The plat included thirty-seven 
blocks, several of which were mere fractions, owing to the fact that the 



VANCE TOWNSHIP. ' 975 

streets were made to run parallel with, and perpendicular to, the rail- 
road, instead of running with the points of compass. The town was first 
called Salina. R. Q. Cornelius, Joseph Reese, John Allen, John H. 
Folks platted additions at various times since. The name of the town 
was changed to Fairmount, but on the record it remains Salina. The 
first building put up on the site of this town was built by Parish & Bow- 
man, in 1836. They had a "job on the railway " to do grading in that 
ancient time, and John Dougherty relates that he used to come here to 
sell potatoes, onions and cabbages in their season, to the railroad men. 
It stood just east of the hill, nearly opposite the mill. The station- 
house was first put up on Main street in 1857, and served all the pur- 
poses of railroad station, residence for Mr. Michael Dunn, tool-house, 
hotel, and in fact everything but church. Mr. Dunn, who is the pio- 
neer, and who still lives here doing the railroad work, was. by far the 
most important personage in the business. He had great difficulty at 
first in getting a supply of water. The building was 16 x 24, and made 
a very sightly appearance as it was seen from a distance across the prai- 
ries. There was not a tree or a bush growing on the present site of 
the village, and young mothers who moved there to live had to provide 
themselves with switches for family use, and bring them along with 
the household goods. Mr. Dunn says that there was the same lack of 
switch for railroad purposes. The side-track was not long enough to 
sidetrack a train if trains happened to meet here. The first residence 
was built where the residence of Mr. Aams now stands. 

John Allen, who owned a farm east of town three miles, where 
Thomas Sandusky now lives, was employed by W. P. Chandler to 
negotiate the sale of lots in the new town for Capt. Hunt. He sold a 
good many of the lots. J. W. Booker, Andrew Howden, Allen, and 
others, purchased. He built a residence upon the site where he now 
lives, and bought several acres adjoining. Wra. Goodwin built on 
Main street, where Bradway's drug store now is. Mr. Booker built a 
dwelling east of Main street; John Haney, a residence on the corner 
near the railroad. Allen & Booker built the store now occupied by 
Gibson, and Booker lived in it. Mr. Allen kept a boarding-house, 
having eight or ten boarders. Allen & Booker put in a general stock 
of goods, very general^ too, as is remembered, containing everything 
from tin pans to patent medicines. After two years, W. A. Lowery, 
of Danville, purchased it, and put Charles Tilton in charge of it, a 
youth of some experience in mercantile pursuits, and a keen taste for 
the business, and who is still selling goods here. He ran it successfully 
for nearly two years, when Caleb Yredenberg, an old citizen of Dan- 
ville, bought it, and came here and sold goods for a time, then removed 



976 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

it to Homer. John R. Witherspoon came from Indiana in the spring 
1869, bringing a store already framed with him, and the carpenters to 
put it up. He erected it on the corner next to Til ton's present store, 
and stocked it with goods. He was a successful and experienced busi- 
ness man. He died after about ten years' business here. His widow 
and family still reside here, engaged in the hotel business. John Corts 
commenced to build the hotel in 1860, when Mr. Hall bought it and 
finished it; afterward enlarging and materially improving it. He con- 
tinues to occupy it. Mr. Witherspoon occupied the house for a resi- 
dence which Wm. Woods resides in for one year, after which he lived 
in. the building where Mr. Stalons now is. This residence had no 
fence around it, and, during "fly-time," the cattle and sheep from a 
thousand acres used to collect around to find the grateful shade, and 
pick up whatever they could find. If Mrs. W. left the door open for 
a minute, the chances were that the calves would make a raid into her 
pantry, or chase the frightened children, of whom she had a goodly 
number, through the house. Many a time she longed to be back among 
the Hoosiers, where at least the cattle were compelled to recognize the 
fact that white folks had some rights which horned-cattle were bound 
to respect. For weeks at a time she had to throw out pickets of young 
Witherspoons and dogs to keep the cattle from eating up her "starched 
clothes" out on the line. A " boiled shirt " seemed to be the particular 
delight of the half-grown calves which collected around her castle. This 
house has been enlarged and rebuilt by Mr. Ellis Adams, who still 
owns it. John B. Turner built the house on the north side of the 
railroad, w T here his widow still lives. The house now occupied by 
Lewis E. Booker was built by his father as a residence when he first 
came here. F. L. Dougherty built the first elevator in 1859, which 
was burned in 1862, and he then built the present one. Joseph 
Dougherty's residence was burned in 1867. Another fire, probably in 
1866, burned the entire wooden row on the east side of Main street. 
It burned Aldridge's and Heistenel's buildings, New's drug store, and 
some other small buildings. 

A fellow by the name of Crawford conceived the idea that here 
would be a " right smart chance " to sell whisky, so he supplied him- 
self with a little stock of choice native and foreign "forty rod," "in- 
stant death," "linger long" and other choice brands. Messrs. Allen 
and Catlett, thinking to convert the chap from the evil of his ways, 
made a bargain with him to buy his stock, provided he would discon- 
tinue business permanently. Mrs. Crawford, however, when being in 
terviewed, " separate and aside from her husband," would not consent 
to the bargain, and Allen had to make the best of so one-sided a bar- 




■\ 




VANCE TOWNSHIP. <i77 

gain, and when he found he could not make a bargain with the woman 

of the house, crawled under the bed to get the keg, while the old lady 
went for him with the rolling-pin « in a way he despised." Allen, who 
was never known to show the white feather, retreated with the keg 
through the back window, while Catlett covered his retreat in a mas- 
terly manner. The Crawfords were not conquered, however, and with 
the money the citizens had given them, went to Danville and laid in a 
fresh supply. This was a little too much for the mild temper of John 
Allen, even. A meeting was held in the upper story of the warehouse, 
the only public hall in town, and the situation was discussed in nil its 
bearings. Seventy citizens at this council of war decided, first, that 
liquor should not be sold in Fairmount; and second, — well, we will 
see. The next morning the committee called on the Crawfords and 
made known their first resolve, and gave them their choice, to load it 
into a wagon which they had in readiness, and take it, with the re- 
mainder of their plunder, out of town, or be dealt with more harshly. 
Mrs. C. again armed herself with the rolling-pin, but Crawford craw- 
fished, and consented to roll the stuff out, and when it was loaded, an 
" infuriated citizen " mounted the wagon and cut every hoop off the 
barrel in a minute. Since that no attempts have been made to run a 
saloon in Fairmount, — except the proposition "Uncle John Mills" 
made. 

Mr. John Dougherty built the grist-mill in 1868. It is 40x50, sup- 
plied with three run of stone, and does excellent work. It cost $15,000, 
and has run now eleven years without being shut a half day from any 
cause, Sundays excepted. He built the elevator in 1877, since which 
time he has connected the grain trade with that of milling. The mill, 
under his management, has been a great success. 

Eev. James Ashmore, the veteran minister of the Cumberland Pres- 
byterians, who now resides in Fairmount, has given an energetic life 
to gospel work, most of which has been spent in this county. His 
parents were of Koman Catholic birth, and when he was a small child 
a priest of that church offered to take him to Rome and educate him 
for the priesthood. His parents assented to the plan, but when the 
time came for parting with him they changed their minds and decided 
to keep him with them. In 1840 he came to Vermilion county and 
commenced his life's work. He organized Mt. Pisgah church, in 
Georgetown, that year; the Mt, Vernon church, in Catlin, the same 
year; the Liberty church, in Elwood, in 1843; the Yankee Point 
church, in Elwood, in 1853; the Miller church, in Carroll, in 1866; 
and Olive Branch church the same year. Several others, which are 
now flourishing churches in this county, have been largely the oft- 
62 



97S HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

shoots of his early ministerial labors here. A more extended notice of 
this honored pioneer, and his son, Henry, will be found on a future 
page. 

Uncle John Hoobler, as he is familiarly called, an honored 
preacher of the United Brethren church, settled on the Wabash in 
1826. From that time his active life has been given to preaching, and 
to the manual labors which a large business calls for. He came to live 
in this county in 1846, and purchased the old Ross mill at Rossville. 
He was presiding elder of his church the first year, and then located, 
still continuing to preach as occasion called for. While there, for five 
years he carried on the mill and worked a farm. William Morgan 
stole all his horses and took them to La Salle county to work a farm 
with. After this loss Mr. Hoobler again took a circuit, his brethren 
in the conference taking up a collection to buy him a horse, which he 
declined to receive. He then went to Livingston county, where he 
lived thirteen years, preaching and acting as presiding elder while 
there. He came to Fairmount to live four years ago. He has been 
greatly prospered in worldly affairs, as well as in the ministry, and has 
made good use of his opportunities. Though now past seventy, he is 
a brave, hearty, well-preserved old man. He has in his possession now 
a picture of Owen Lovejoy, which that gentleman gave him in 1860, 
and which he prizes for its associations beyond price, and which he will 
hand down to his children as a reminder of one of the brave men of his 
day and generation. He has now sixt}' grandchildren, and thirty-three 
great-grandchildren, with one precinct to hear from. 

John P. Mills came from Kentucky to where his brother-in-law, 
John Johns, was living, in Blount township, in 1836. He bought a 
piece of land on what was then called the barrens, and proceeded to 
make a farm. This land was not in any sense barren, but it was desti- 
tute of timber. He thought at that day that he could make a farm 
easier on such land than on the prairie — a very common opinion then. 
He made a farm there, and remained on it fifteen years, and then went 
to Bean Creek, farther north, and made a farm there, and remained 
there fourteen years. He was licensed to preach by Presiding Elder 
Hooper Crews, on the 15th of August, 1840, and ordained a deacon by 
Bishop Hamline, in 1846. He engaged largely in the work of a local 
preacher, and helped materially to build up the church. He was one 
of the first in the county to espouse the abolition cause, and feels proud 
now of telling that his vote was one of the eleven which were cast in 
this county in favor of the clause, which was submitted separately, to 
permit free persons of color to come into the state. He does not know 
who the others were, but is very sure Rev. Enoch Kingsbury was one, 



VANCE TOWNSHIP. «»7>t 

and some members of the Gilbert family were among the eleven. Mr. 
Kingsbury, though belonging to a different denomination, was always 
a warm personal friend of Mr. Mills. His son Eli died in the service 
of his country. While very low, and apparently near his end, Mr. D. 
L. Moody, who was near by, ministering spiritually to the sick and 
wounded on the boat, raised him up in bed, and he expire! in his arms. 
His wife died soon after this, and a few years since, he came to Fair- 
mount to live, hoping to find a healthy and pleasant location. While 
here he solemnized a* marriage which made the two married couples 
who were the first ones married in the county one, by marrying Mr. 
Douglass to Mrs. Snow. Mr. Mills is a jovial and pleasant gentleman, 
rather fond of a joke or a surprise, as the case may be. When he came 
to Fairraount to see whether he would decide to come here to live, he 
gave out that he was looking out for some good place to start a saloon. 
It is proper to add that the "sign" which he carried would hardly in- 
duce strangers to doubt his sincerity when talking about the saloon 
business, and he was soon given to understand that he would be served 
as Crawford was if he undertook that business here. 

The name of Cyrus Douglass has often appeared in these pages. 
At the time of this writing he still lives at Fairmount, though evi- 
dently his eventful life is near its end. In Catlin township a correct 
account is given of his marriage, the facts of which were furnished the 
writer by a lady who knew the circumstances well. After his marriage, 
fifty-five } 7 ears ago, he went to Georgetown township, and afterward 
into Elwood township, where he spent his life in farming, and in doing 
whatever good he could in his humble way. 

Hiram Hickman came from Brown county, Ohio, to this state, in 
1828. He went to Old Town timber, in McLean county, and bought 
a piece of land, but returned to this county the next season. There 
were no settlements between the Vermilion timber and the Kickapoo 
at that time. In traveling, he had to go on horse-back, and was nearly 
eaten up by the fierce prairie-flies of that day. In trying to make the 
Georgetown timber on his way back, he found the big spring on Jacob 
Sandusky's farm, and believes he is the first white man who ever tasted 
its waters; but it did not give him perpetual youth or great riches. 
His father, who was born in Tennessee, crossed the Ohio River in 1813, 
and came here to this county in 1831. Hiram made his home in 
Georgetown in 1835, and in 1837 commenced keeping tavern there. 
He was early drawn into political life, being a strong democrat politi- 
cally. He was the candidate of that party in 1844, for sheriff, and 
thinks he was elected ; though in the contest with Capt. Frazier he 
resigned, to get a better hold, but he did not get it. Again, in 1846, 



980 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

he was elected, and did not resign ; he was elected again in 1848. The 
dnties of sheriff under the old system were very important and pre- 
carious. In addition to all the court business, he had the county 
revenue to collect, and necessarily required many assistants, who were 
not always the class of men who were the safest to trust. In traveling 
over the state in those days by stage, he frequently had to walk, and 
deemed it fortunate if he did not have to carry a rail to help pry the 
old wagons — which by courtesy were called stages — out of the sloughs. 
During the time he was in office the country was full of horse-thieves. 
He had little trouble in catching them, but they had so many friends 
outside that he seldom had the pleasure of transporting them to the 
penitentiary. 

CHURCHES. 

The Goshen Baptist Church was organized about 1832, and services 
were held in the Davis school-house and the Stearns school-house, at 
private houses, and wherever most convenient, until 1835, when a 
church edifice was built, as before stated, on the ground occupied by 
Samuel Beaver's house. Elder Freeman Smalley and Elder G. W. 
Riley, as in nearly all the other churches of this denomination in the 
county, were the leaders in this, and Benjamin Smalley preached here 
with more or less regularity for some years. The building was frame, 
30x40. Harvey and Luther Stearns, William Lee and James Elliott, 
were the leading men in this organization, and it was largely through 
their instrumentality that the church was built. It stood here until 
1862, when arrangements were perfected to move it to Fairmount, 
when suddenly it burned down in the night. It was thought to be a 
dispensation of Providence, for the Bible and hymn-book were found 
out in the bushes, several rods away from the burnt edifice. Services 
were usually kept up with considerable irregularity, and the church 
was prospered in members and spiritual growth. Elder G. W. Riley 
continued to act as pastor for some time, and was followed by his 
brother, J. W. Riley, who was ordained here. Rev. David French, 
Elder Lackey, Rev. Thomas Reese and Elder Yarnell acted as pastors. 
During the pastorate of the latter the present church was built. It 
is 36x54, and cost $7,000. The membership has usually numbered 
from one hundred to two hundred. Rev. Alexander Cunning was 
pastor ten years, and Rev. Mr. Coffman is at present. The good ser- 
vices of William Davis, Ellis Adams, Y. M. Davis, E. Bennett, D. 
Gunder, and the Messrs. Catlett, are recognized by the membership for 
their labors in behalf of the interests of the church, and especially in 
the building of the fine edifice. A Sabbath-school of one hundred 
members and eight teachers is conducted by E. Holladay, superintend- 



VANCE TOWNSHIP. 9gJ 

ent. The first service held by the itinerant Methodist preachers was 
in 1833, at the house of Henry Hunter, a mile north of Fairmount. In 
the fall of 1835 the first class was formed by Father Anderson, at the 
house of Kichard Cass, over in Conkey Town. The book had on it the 
names of Alexander Dougherty and wife, K. Cass and wife and son, 
three daughters of Mr. Hunter and Miss Dougherty. Of these original 
members, who forty-four years ago placed their names on the church's 
books, only A. Dougherty remains in connection with this branch. 
Services continued to be held at the private-houses, and at school- 
houses, on both sides of the creek for years. The earliest preachers 
were Mr. Harshey, Father Lewis Anderson, Asa L. Risley and Mr. 
Crissey, the latter quite as noted a man in the church as any who have 
preached here. Zadock Hall and G. W. West followed, and J. W. York 
came soon. This was then the Danville circuit. About 1858 or 1859 
this appointment became a part of the Homer circuit, and was removed 
to Fairmount, by which name it has since been known. The present 
edifice, 36x46, was erected in 1864. It cost $3,700. Joseph Neville, 
Thomas Short, A. Dougherty, John Aldridge, G. N. Neville and J. W. 
Booker were among the most active in pushing on the work of building. 
The membership is about one hundred and fifty. The Sabbath-school 
numbers one hundred and seventeen scholars and fourteen teachers. 

The Fairmount Cumberland church was organized by Rev. G. W. 
Jordan, — who lives now at Anna, — in 1866. The ranks were largely 
filled with those who came here to live, and had belonged to the Mt. 
Vernon church. John Allen, Frank L. Dougherty and Maj. Wilson 
Burroughs were the first session, and continue the same with the addi- 
tion of James Morris. There are about forty members. The pastors, 
or stated supplies, have been G. W. Jordan, G. W. Montgomery, James 
Ashmore, H. H. Ashmore and John H. Hess. The church was built 
in 1871, is 40 x 60, and twenty-foot posts. It cost $4,000. The Sab- 
bath-school, which numbers forty-five members, is under the superin- 
tendency of Maj. Burroughs. 

The Olive Branch Cumberland, an offshoot of Mt. Vernon church, 
was first organized at Old Homer, on the South Fork, by Revs. Messrs. 
Ashmore and Whitlock. It remained there, worshiping in the school- 
house, until the town was removed to its present site, when a church 
was built on the State Road on William Hardin's land, now Aaron 
Lee's, 40x60. It is a strong church. Mr. Ashmore continued to 
preach for it eleven years, and received fifty-four members at one time. 
Since his pastorate Revs. Messrs. Beals, Whitlock and Eess have served 
the church. The Sabbath-school, with a large attendance, is under the 
charge of James Morrison. 



982 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

A Baptist church, called "Salt Fork" church, was originally out 
west of this near the count} 7 line, and was moved to Fairmount. 

The Christian church was organized September, 1877. Elder J. C. 
Myers had been holding a series of meetings, and organized the church. 
Dr. Hess, of Homer, and Elder A. H. Morris have since served the 
church. The trustees elected were J. H. Walton, L. Doney, E. A. 
Hawkins and Parley Martin ; H. Jackson, chairman ; Mr. Walton, 
clerk. E. A. Hawkins was elected elder. There are twenty-nine mem- 
bers. The church, a neat and pretty edifice, 26X36, with belfry, spire 
and bell, was built in 1877 and 1878, at a cost of $1,200. Social meet- 
ings are held each Lord's day. There is no pastor at present. 

Fairmount was incorporated on the 1st of January, 1863. It em- 
braced the E. ^ of the S.E. \ of Sec. 4, and some additions to the town 
ordinances were adopted on the 16th of February. The town has 
never licensed the sale of intoxicating liquors. The first board of trus- 
tees consisted of John Allen, president ; E. E. Bennett, A. Honelin, 
F. L. Dougherty and R. B. Ray. 

District No. 2, which embraces the village of Fairmount, built its 
first school-house in 1859, at a cost of $400. The present building, 
40x48, two stories high, brick, with four rooms, was built in 1865. 
It is a neat and in every respect a suitable building, and cost $4,500. 
The district employs three teachers, and has an average of one hundred 
and fifty scholars. The present school board is composed of Dr. R. B. 
Ray, president ; H. B. Gibson, secretary, and L. E. Booker. The school 
is in very good hands and is successful. 

The Fairmount Silver Cornet Band was organized in 1872. It is 
composed of the following persons and pieces : John Watson, leader, 
first E-flat cornet ; C. G. Adams, second E-flat cornet ; Zeno Stalons, 
B-flat cornet; John Simpson, solo alto; Benny Simpson, second alto; 
Jacob Stadler, first tenor; C. H. Simpson, baritone; Reuben Jack, 
tuba ; Ed. Thomas, bass drum ; Fred Wilkins, tenor drum. 

The " Greenback Band " has the following : E. Robertson, leader, 
E-flat cornet ; Wm. Thomas, B-flat cornet ; Miss Winnie Robertson, solo 
alto; George Wright, second alto; W. McAllister, first tenor; Armor 
Trimble, tuba ; Charles Robertson, bass drum. 

Fairmount Lodge, No. 590, A.F. & A.M., was organized under dis- 
pensation, on the 9th of January, A.L. 5868. The officers at its organ- 
ization were :. H. H. Catlett, W.M.; J. S. Cox, S.W.; John Smoot, 
J.W.; J. H. Dougherty, Treasurer ; S. S. Burk, Secretary ; J. Reese, 
S.D.; J. B. Folks, J.D.; J. Allman, Tyler. The charter was received 
on the 6th of October, 1868. The charter members, in addition to 
those given above, were : E. P. Davis, George Cornelius, Alex. Cum- 



VANCE TOWNSHIP. 933 

ing, Jesse Doney, L. H. Burroughs, J. R. Witherspoon, S. Freese, J. 
M. Burroughs, D. Gunder, J. H. Littler, G. W. Jordan and F. D. Meb- 
lick. The Worshipful Masters serving in the order of their election 
since that have been : H. H. Catlett, John Smoot, H. H. Catlett, T. 
W. Buckingham, T. W. Buckingham, S. W. Cox, H. H. Catlett, B. F. 
Kehoe, J. R. Baldwin. The present officers are: S. W. Cox, W.M.; 
W. W. Stockton, S.W.; B. F. Kehoe, J.W.; Jesse Doney, Treasurer; 
J. J. Smith, Secretary; J. M. Reese, S.D.; Zeno Stalons, J.D.; John 
Reese, Tyler. The average membership has been forty. It meets sec- 
ond and fourth Thursdays in each month. The Lodge is in a prosper- 
ous condition. 

A list is given below of the names of those who have been elected 
to the principal township offices since the organization of Oakwood 
township, in 1866 : 

Date. Vote. ' Supervisor. Clerk. Assessor and Collector. 

1866 C. Radcliffe G. W. Powell A. Stearns. 

1867. . . .133 Geo. A. Fox G. W. Powell A. Steams. 

1868 Jesse Doney G. W. Powell A. Stearns. 

1869 J. H. Dougherty J. R. Witherspoon A. Stearns. 

1870 J. H. Dougherty T. M. Brittingharn A. Stearns. 

1871.... 132 W. B. Squires T. M. Brittingharn A. Stearns. 

1872. . . .150 J. H. Dougherty Reuben Jack A. Stearns.* 

1873. . . .158 H. Yerkes Reuben Jack Aaron Lee. 

1874. . . .165 H. Yerkes G. A. Stadler L. B. Loomis. 

1875 172 H. Yerkes Reuben Jack L. B. Loomis. 

1876 144 H. Yerkes Reuben Jack L. B. Loomis. 

1877 H. Yerkes W. H. Thomas L. B. Loomis. 

1878 J. K. Mussleman W. H. Thomas L. B. Loomis. 

1879 J. K. Mussleman J.J.Smith L. B. Loomis. 

*L. B. Loomis, collector. 

The justices of the peace have been : G. A. Fox, F. L. Dougherty, 
J. D. New, L. M. Moore, Jesse Doney, George Bowen, James Thomas, 
Reuben Jack. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

William Smith, Homer, Champaign county, farmer and stock-raiser, 
section 1, son of James and Mary Smith, was born in Clarke county, 
Ohio, in 1827, and came with his parents to Vermilion county, in No- 
vember, 1829, and settled within a quarter of a mile of where he now 
resides. His father was born in Pennsylvania, on the loth of July, 
1792, and died in this county on the 22d of July, 1872. His mother 
was born in Ohio, on the 25tii of January, 1794, and died in this county 
on the 29th of July, 1854. The subject of our sketch was united in 
marriage on the 8th of May, 1849, to Miss Lucy A. Sadler, daughter 
of William and Keziah Sadler, who were early settlers of the county. 



984 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

She was a native of Virginia, and was born on the 8th of June, 1829. 
By this union they have a family consisting of four sons and two 
daughters: James E., William E., Byron, Abraham L., Mary B. and 
Sarah J. Mr. Smith owns a fine farm of three hundred and ninety-five 
acres, with good improvements, which he has obtained by his industry. 
He attended the centennial in 1876. He has resided in this county fifty 
years, and has not once had the attendance of a physician. 

William M. Hardin, Homer, Champaign county, farmer, section 14, 
was born in Clinton county, Ohio, on the 29th of July, 1829, and came 
to this county with his parents, William and Elizabeth Hardin, in the 
same year. His father was a native of Pennsylvania and his mother 
of Ohio, and they resided in Vermilion county until their death. His 
father was born on the 8th of March, 1794, and died on the 15th of 
August, 1868. His mother was born December, 1800, and died on the 
22d of October, 1860. Mr. Hardin has been twice married. In 1850 
he was united in wedlock to Miss Prudence Acree, who was born on 
the 17th of April, 1820, and died on the 18th of December, 1858. His 
second marriage was in 1860, to Mary M. Burroughs, daughter of Jesse 
and Mary Burroughs. She was born in Ripley county, Indiana, on the 
16th of Juty, 1833. Mr. Hardin is the father of three children by 
his former wife : Mary E., wife of J. B. Hendrickson ; George A. and 
William L.; and three by present wife : Jesse B., John T. and Eva M. 
Mr. Hardin and wife are members of the C. P. church. He owns one 
hundred and thirty acres of land, on which he has made all the im- 
provements. In politics he is a staunch republican. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Elliott, Fairmount, farmer, section 7, was born in 
Coshockton county, Ohio, on the 22d of January, 1831. She was the 
wife of the late William Elliott, who was a native of Clinton county, 
Ohio, and born on the 24th of February, 1827. He came to Vermilion 
county in 1829, with his parents, and improved a large farm on the 
prairie, where he was one of the first settlers. He died on the 21st of 
November, 1878, leaving a widow and six children to mourn his loss. 
The names of the children were Nancy, Barton S., James W., Ellis R., 
Milton F., John D. and Rosie B. Mr. Elliott was an industrious and 
hard-working man, and was a respected citizen. He was a member of 
the Baptist church of which Mrs. Elliott is now a member. 

Mary A. Yount, Homer, Champaign county, farmer, section 2, 
formerly Mary A. Ashmore, wife of the late Charles G. Yount, was 
born in Clarke county, Illinois, on the 25th of June, 1826, and came to 
Vermilion county in 1846. She was married to Charles G. Yount, on 
the 6th of January, 1850, who was a native of Kentuckj^, born on the 
26th of May, 1827, and who came to this county in 1830, where he 



VANCE TOWNSHIP. i., 

remained until his death, which occurred on the 13th of June, 1874. 
He left a widow and four children: Josephus, Andrew, Armilda and 
Alice. Mr. Yount was an industrious and hard-working man, and is 
missed in the community where he lived. He improved a farm of two 
hundred and forty-nine acres, which is kept in good repair by his two 
sons. 

A. H. Dougherty, Fairmount, was born in Brown county, Ohio, on 
the 22d of July, 1805, and there he remained until twenty-seven years 
of age. He was married to Miss J. Kirkpatrick, on the 13th of June, 
1829, a native of Brown county, Ohio, born on the 26th of August, 
1811. Mr. Dougherty removed to Vermilion county in 1832, and 
settled within a mile and a half of Fairmount, where he remained 
until the death of his wife, on the 3d of March, 1863, when he came 
to Fairmount. He married Mrs. Mary A. Hays, on the 8th of Decem- 
ber, 1864, a native of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, born on the 8th 
of October, 1823. He has been unfortunate in raising a family. He 
has had five children, all of whom are deceased. Mr. Dougherty came 
to this county with his father, mother, three sisters and a brother. 
One brother came a year previous, and a brother and sister came one 
year after. His father was a native of Maryland, born in March, 1769, 
and died in October, 1860. His mother was a native of Pennsylvania, 
born in 1775, and died in 1850. Mr. Dougherty has been a constant 
member of the M. E. church since 1835. His wife, now deceased, was 
also a member from 1834 until her death. His present wife has been 
a member of the same church for twenty -five years. Mr. Dougherty 
returned to his old home in Ohio, after an absence of forty years, and 
left there to return home on the same day of the year on which he 
came west, forty years previous. Mr. Dougherty has been an honest 
and respected citizen, and now is in his seventy-fourth year, apparently 
in good health; but if he should live the longest life allotted to man, 
he must soon be called to join his friends in that distant land where 
the pioneer will ever be at rest. 

Alvin Stearns, Homer, Illinois, farmer and stock-raiser, section 1, 
son of Harvey and Fannie Stearns, was born in Clinton county, Ohio, 
on the 28th of November, 1815, and came with his parents to Ver- 
milion county in 1832. Mr. Stearns now resides on the farm where his 
parents first settled when they came to the county. His father, Harvey, 
was born in Vermont in 1791, and resided in this county until his 
death, on the 30th of November, 1847; and his mother, Fannie Lock- 
wood, was a native of York state, born on the 8th of December, 1790, 
and died on the 1st of August, 1877. Alvin Stearns was united in 
marriage, on the 12th of April, 1838, to Miss Elizabeth Lee, daughter 



986 HISTOEY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

of W. H. Lee, who came to Vermilion county in 1829. Mrs. Stearns 
was born in Clinton county, Ohio, on the 19th of April, 1819. Her 
father was a native of South Carolina, born on the 8th of August, 1798, 
and died on the 14th of January, 1855. Her mother was a native of 
Virginia, born on the 7th of June, 1797, and now is living with Mr. 
Stearns. Mr. Stearns is the father of two sons and one daughter: 
Lawson, Ersom, and Rosella J., wife of T. B. Craig. He has served as 
assessor and township collector for eight years. He and his wife have 
been constant members of the Baptist church for thirty years. The 
result of the industry and thrift of Mr. Stearns is a fine farm of six 
hundred acres. He is a staunch republican. 

Calvin Stearns, Fairmount, farmer, section 6, was born in Clinton 
county, Ohio, on the 28th of October, 1820. He came to Vermilion 
county with his parents in 1832, and now lives within one mile of 
where they settled when they came to the county. Mr. Stearns has 
been three times married. He was united in wedlock to Miss Priscilla 
Lee on the 25th of February, 1844, who was born in Clinton county, 
Ohio, on the 30th of December, 1821, and departed this life on the 
10th of June, 1850. His second marriage was to Mary H. Rodgers, 
on the 31st of March, 1853, a native of this county. She was born on 
the 13th of August, 1836, and died on the 13th of October, 1858. 
He married his present wife, Miss Clarinda Cronkhite, on the 20th of 
June, 1867, — born in Warren county, Indiana, on the 16th of February, 
1848. He became the father of one child by his first wife, Eveline, 
and one by his second wife, Mary H., now wife of F. Cronkhite, and 
by his present wife, two : William C. and Lillie M. Mr. Stearns owns 
one hundred and seventy-five acres of land, on which he has made the 
improvements. He was formerly a whig until the republican party 
was organized, when he joined its ranks, and has since been identified 
with that party. 

Alonzo Stearns, Fairmount, farmer and stock-raiser, section 8, was 
born in Clinton county, Ohio, on the 28th of June, 1826, and came to 
Vermilion county, Illinois, with his parents in 1832. He was married 
in 1850 to Miss Sarah E. Catlett, daughter of L. T. Catlett, who was 
an early settler of this county. She was born in Virginia on the 8th 
of January, 1833, and by their union there have been born six children: 
Edwin H., Herald J., Hermon A., Lawrence O., Clement H. and Her- 
bert E. Mr. Stearns and his wife have long been united with the 
Baptist church. He owns a fine farm, which is the result of his 
industry. 

J. H. Dougherty, Fairmount, miller and grain dealer, was born in 
Brown county, Ohio, in 1827, and came with his parents to Vermilion 



VANCE TOWNSHIP. <|,S7 

county in 1833, and first settled one mile north of the now village of 
Fairmount. His father, James, was born in Brown county, Ohio, in 
1802, and died in this county in 1835. His mother, Mary Dougherty, 
was born in Ohio in 1800, and died in 1834. Mr. Dougherty then 
resided with his friends for some time, living four years with Samuel 
Gilbert, one of the early settlers of the county. When grown to 
manhood, he started for himself by farming in different parts of the 
county. He has been twice married. His first union was in 1854 to 
Miss Margaret Chenoweth, but she lived only eighteen months. His 
second marriage, in 1857, was to Miss C. A. Groves, and by these unions 
there have been born three sons and two daughters : James L., Mary, 
Joseph, Bertie, and Charley, now deceased. Mr. Dougherty has served 
on the board of supervisors, and has been a member of the Masonic 
order for twenty-six years. 

William Davis, Fairmount, farmer, section 6, was born in Guernsey 
county, Ohio, on the 25th of January, 1811, and came to Vermilion 
county in 1834, settling on the farm where he now resides. He has 
been twice married. His first union was on the 17th of September, 
1834, to Miss Elizabeth Hays, a native of Washington county, Penn- 
sylvania. She was born in 1811, and departed this life in 1861. His 
second marriage was to Mary C. Catlett, in 1863, a native of Virginia, 
born on the 23d of August, 1821. Mr. Davis is the father of three 
sons and four daughters by his former wife: "Rachel, wife of D. 
Roudybush; Edith J., wife of B. Browning; David C, Henry, Jemima, 
wife of S. Cox ; William F., and Lydia, wife of G. Baird. Mr. Davis 
now owns eight hundred acres of fine land, and has given property 
to the amount of $3,500 to each of his children. He and his family 
are members of the Baptist church. 

James Davis, Homer, Champaign county, farmer, section 1, son of 
Henry and Rachel Davis, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, on the 
21st of January, 1828. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania. 
His father was born on the 20th of September, 1781, and died in 1855. 
His mother was born on the 3d of June, 1785, and died on the 1st of 
November, 1848. They were among the early settlers of Vermilion 
county, having removed from Ohio to this county in 1836, and settled 
on the farm where James now resides. On the 18th of October, 1849, 
Mr. Davis took a life partner, his choice being the daughter of :m early 
settler of this county, Miss America J. Boggess, who was born in this 
county, on the 3d of May, 1833. They have one son and one daugh- 
ter: John T., born on the 17th of September, 1850; Rachel A., born 
on the 19th of November, 1852, now wife of E. R. Danforth. Mr. and 
Mrs. Davis have long been united with the Baptist church. Mr. I >avia 



988 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

is a member of A.F. & A.M., 199, Homer Lodge. He made a trip 
across the plains to California in 1875, and was at the Centennial in 
1876. He was a democrat until the breaking out of the war, since 
which he has been a staunch republican. 

E. P. Davis, Fairmount, farmer, section 5, was born in Vermilion 
county, Illinois, on the 12th of September, 1836. His parents were of 
Welsh descent. His father was born in 1808, and died in 1857. His 
mother was born in 1808, and died in 1837. They were among the 
early settlers of the county, coming here in 1832. Mr. Davis is a mem- 
ber of the A.F. & A.M., and politically, is a republican. 

Wilson Burroughs, Fairmount, farmer, was born in Dearborn coun- 
ty, Indiana, in 1825, and came to Vermilion county with his parents in 
1839. They settled near Catlin. Mr. Burroughs is a patriotic man, 
and took an active part in the late rebellion. He went out as captain 
of Co. E, 73d 111. Vol. Inf., which office he faithfully filled until 1864, 
when he was promoted to major, and served till the close of the war. 
He was in the battles of Perry ville, Mission Ridge, Chickamauga, Ken- 
esaw Mountain, Resaca, Jonesboro, two days at Nashville, and all the 
battles in which the regiment was engaged, except Murfreesborough. 
In 1844 he was married to Miss Martha A. Thompson, daughter of 
John and Esther Thompson, who were early settlers of the county. 
She was born in Dearborn county, Indiana, in 1827, and came with 
her parents to this county in 1830. Mr. Burroughs has two sons and 
two daughters : Melissa, wife of I. N. Wilcox ; Ellsworth T. ; Esther 
M., wife of W. P. Witherspoon, and Newton W. ; and two deceased, 
Esther and Josephine M. Mr. and Mrs. Burroughs are members of 
the C. P. church. 

Charles Tilton, Fairmount, merchant, was born in Montreal, Can- 
ada, on the 30th of April, 1837, and came with his parents to Danville 
in 1839. When but six years of age his mother died, and he lived with 
the family of Willis Hubbard, one of the early settlers of the county, 
but his father married again and he moved with the family to the 
Eight-Mile Prairie, where he remained on the farm until fourteen years 
of age, attending school winters and working on the farm in the sum- 
mers. He left the farm and engaged as clerk at Higginsville, where he 
remained one year, and then returned to Danville and became an ap- 
prentice-clerk with Palmer & Leverich. He remained with them until 
1857, when he engaged as book-keeper with Partlow & Co., with whom 
he remained one year. He came to Fairmount and went in partner- 
ship with William A. Lowery, where he remained one year, after which 
he closed out and returned to Danville. He continued in the latter 
place in business until 1862, when he returned to Fairmount, and in 



VANCE township. ggg 

July, 1862, enlisted a company of infantry for the lute war, and on the 
21st of August an election being held, was elected 1st lieutenant. The 
company became Co. E of the 73d 111. Vol. Inf., and wa> transported 
to the field of action. He participated in the battles of Chickamauga, 
Mission Ridge, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, At- 
lanta, Jonesborough, Franklin and Nashville, lie was promoted to 
captain, and at the close of the war returned to this count v. He was 
engaged in the grain and produce business in Chicago for three years. 
He then went to Kansas and founded the town of Oxford, and re- 
mained there four years and then returned to Danville, and married 
Miss Martha Craig in 1872, a native of this county. He returned to 
Kansas where he remained until the death of his wife, on the 9th of 
October, 1873, which left Mr. Tiltbn with one child — Martha. He 
returned to Danville, and then came to Fairmount, where he engaged 
in the dry-goods business. 

Rev. Hiram H. Ashmore was born in Vigo county, Indiana, on the 
10th of April, 1829. In 1840 his father moved from near his birth- 
place to Vermilion county, Illinois, since which time he has been a resi- 
dent of this county, except ten years following 1864, in which he lived 
at Ashmore, Coles county, Illinois. He received a moderate education 
at Steel's Academy, Grand View, Edgar county, and at Georgetown 
Seminary, in this county. He was licensed a minister of the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian church, at Bloomtield, Edgar county, in October, 
1853, after which he spent near two years teaching and preaching in 
Arkansas, during which time he became acquainted with southern so- 
ciety and institutions. After two years in the south he returned to 
this county and settled in Elwood township, near Ridge Farm. He 
was ordained a member of Foster Presbytery in 1856, and preached in 
Ridge Farm until the war. In 1856 he took an active stand against 
the institution of slavery, and the unjust laws enacted in the interest of 
that institution compelling any man, north or south, under heavy pen- 
alties, to assist the army and civil officers, if necessary, to catch and re- 
turn the fleeing slave. In 1860 he took an active part in the election 
of President Lincoln, and in the following year he was called upon to 
make a speech to the Georgetown company of the 25th regiment, and 
advised them to go and stick together, as their country needed then- 
services, and that he intended to raise a company of cavalry and go into 
the service. The men, divided as they were, answered, " You go and we 
will go." "I never back out in a good cause," was the answer. He 
enlisted as a "high private," was appointed commissary sergeant of 
the regiment, and in eleven months was appointed and commissioned 
chaplain. Many soldiers — a thousand or more — professed religion 



990 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

under his preaching. He was with his regiment under tire in seven- 
teen hard-fought battles, and over three hundred small engagements; 
was captured in the battle of Chickamauga, sent to Libby Prison, after 
a week's preaching each alternate night, was exchanged ; joined his 
regiment again in the midst of the battle of Mission Ridge. He never 
would allow himself to be detailed away from his regiment, because he 
had promised the Georgetown boys he would " stick to them as long 
as there was a button on their coats." Mr. Ash more wants the rebels 
forgiven, but not to be made leaders in our national affairs. He and 
his father, Rev. James Ashmore, live at Fairmount in this county. 
Mr. Ashmore says he prides himself in Vermilion county, because she 
takes his maimed and crippled comrades and tills her places of honor 
with them ; has been identified with her interest nearly all his life ; 
wants to see Danville — our capital — a first-class city; wants to see 
one metropolitan, agricultural and mechanical county fair decorated by 
all the fine arts. In line — 

To live, and be missed when you die, 
Is the crown of the noblest life. 

Rev. James Ashmore was born in Jefferson county, Tennessee, on 
the 17th of August, 1807. He married Catharine Armstrong in 1828, 
and resided on a farm in Clarke county until 1840. He was licensed to 
preach on the 17th of October, 1833, and ordained on the 10th of Octo- 
ber, 1837, by Vandalia Presbytery, of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church. With his wife and four children he moved to Vermilion 
count} 7 in March, 1840, and he became a home missionary under Foster 
Presbyteiw, of the C. P. church. He traveled extensively, and often 
preached through the week as well as on the Sabbath. His sermons 
would often average three hundred and sixty-five per annum, and were, 
for the first five or six years of his residence in this county, delivered 
mostly in school-houses and private residences. He lived from March, 
1840, to October, 1843, on the Alexander McDonald farm, four miles 
west of Georgetown, and often preached in the residence of Mr. Mc- 
Donald and Abram Sandusky, each of whom were worthy ruling 
elders of one of his congregations. If their grandchildren (now nu- 
merous in this county) could see one of these pioneer congregations wor- 
shiping in the private houses of these good men (long dead and gone 
to their reward), they would then know more of the progress of this 
county than history can tell them. In 1843 Mr. Ashmore moved to 
Vance township, on the Salt Fork, and organized Mt. Vernon congre- 
gation, three miles west of Butler's Point (now Catlin). Since which 
time he has lived about half his time in Elwood and Vance townships, 
respectively, — the last seven years in Fairmount. He preached to 



v \ \< i. T0W2S hi i p. 99] 

Mt. Pisgah congregation, two miles wes\ of Georgetown, twenty-nine 
years in succession -three years since— making thirty-two pears in all. 
He has organized thin egations, and under his preaching there 

have been about four thousand five hundred professions of religion. 

He is now in his seventy-second year, hah; and hearty, still preaches 
with zeal and energy, and has accumulated considerable property, lb- 
has been married three times, and each of the deceased, as well as his 
living wife, are natives of Tennessee — his native state, lie has four 
teen children living and ten dead. Three of his sons are minist< 
the gospel. 

Henry Davis, Fairmount, farmer, section 18, was born in Vance 
township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 5th of May, 1841. He has 
been twice married. He was married on the 24th of December, L868, 
to Miss Nancy Cox, a native of Miami county, Ohio. She was horn in 
1838, and died on the 24th of September, 1874. On the 7th of Septem- 
ber, 1875, he was married to Miss Rebecca E. Baird, a native of Brown 
county, Ohio — born on the 3d of January, 1855. Mr. Davis has 
three children by present wife: Freddie L., Grade E. and Sarah M. 
He owns one hundred and fifty acres of land, on which he has made 
most of the improvements. He and his wife are members of the Bap- 
tist church, and politically he is a democrat. 

In every profession there are those who, by years of hard study, 
constant practice, and a close attention to business, are the recognized 
in their professions. This position has been attained and honestly 
earned by Robert B. Ray, M.D., of Fairmount, the subject of this 
sketch, who for twenty-three years has been a practicing physician and 
surgeon. He is the son of Robert and Mildred J. Ray, who were 
natives of Kentucky. His father was a In-other of James B. Kay, 
ex-governor of Indiana. They moved to Dearborn county, Indiana, 
during the early settlement of that county. Here the subject of our 
sketch was born, on the 18th of February, 1830. But little of the 
surroundings of his early life are known. In 1843 he first came to 
Vermilion county, Illinois, where he remained until 1855, engaged in 
agricultural pursuits. At the above date he began the study of med- 
icine, taking his first course of lectures at the Rush Medical Collef 
Chicago during the winter of* 1855-56. In 1856, after leaving college, 
he went to Shelby county, Missouri, where he practiced his profi 
for one year. He then moved to Macon, in the adjoining county, and 
while there was united in marriage to Miss Fannie, daughter of ■ 
and Ellen Beecher, who were early and prominent pioneers of Fair- 
field county, Ohio. This latter place was Mrs. Ray'.- native place, 
where she was born on the 20th of July, 1838. They were married on 



992 HISTOKY OF VEKMILION COUNTY. 

the 23d of December, 1858. In 1860 the Doctor returned to Chicago 
and finished his medical education, graduating with honor and receiv- 
ing a diploma. In 1861 he returned to Vermilion county, Illinois, 
locating at Fairmount, where he has since resided. He left Missouri 
on account of his political views, he being a staunch Union man, while 
many of his neighbors were very radical in their views on the opposite 
side of the question. He and Mrs. Ray are both members of the M. E. 
church. The Doctor is also a member of the Vermilion County Med- 
ical Society. They have a family of three children. The eldest, 
Beecher B., was born on the 11th of October, 1859, and in August, 
1879, became a graduate in the scientific course of Valparaiso College. 
The next younger is Agnes B., who was born on the 3d of March, 
1867. The last and youngest is Robert T., born on the 19th of April, 
1869. 

J. S. Gilkey, Homer, Champaign county, farmer, section 19, is a 
native of Vermilion county, born «on the 16th of September, 1843. His 
father came to the county in 1830. His parents were natives of Ken- 
tucky. His father died in 1877, and his mother in 1846. In the late 
rebellion Mr. Gilkey enlisted in 1861, in Co. I, 26th 111. Vol. Inf., and 
served until the close of the war. He was in twenty-eight engage- 
ments, such as Madrid, Missouri; Island No. 10, siege of Corinth, 
Iuka, •Farmington, siege of Vicksburg, Jackson, Chattanooga, Straw- 
berry Plains, and others. He was taken prisoner at Cave Springs, and 
held as a prisoner of war five months. He was also a prisoner at Chat- 
tanooga for a short time. He returned home at the close of the war, 
and, on the 1st of March, 1866, married Miss Mary J. Goodrich, a 
native of Union county, Ohio, born on the 30th of July, 1848. They 
have had five children born to them, three living: Celestia L., Seblin 
B., Amy O., and two dead. 

Rev. John Hoobler, Fairmount, was born in Perry county, Pennsyl- 
vania, on the 2d of August, 1801. He removed to Montgomery county, 
Ohio, in 1823 ; thence to Fountain county, Indiana, in 1832, and to 
Vermilion county, Indiana, where he represented the county, in 1836 
and 1837, also in 1841 and 1842. He removed to Vermilion county, 
Illinois, in 1847, and settled in Ross township, where he was the first 
elected supervisor. He then went to Livingston county, Illinois, in 
1851, where he was presiding elder for six years. From there he went 
to Perrysville, Indiana, in 1872, and there he acted as local preacher. 
He returned to Vermilion county in 1874. He has been twice mar- 
ried: first, to Miss Rebecca Fetterhoof, in 1S21, born in Franklin 
county, Pennsylvania, on the 5th of June, 1796, and died on the 6th 
of August, 1871. His second marriage was to Lydia A. Hulick, on the 



VANCE TOWNSHIP. 993 

17th of February, 1872. She is a native of Pennsylvania, born on the 
21st of November, 1816. Mr. Hoobler was the father of eleven chil- 
dren by his former wife, of whom eight are living: Jeremiah, Jemima, 
wife of D. Gouty; David, John F., Frederick, Mary, wife of J. W. 
Fleshman, Andrew J. The deceased are: Win. 0., Julia, and Daniel 
V. Mr. Hoobler is now the great-grandfather of twenty-two children, 
and grandfather of sixty-eight. 

Isaac Simpson, Fairmount, manufacturer of wagons, was born in 
Fountain county, Indiana, on the 9th of February, 1822, and came to 
Vermilion county in 1845. He stopped at Georgetown for some time, 
and then left the county, to return again in 1847, and located in Dan- 
ville, where he followed blacksmithing until 1868. He then moved 
on a farm three and a half miles southeast of Catlin, ami, in 1869, 
removed to Fairmount. On the 13th of July, 1848, he was married to 
Miss Elizabeth Richards, daughter of Henry and Hannah Richards, 
who came to this county in 1833. She was born in Washington county, 
Tennessee, on the 29th of March, 1825. They have eight children : 
three sons and five daughters: Mary E., wife of G. Burghart; Jennie, 
wife of J. H. McCorkle ; John F., Lillie, Charley H., Annie, Susan 
and Isaac B., all of whom were born in Danville. Mr. Simpson cut 
the first county seal for Vermilion county, and sent the first coal from 
Danville east for inspection. 

Townsend Hendrickson, Homer, Champaign county, farmer, section 
11, was born in Queen's county, New York, on the 18th of August, 
1824. He came to Fayette county, Ohio, in 1840, and, while there, 
was married to Miss Malinda Ocheltree, in 1848, who was a native of 
Ross county, Ohio, born in 1825. Mr. Hendrickson removed to Ver- 
milion county on the 23d of February, 1849, and has resided in this 
county ever since, except while in the army. He enlisted at the com- 
mencement of the war, leaving his wife and a family of small children 
to attend the farm, in Co. E, 73d 111. Vol. Inf., and was in all the 
fights in which the regiment was engaged but one, such as Perryville, 
Stone River, Murfreesboro', Mission Ridge, Resaca, New Hope Church, 
Kenesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek, Atlanta and Jonesboro'. He is 
the father of three sons and one daughter: Mary A., wife of A. Mor- 
ison; Jesse B., John O. and Albert T. Mr. Hendrickson owns a 
fine farm of two hundred and sixty-five acres, on which he has made 
all the improvements. 

Jesse Mantle, Homer, Champaign county, farmer, section 14, son of 
Henry and Catharine Mantle, was born in Alleghany county, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1814, and removed to Fayette county, Ohio, in about 1820. 
Mr. Mantle was bound out at thirteen years of age to learn the tanner's 
63 



994 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

trade, which he mastered at the age of twenty-one. On the 12th of 
August, 1837, he was married to Miss Mary Custer, daughter of George 
and Margaret Custer. She is a native of Virginia, born in 1809. They 
have three living children : Jerome, Margaret J. and Thomas C. ; and 
two dead : Josephine and Joseph. Mr. Mantle came to Vermilion 
county in 1850, and rented for some time, but by economy he has 
become the owner of seventy-nine acres of land, which he has under 
good cultivation. He and his wife are members of the M. E. church, 
and Mr. Mantle is a staunch republican, and a member of A.F. & A.M. 
Jerome Mantle, his son, served in the rebellion, in Co. F, 26th 111. 
Vol. Inf., and was in the battles of Corinth, Atlanta, Mission Ridge, 
Kenesaw Mountain, Chattanooga, Savannah, and in all the battles in 
Sherman's march to the sea. He was at the general review at Wash- 
ington, District of Columbia. 

Daniel Oaks, Homer, Champaign county, farmer, section 11, is the 
son of Michael and Sarah Oaks, and was born in Ohio, on the 27th of 
August, 1842. His parents came to Clarke county, Illinois, in 1846. 
They were natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and removed to Vermil- 
ion county in 1852, where Mr. Oaks has since made his home, except 
while in the army. He served in the late war in Co. F, 26th 111., hav- 
ing enlisted in 1864, and served during the war ; was in the battles of 
Atlanta, Marietta, Savannah, and other minor engagements. He was 
at the general review at Washington, District of Columbia. Mr. Oaks 
returned home after the war, and was married to Miss M. M. Morrison, 
in 1869, who was born in Ohio, on the 1st of July, 1848. They have 
two children : Eva and Charles. 

C. F. Bradway, Fairmount, druggist, was born in Salem county, 
New Jersey, in 1850, and came with his parents to Vermilion county 
in 1854, settling at Georgetown. He removed to Fairmount in 1876, 
and engaged in his present business. He was united in marriage on 
the 16th of August, 1874, to Miss Ella Haworth, daughter of Thomas 
and Margaret Haworth, who were early settlers of the county, they 
coming in 1822. She was born in this county, on the 10th of May. 
1848. They have one son : Everett H. 

G. N. Neville, Fairmount, farmer, section 10, son of George and 
Elizabeth (Wolfe) Neville, was born in what was then Hardy county, 
Virginia, on the 2d of February, 1820. His father died when he was 
two years of age, and he and his mother came to Tippecanoe county, 
Indiana, in 1834, where they were among the early settlers. They re- 
mained there twenty years, and then removed to Vermilion county, 
and settled where he now resides. His mother died in 1842. Mr. 
Neville took a life partner on the 26th of September, 1840, his choice 



VANCE TOWNSHIP. 995 

being Miss Mary S. Throckmorton, born in Bampshire county, West 
Virginia, on the 16th of December, 1823. By this union they have 
been blessed with ten children, of whom seven are now living. 

Barton Elliott, Fairmoimt, farmer, section 18, son of William and 
Elizabeth Elliott, was born in Vance township, Vermilion county, Illi- 
nois, on the 11th of November, 1854. He was united in marriage to 
Miss May J. Baldwin, on the 21st of September, 1876. She was born 
in Brown county, Ohio, on the 21st of August, 1855. They are mem- 
bers of the Baptist church. 

Edward Dunn, Fairmount, clerk, is the son of Michael and Julia 
(Conley) Dunn, who were natives of Ireland, and came to Delaware 
county, New York, in 1847, where Edward, the subject of our sketch, 
was born, on the 14th of August, 1854. His parents remained in New 
York for eight years, and then removed to Fairmount, in 1855, becom- 
ing one of the early citizens of the now village of Fairmount. Here 
Edward spent the early part of his life, receiving a business education. 
In 1873 he engaged with Wilcox & Co. as salesman. 

Jesse Doney, Fairmount, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, 
in 1816, and in that year his parents removed to Richland county, Ohio, 
where they remained live years. They then went to Harrison county, 
where they remained a short time, and then returned to Fayette 
■county, Pennsylvania, and located in the same house where Mr. Doney 
and also his father were born. Mr. Doney returned to Harrison 
county, Ohio, and commenced to learn the trade of brick-layer and 
stone-mason. In 1832 he came to Chicago. From there he went to 
what is now Joliet, where was then only one log cabin, which Mr. 
Doney helped to erect. He then returned to Harrison county, Ohio, 
again; then went to Coshocton county, where he worked on a farm 
for Michael Rodgers, whose daughter, Marion, he married in 1838. 
She was born in Harrison county, Ohio, in 1822. Mr. Doney then 
removed to Guernsey county, from there to Marshall, and thence to 
Montgomery county. From there he went to Hendricks county, and 
while there his wife departed this life, in June, 1854. He then mar- 
ried Miss Sarah A. Dale, on the 7th of June, 1855, who was born in 
Hendricks county, Indiana, on the 30th of April, 1829. Mr. Doney 
removed to Vermilion county, and purchased the Hickman farm, and 
has resided there and at Fairmount ever since. He is the father of two 
children, living, by his former wife: Michael C. and Lysander; and 
also four deceased:' Hannah M., Kisander J., wife of F. Elliott (luring 
her life, Benjamin and Samuel; and by his present wife, three living: 
Jesse, Lincoln, Maggie, and two deceased: John and Marion. Mr. 
Doney now owns eight hundred and twenty-eight acres of land in 



996 HISTOEY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

this county, and four houses and lots in the town. He is a member of 
A.F. & A.M. and I.O.O.F., and has been county commissioner and 
justice of the peace. 

Nimrod McBride, Fairmount, was born in what was then Monon- 
galia county, Virginia, on the 19th of February, 1811, and came with 
his parents to Dearborn county, Indiana, in 1813, where they remained 
until 1825. They then went to Marion county, where his father, Will- 
iam, died, in 1828, and his mother, Henriette, in 1831. Mr. McBride 
came to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, and while there married Miss 
Jane Jack, on the 1st of December, 1836, a native of Warren county, 
Ohio, born on the 16th of January, 1820. Mr. McBride removed to 
Vermilion county in 1855, and settled close to Fairmount, where he 
owns two hundred and forty acres of a fine farm, on which he has 
made all the improvements. He has been blessed with three daughters 
and one son, now living, and two deceased. The names of the living 
are Nancy C, Ella, Jennie and William ; of the deceased, John T., 
who died in the army, and Rebecca. Mr. McBride was a whig until 
the republican party was organized, when he joined its ranks, and with 
this party he has always cast his vote. 

R. Jack, Fairmount, shoemaker and justice of the peace, was born 
in Carroll county, Indiana, on the 19th of March, 1840, and raised in 
Tippecanoe county, where he remained until twenty years of age. He 
then came, with his father, to Yermilion county, Illinois, in 1860, and 
on the 1st of August, 1862, enlisted in the 73d 111. Vol. Inf., Co. E, 
and served until the close of the war. He was in all the battles in 
which his regiment was engaged, and passed through them all without 
receiving a wound. He has been three times married. His first union 
was on the 9th of August, 1865, to Miss Mary Shroyer, a native of In- 
diana, born in 1843, and died on the 20th of February, 1869. He was 
married on the 15th of June, 1870, to Miss Frances Rutin, also a na- 
tive of Indiana, born in 1844, and died in 1871. His third marriage 
was in 1872, to Miss Jennie Fellows, also a native of Indiana, born in 
1848. By his present wife he is the father of one child, George. Mr. 
and Mrs. Jack are members of the M. E. church. 

W. J. Rice, Fairmount, stock-dealer, is a native of Carter county, 
Kentucky, where he was born on the 3d of August, 1845. Mr. Rice 
came to Vermilion county in 1863, and engaged in the pursuit of farm- 
ing until 1877 ; since then he has dealt extensively in stock, shipping 
yearly the amount of $250,000 worth. On the 24th of October, 1868, 
Mr. Rice was married to Miss Martha E. Pratt, a native of Boone 
county, Indiana, born on the 24th of September, 1844. By this union 



VANCE TOWNSHIP. 997 

they have one child living: William C. ; James W. died. Mr. It. is 
a member of the Masonic Order, No. 590, of Fairmount. 

Elias Holladay, Fairmount, dealer in drugs, son of Elias and Sarah 
(Hammond) Holladay, was born in Livingston county. New Jersey, 
on the 13th of September, 1835. At nine years of age he came with 
his parents to Parke county, Indiana, and while there his mother died. 
Then he and his father came, in 1859, to Indianapolis, Indiana, where 
they remained four years; then removed to Homer, Illinois, and re- 
mained one year, and then came to Fairmount, where he has been 
engaged in his present business ever since. He was appointed notary 
public in 1867, which office he now holds ; also was appointed post- 
master, on the 1st of October, 1874, which office he has held ever since. 
Mr. Holladay was united in marriage in 1866, to Miss Clara P. Short, 
daughter of Thomas Short, who was one of the early settlers of Ver- 
milion county. She was born in Danville, Vermilion county, Illinois, 
on the 3d of January, 1846. They have one son and one daughter liv- 
ing : Fred S. and Sarah H. ; and one deceased : Frank. Mr. and Mrs. 
H. are members of Goshen Baptist church. 

J. M. Wilkins, Fairmount, physician, was born in Marion county, 
Ohio, on the 22d of September, 1826. At six years of age he came with 
his parents to La Grange county, Indiana ; thence to Branch county, 
Michigan. In 1846-7 he attended the Indiana Medical College, at La 
Porte, Indiana, and graduated in 1850. He then returned to Branch 
county and practiced for four years, and in 1854 came to Vermilion 
county, and first located in New Town, where he had an extensive prac- 
tice until 1859, and in 1864 removed to Fairmount, where he has had 
a continued practice ever since. Dr. J. M. Wilkins married Miss Me- 
hitable Pond, on the 28th of September, 1852 ; a native of Ohio ; born 
on the 12th of August, 1832. They have three sons and one daughter : 
William F., Jennie E., Charles A. and Fred. The Doctor and his wife 
are members of the Baptist church, and he is a member of the Masonic 
and Odd-Fellows' Lodges. His political views are republican. 

L. W. Sowers, Fairmount, farmer and stock-raiser, section 16, is a 
native of North Carolina, and was born in 1836. He removed with 
his parents to Fountain county, Indiana, in the fall of L839. Eis 
father, Michael Sowers, was born in North Carolina in the year 1792, 
and died in Fountain county, Indiana, in 1845. Eis mother also was 
a native of North Carolina, born in 1802, and now resides in the above 
named county. Mr. Sowers was married in 1856 to Miss Margaret 
Darr, daughter of David and Mary Darr. She was born in Parke 
county, Indiana, in 1837. They have two sons and three daughters: 
David N., Elijah M., Sarah E., Mary R. and America A. Mr. Sowers 



J)98 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

removed to Page county, Iowa, where he remained one year. He then 
returned to Parke county, Indiana, and remained five years, and re- 
moved to Vermilion county, Illinois, in 1865, and settled on the farm 
where he now resides. By his industry he is now the owner of a form 
of two hundred and twelve acres, which he has under good cultivation. 
He became united with the Lutheran church at seventeen years of age. 
Pie also is a member of the A.F.tfc A.M., and his political views are 
democratic. 

H. Yerkes, Fairmount, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Warren 
county, Ohio, on the 7th of May, 1840. His parents were natives of 
Pennsylvania, who came to Ohio in an early day. They went to Foun- 
tain county, Indiana, where he (Jacob Yerkes) died in 1866. His wife 
(Ann) now resides in Indiana. Mr. Yerkes, the subject of this sketch, 
took an active part in the late war, enlisting in August, 1862, in Co. 
H, 63d Ind. Vol. Inf., and served until the close of the war. He was 
in the following battles : Resaca, Burnt Hickory, Peachtree Creek, 
Kenesaw Mountain, the engagements around Atlanta, Jonesboror 
Spring Hill, Franklin, Nashville, Tennessee, Wilmington, Golds" 
boro, and other minor engagements. He was mustered out in July,. 
1865, and came to Vermilion county. Mr. Yerkes has been twice 
married: first, on the 21st of September, 1865, to Miss Hester E. 
Prevo, who was born in 1839 in Fountain county, Indiana, and died on 
the 7th of September, 1877. Mr. Yerkes was married, in 1878, to Miss 
Mary O. Noble, also a native of Indiana, born in 1860. Mr. Yerkes 
has six children by former wife: Spencer G., Alice M., Ella M., Annie 
L., Susie and Hattie. He served as township supervisor five years. 
He is a staunch republican, and he and his wife are members of the 
M. E. church. 

I. N. Wilcox, Fairmount, merchant, was born in Ross countj% Ohio, 
on the 18th of November, 1847, and came west in 1866, locating in 
Fairmount. He engaged in his present business, and at the present 
time is doing as large a business as any firm in the county outside of 
Danville. In October, 1867, he was united in marriage to Miss M. 
Burroughs, daughter of Wilson Burroughs, one of the old and respected 
citizens of the county. She was born in the county on the 21st of 
January, 1848. They have one son, Harry B. Mr. Wilcox served in 
the late rebellion in Co. A, 49th O. V. I., and was in several engage- 
ments. 

D. Gunder, Fairmount, farmer and stock-raiser, section 8, was born 
in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1825, and came with his parents to Madi- 
son county, Indiana, in 1838. His father, Henry Gunder, was a native 
of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He was in the war of 1812, and 



VANCE TO W.N SI 1 1 1'. 999 

departed this life in 1864. Mr. D. Gunder's mother, Elizabeth Sisco, we* 

a native of England, and came to America in an early day, and died on 
the 8th of September, 1858. The subject of this sketch was married in 
1849, to Miss Elizabeth Hugel, a native of Madison county, [ndiana, 
born in 1832. Her father, Ephraim Hngel, was a native of < >hio, born 
in 1803 and died in 1842. Her mother, Susanna, was born in Penn- 
sylvania in 1804 and died in 1869. Mr. Gunder has a family of nine 
living children: Alice, wife of J. J. Howard; Susie, wife of 0. W. 
Baldwing; Joseph K, James II., Samuel II. Jennie B., Mary A., 
Julia M. and Arthur II. Mr. and Mrs. Gunder are members of the 
Baptist church. He owns a fine farm of three hundred and fori v acres, 
with good improvements. He is a member of the A.I'. & A.M. frater- 
nity, and is a practical farmer. 

John K. Musselman, Fairmount, was born in Carroll county, Indi- 
ana, in 1843. His parents, Jacob and Catharine Musselman, came to 
that county in an early day, where they remained until the death of 
his mother (1850). They were natives of Pennsylvania, and of Ger- 
man descent. Mr. Musselman remained at home until man grown, 
spending most of his time in learning telegraphy and the railroad busi- 
ness, which he has followed mostly since 1865. He came to Vermilion 
county in 1869, and located in Fairmount, where he became one of the 
active and energetic citizens. He has creditably held the office of 
supervisor of Yance township for two terms, and is the present incum- 
bent. In 1873 he took a life-partner, his choice being Miss Mary E. 
Timmons, daughter of Capt. Timmons, one of the early settlers of the 
county. The result of their happy marriage is two children : Lewis W. 
and Maudie. 

G. W. Baird, Fairmount, farmer, section 18, son of Joseph and Eliz- 
abeth Baird, was born in Brown county, Ohio, on the 18th of October, 
1851, and came to Yermilion county, Illinois, in 1*69. On the 1st of 
January, 1871, he was married to Miss Lydia E. Davis, daughter of 
William Davis, wdio is one of the early settlers in the county. She 
was born in the county on the 23d of May, 1852. They are the parents 
of one son and one daughter : Harry D. and Nellie M. 

Z. Stalons, dealer in groceries and provisions, Fairmount, was born 
in Orange county, Indiana, in 1854, and came to Vermilion county, 
Illinois, with his parents in 1870. He was united in marriage on the 
7th of April, 1878, to Miss Nellie McFarland, a native of Illinois. 
Mr. Stalons is a member of the A.F. & A.M., Fairmounl Lodge, 
590. 

B. F. Mott, Fairmount, physician, was born in Miami county, Ohio, 
on the 17th of April, 1851, and removed with bis parents to Cham 



1000 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

paign county, Ohio, in 1857. In 1874 he came to Fairmount. Mr. 
Mott attended medical college in 1872 and 1873, and graduated in 
1874. He is not an old physician in the county, but, by honest and 
never tiring attention to his patients, he now has a practice that will do 
credit to some of the older physicians of the county. On the 30th of 
August, 1878, he was married to Katie E. Adams. 

G. W. Ryan, Fairmount, railroad agent, was born in Hamilton 
county, Ohio, on the 10th of May, 1853, where he received his early 
education, and was in the employ of the Pacific railroad for some time. 
He came west, and engaged with the Wabash railroad, in Champaign 
county, and in 1877 came to Fairmount, where he has had charge of 
the office, as express, freight and ticket agent, ever since. 



BUTLER TOWNSHIP. 

Butler township embraces all the northwest corner of the county 
which is in town 23 north, range 13 west, of the 2d principal meridian, 
all the east half of town 23, range 14, two tiers of sections off the north 
end of town 22 north, range 13, and six sections in the northeast cor- 
ner of town 22, range 14, making in all sevent}M;wo sections, or equal 
to two full congressional townships. The land was originally entirely 
prairie, and, although embracing some of the finest land in the county, 
did not come into cultivation till 1855, and as late as 1872 broad strips 
of its rich prairie had not been vexed with the plow ; indeed, as late as 
this present writing some of the beautiful high rolling prairie along 
the line separating towns 23 and 22 is yet in prairie-grass, and scores 
of the farms south and southeast of Rankin are guiltless of either fence 
or hedge to mark their boundary lines. No considerable stream crosses 
the town. From its southern side the little streams and rivulets 
stretch away toward the middle fork of the Vermilion, from its eastern 
border they run into the North Fork, while from its northern half the 
water sheds to the head-waters of the Illinois River. High, rolling, 
rich and healthy, it can but seem wonderful, and must ever remain in 
a great measure mysterious, how the land of such eligible portions of 
the county were left uninhabited until long after the western half of 
the state, and Missouri, Iowa, and portions of Kansas and Nebraska, 
were largely filling up with settlers. People living along the Middle 
Fork, not twenty miles away, pulled up and moved to Missouri, on 
poorer land than could be found within half a day's ride of their 
homes, and this, after it had been demonstrated that people could live 



BUTLER TOWNSHII'. [QQ] 

on the open prairie with less labor, just as much comfort, more health, 
and surer returns for their labor, than on timber farms. It cannot be 
pleaded in this case that these prairies were unknown. The Chicago 
road, the great highway of travel before railroads were built, | 
directly over this beautiful tract, and the road leading from Danville 
to Ottawa, along which thousands of men went from the Illinois River 
country to Danville to enter land, and the road from Attica to Bloom- 
ington, along which hundreds of people passed each year, visiting their 
old homes in Indiana and Ohio, both crossed this arm of the Grand 
Prairie. The old scholars had an adage which, being liberally trans- 
lated, runs, " In matters of taste there is no use in disputing." Just so; 
there is no law against a man's going through the woods and picking 
up a crooked stick beyond. 

The Lafayette, Bloomington & Muncie railroad runs directly through 
the township from east to west, on a line nearly one and one half miles 
from its northern line, having on it the three little villages of East 
Lynne, named from the charming novel of Mrs. Anna S. Stephens, 
Rankin, named from Hon. David Rankin, the proprietor of a portion 
of the town and of a large amount of land in the neighborhood, and 
Pellsville, named from W. H. Pells, who was co-proprietor of it. 

The township itself was named, at the suggestion of the first super- 
visor, in 1864, from the cock-eyed hero who had solved the difficult 
questions of the war, each as it arose, with as much ease as he would 
have settled a quiet dinner in his own house. He had equipped and 
marched the first brigade of volunteers to beleaguered Washington (or 
had commanded the march), in less than three days after notice had 
reached him, and in less than two days from the date of his selection 
by Governor Andrew for the position. He had captured Baltimore 
one night, while the war department was making a plan of attack, 
which it was expected he would join in carrying out the next week. 
He had solved the most difficult question of what was to be done with 
the negroes who continually came into our lines, under the constitu- 
tional provision requiring the return of fugitives owing service or 
labor, by calling them "contraband of war." He had hung the only 
rebel that ever was hung in America (except old John Brown and his 
party), and had made the women stop makiug faces at the ''boys in 
blue," and had just secured a peaceful election in New Fork city. 
Next to Grant, whose name had been applied to the adjoining town- 
ship, he was the hero of the day; soWm. M. Tennery thought, and so 
his loyal neighbors thought when they gave his name to their home. 

The first farming done in the township was probably in the year 



1002 HISTOKY OF VEKMILION COUNTY. 

1854, and these were the pioneers, so far as the memory of old settlers 
now living here serves to call it to mind.* 

In the year 1854 Mr. J. H. Schwartz and several neighbors came 
from Ohio to Danville, and there found Parker Dresser doing a "land 
office business." It was busy times just then. He entered for the 
party the following tracts of land: Lot 1 of northwest quarter of sec- 
tion 30, for Mr. Schwartz ; the south half of 19 (311 acres), for Mr. 
Yates (whose son came here and lived on it till his wife died, and then 
went back to Ohio) ; the east half and lot 1 of the southwest quarter of 
section 30, for Phcebe Bennett ; the west half of the southwest quarter 
of section 29, for Mr. Bennett, and lot 2 of the northwest quarter of 
30 for another party. Mr. Bennett did not come here to live, and 
never saw the land but once. Mr. Schwartz moved on his purchase 
and lives on it still. He was a man of fair education, of moderate 
financial resources, but large heart and strong and abiding faith. He 
found a new country, destitute not only of crops and stock, but 
destitute of the institutions of religion and education. His son-in- 
law, Lewis John, settled near him on section 20, in 1859, and remains 
there yet. The year he came here to live followed close on the 
years in which the large wheat crops were so general through the 
state. Cases were numerous where a single crop of wheat had paid 
the cost of purchasing the land, tilling, fencing, harvesting and mar- 
keting the crop, leaving a balance to the credit side of the account. 
The crop, of course, was an exceptional one; but that such did really 
grow is beyond dispute. This was sent to Ohio and other eastern 
states, and many came here in 1855 expecting to get rich on wheat 
raising alone. Cases were plenty where farmers who were well-to-do 
ran in debt for additional land, intending to pay for it out of the next 
wheat crop. Men, in the height of their excitement over wheat, 
sowed it on the last year's stubble, and harrow T ed it in without even 
plowing the ground. Of course the subsequent successive failures of 
the crop ruined many farmers, crippled others, sent some to the asy- 
lum, and convinced all that this was not in the " wheat belt." 

The hard times which followed the financial crash of 1857 was fully 
as severe on the new settlers of Butler as had been the previous one of 
1837 on those who were then in the timber belt along the Middle 
Fork. Corn became the principal article of food. Money there w r as 
none. The entire paper currency of the west was based upon the faith 
which the people had in bankers, many of which were either foreign to 

*The writer would like to give credit to Mr. Schwartz and Mr. McCune for their 
assistance in furnishing — the former, the interesting statistics of the churches, and the 
latter, of the early settlers. 



BUTLER TOWNSHIP. llKCj 

the state, or mere myths. Michigan "red-dog," Georgia "wild-cat," 
Missouri "stump-tail," were the nicknames which were applied to the 
various kinds of bank-bills, which were taken at par one day, and re- 
fused at a heavy discount the next. Never was a people so swindled 
with imaginary money. Bank-note detectors were consulted by every 
business man whenever he received money, to try to discover whether 
it was safe to take. The men of the present generation who complain 
of " hard times " may have suffered, but they know next to nothing of 
the suffering which their fathers passed through then. Taxes were all 
payable in specie, and light as they were then, it was' more difficult to 
obtain the hard money with which to pay them then than now, not- 
withstanding they are ten times as great. 

Daniel Stamp came from New York and bought land in sec- 
tion 14 (23-14), in 1855. He sold to A. B. Lucas, and he to Samuel 
Johnson. Lucas lives in Pellsville. Johnson sold to Williams, and 
went to Kansas. Fred Stamp settled about the same time, and made 
a farm on section 15. He lives now in Paxton. James Dixon settled 
on section 11, where Mrs. Johnson now resides. John Jones the same 
time made a farm on section 19, just north of Schwartz. Caleb T. 
Beals came in 1856, and took land in section 3 (22-13). He still lives 
near there, in section 9. John Dopps commenced farming in section 
15 (23-14) in 1855. He afterward sold out and went to Kansas. Da- 
vid Dopps commenced a farm in the same section. These men were 
pioneers of the Methodist church, and the first class was formed at the 
house of their brother Eli, across the line in Ford county. 

J. W. Shannon came in 1855, and took up land in section 35 (23- 
14). He lived there twenty years, and now resides in Perrysville, 
Indiana. Mr. Clark about the same time settled on the south side of 
section 14. In 1857 C. McCune came from Ohio, and took up land in 
section 7, one mile east of where Rankin now is, where he resided till 
five years ago, when he made Rankin his home. Wra. I. Allen, who 
had been a pioneer in Grant township, purchased land in 1855, north 
of East Lynne, and had two men there improving the farm. Ruffin 
Clark came from Indiana in 1856, and settled on section 28. He was 
a man of intelligence, and made his mark on the community. He took 
a lively interest in schools. He died in 1869, and his family went back 
to Indiana after a few years. Geo. Mains came to live on section 21 
in 1856. He still resides there. Daniel S. French came to the same 
section in 1857. He now lives in Indiana, and is editing a paper in 
Tippecanoe county. He still owns the farm. Jacob Swisher came to 
section 12 (22-13) in 1855. He was a public-spirited man, and well 
known throughout this part of the county. Jesse Piles, who also came 



1004 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

here early, settled in section 10 (22-14), in the extreme southwestern 
part of the township. Jonathan Done in 1856 settled in section 15 
(23-14). He afterward removed to Paxton. John Pnrsley, in 1857, 
purchased half a section in 11, near Rankin, and continued farming 
there until he enlisted in the army, in Allen's company. He had been 
in the engagement which resulted in the surrender of Fort Henrj^ and 
while at Donaldson was sent back to Fort Henry for ammunition. The 
fatigue of the trip was too much for him, and he gave out and died. 
He left two sons, who are worthy and respected young men. 

Thomas Towe commenced about 1856 to improve a farm on section 
7 (23-13). Along in the fall sometime, Towe and McCune had gone 
to Middle Fork, — McCune to get wood and Towe for a load of sand. 
This timber, twelve miles away, was the nearest fuel they could obtain. 
They knew nothing of coal at that day. McCune had a good team of 
horses and his partner was driving three yoke of cattle — of course he 
had to go on foot. Night overtaking them they became completely 
lost. To be lost on the prairie at night is the nearest thing to being 
"finally lost" that one experiences in this life. There is absolutely no 
clue by which the most skillful detective could work out. Especially 
is this so when the wind does not blow. Teams are liable to walk 
around in a circle, and in the absence of any light, which can be seen 
on snch occasions many miles, the wanderers not unfrequently find it 
necessary to spend the night on the prairie. In this case the benighted 
travelers set to hallooing with all their might, and after an hour of 
such exercise they were heard by Mr. Stamp, who fired a gun to attract 
their attention. As soon as the}' could ascertain the direction of this 
first "gun at daybreak" they started for it at double-quick; Towe 
ahead leading the van with his steers, and McCune following like a 
general officer on dress parade, glad to ride where Towe should lead. 
They came to one of those ponds which at that time were numerous on 
these prairies, and the leader, fearing to turn to the right or the left 
lest he should lose his direction, plunged in knee deep, yelling at the 
top of his voice to keep his courage up, and to keep their gunner 
acquainted with their whereabouts. McCune rode out the storm like a 
major, and never looked on that pond after that without almost fancy- 
ing he could see Towe knee-deep in the flood. Mr. Towe returned to 
New York, and John, who remained to carry on the farm, went to the 
army and was killed. 'Squire Bowers, in returning from Loda one 
night, got lost and became mired in a pond. He took off the horses 
and walked around all night to keep from being numbed with the cold. 
It was customary when the father of the family was belated, to place a 
candle in the window which looked in the direction he was to come, 



BUTLER TOWNSHIP. [Q05 

and many a man has been saved a night on the prairie by " keeping the 
lower light burning." 

The nearest mill for a time was at Myersville, until Persons pur- 
chased and refitted the Koss Mill. The nearest trading poinl was at 
Loda, twelve miles north, which was a famous point for trade tor all 
this country until the distillery burned and the building of the rail- 
road drew merchants away from there, until now bhere i> nothing l.t't 
of its former business importance. 

In the early days the people here did not raise many cattle for some 
reason. As previously stated, all tried wheat for a time, until con- 
tinued failures used up all they had kept for seed, without any return. 
Still they bought seed and sowed again. Corn and hogs were the sta- 
ple. Hogs almost always brought a paying price, and it was before 
cholera had been invented. Stock and corn are the principal staples of 
the farmer yet. Flax has been raised some, and is considered a fair 
crop. To the renter it is considered an available crop, for it " turns" 
so much earlier than corn that it enables him to get something to live 
on several months before he can for corn. 

Land was worth from $2.50 to $5 per acre. Some sold as high as 
$9 before the railroad was built, and some sold in anticipation of that 
building as high as $12. Eight dollars was probably a fair average for 
land two years before the railroad was built. Twenty can hardly be 
called an exorbitant price now. 

McCune says that as late as 1857 he has seen here on this prairie as 
many as twenty deer at a time, and at one time he saw on section 7 
fifty-four in one lot going in a northwesterly direction, and wolves 
were as thick as rabbits. As late as 1858, of a flock of sheep, which 
had got away from a man living north of here, eighty were killed in a 
single night. Badgers were also plenty. They were as large as a dog 
and stronger, with a thick neck, and too strong for any dog to master. 
Rattlesnakes were so plenty that on a single farm a hundred were 
killed in a single season. It is a wonder that more people were not 
killed by them. Dogs that were bitten by them seemed to know how to 
cure themselves. Prairie mud was a very certain cure. They were 
really a dangerous neighbor, yet the children went barefooted to school 
or hunting strawberries as now. They seem as adverse to civilization 
as any of their wild neighbors, and as the prairie-grass was killed out 
by being plowed and cultivated they disappeared. The last Been of 
them here was about 1870. It is doubted whether any survived the 
shriek of the locomotive or the high taxes of modern civilization. We 
used to have squirrels here, red and gray, not unlike those in the tim- 
ber but smaller, and with shorter tails. Prairie chickens were of course 



1006 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

very plenty, and the reverberating "boom" of their matins, ushering 
in an October morning, will never be forgotten by the old settlers, and 
probably never heard in its fullness by the new. Sand-hill cranes were 
very numerous, as they nested here in the ponds on this divide, and, if 
undisturbed, would make havoc of the corn in the spring, taking two 
rows at a time, as clean as any man could root it up, and in the fall 
would congregate in great numbers if not driven away. 

The first Methodist class formed here was, according to Mr. Schwartz' 
recollection, about 1855. It was formed before he came here to live, 
at the house of Eli Dopps. It was an interesting class, and grew into 
three separate churches: that at Schwartz, at Rankin and at Pellsville. 
At the time of its formation it consisted of sixteen members. C. 
Atkinson was preacher in charge, and John Vincent assistant. It be- 
longed to the Danville circuit, and there was no church in all this 
country but the " Wallace Chapel " at Blue Glass, and the old log- 
house called Partlow's Church. The preaching appointment was each 
alternate week ; and it was a terrible winter, as all remember, so that 
Atkinson did not reach his appointment all winter, — but Vincent was 
very regular. Greenbury Garner, Milo Butler and W. H. McYey were 
on the Danville circuit before 1861. Mr. Elliott was presiding elder, 
and, after him, L. Pilnor. After this W. H. H. Moore was elder. 
Sampson Shinn and Enoch Jones, preachers, John Helmick, assistant, 
J. S. Barger and John Long, preachers in charge. In 1865 the Blue 
Glass circuit was formed, and Schwartz school-house was built. S. 
Shinnn was presiding elder. The class was divided, and those living 
near here were served with regular preaching at this school-house, 
which appointment belonged to the Blue Grass circuit, and those over 
by Dopp's were in the Paxton circuit. The society at East Lynne was 
formed in 1869. This church was built in 1875. It is 28x46, and 
cost, painted and seated, $2,000. Some help, to build this beautiful 
chapel, came from Danville, but most of it was raised within them- 
selves. The present year Mr. Davis is pastor. A Sabbath-school is 
maintained in summer. 

Prairie Chapel, Christian church, was built near Swisher's, at the 
extreme southeastern corner of the township, about 1861. Elder Raw- 
ley Martin used to preach there, as he did for years all over this country. 
He was for many years the pioneer preacher in this denomination. It 
is a pleasant church, and the membership is about forty-five. Elders 
Stipp and Charles Cosat preach there alternately. The organization 
of this church was effected at Blue Grass, in. 1859, by Elder Martin. 
Preaching was continued for some time at the Blue Grass school-house. 
Jacob Swisher was one of the most influential members of the church, 



BUTLER TOWNSHIP. H107 

and when they came to build he induced the building near his resi- 
dence. He was an elder in the church. 

A United Brethren church has been recently formed by Mr. Ziegler 
when he was in charge of the Vermilion circuit. Mr. Scott is the pre- 
sent preacher. Mrs. Duncan is class-leader. They propose to build 
soon on land that has been donated by Mr. Biddel, of Indianapolis. 

Before the building of the railroad through this town its open prairie 
attracted the attention of a gentleman whose large experience, business 
capacity and ready means well qualified him to make a large venture 
in farming operations here, which has proved of the utmost importance 
to the interests of this prairie town. Mr. David Rankin had been 
largely engaged in cattle-farming and feeding in Henderson county, in 
this state, and had amassed a comfortable fortune before he commenced 
his operations here. He was a gentleman of broad views, wide ac- 
quaintance, and the strictest business habits. Associating with him 
his relative, W. A. Rankin, he purchased eight sections of land lying 
near together here, and commenced improving it, in 1867. They built 
a fine residence on section 2, which has been beautifully surrounded by 
trees, changing the bleak prairie of only a few years ago into one of 
the most delightful shady resorts to be found in this part of the coun- 
try, which has been the home of the junior partner since then. They 
put the land into cultivation as fast as possible, and secured the loca- 
tion of a depot at Rankin. 

There were before the railroad was built two post-offices, which 
were more or less in Butler, i. e., they were hanging on the border of 
the township. Jesse Piles was postmaster of Circle for a while, and 
Dr. O. F. Taylor at Sugar Creek, which before the railroad was built 
was moved to what is now Pellsville. Butler was set off as a township 
in 1864, at which time ¥m. M. Tennery was supervisor of the united 
townships. At the first town meeting held, Ambrose Armantrout was 
moderator. The following is a list of the township officers elected 
since its erection. The town has never had but three supervisors and 
three clerks. 

Date. Vote. Supervisor. clerk. Assessor. Collector. 

1865 37 J. H. Schwartz.. E. S. Pope W. M. Thomas. .. I). A. Schwartz. 

1866 45 J. R. Bowers... E. S. Pope Wm. Glaze Wui. Glaze. 

1867 45 J. R. Bowers... J. J. Johnson. ...J. J. Johnson E. S. Pope. 

1868 46 J. R. Bowers... E. S. Pope Win. Glaze Wm. Glaze. 

1869 85.... J. R. Bowers... J. J. Johnson.... Win. Glaze Wm. Glaze. 

1870 104 J. R. Bowers... D. A. Schwartz.. Wm. Glaze Wm. Glaze. 

1871 59 J. R. Bowers. ..D. A. Schwartz.. Win. Glaze Wm. Glaze. 

1872 107. . . .B. Butterfield. . .D. A. Schwartz.. John Yeazel Wm. Glaze. 

1873 118 B. Butterfield... D. A. Schwartz.. E. G. Hancock. ... I •!. G. Hancock. 

1874 124 B. Butterfield... D. A. Schwartz. . John Yeazel G. W. Smith. 



1008 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Date. Vote. Supervisor. Clerk. Assessor. Collector. 

1875 .... 82 ... B. Butterfield . . . D. A. Schwartz. . John Yeazel W. H. Schwartz. 

1876. . . .148. . . .B. Butterfield. . .D. A. Schwartz. . John Yeazel W. H. Schwartz. 

1877. . . .320. . . .B. Butterfield. . .D. A. Schwartz.. John Yeazel W. H. Schwartz. 

1878. . . .250. . . .B. Butterfield. . .D. A. Schwartz.. E. H. Beals W. H. Schwartz. 

1879. . . .300. . . .B. Butterfield. . .D. A. Schwartz.. E. H. Beals Andrew Sloan. 

Justices of the peace have been Jacob Swisher, Fred. Stamp, Hiram 
Arman trout, J. P. Dopps, David Brown, J. R. Bowers, and H. M. 
Ludden. 

At the town meeting in 1866, the ordinance forbidding stock to run 
at large was passed, and has been strictly enforced, to the great saving 
of those who were trying to make new farms on the prairie. On the 
11th of May, 1867, at a special meeting, held after due notice, the 
town voted, by 46 to 5, in favor of giving fourteen hundred dollars to 
the Chicago, Danville & Vincennes railroad. Later a meeting was 
held on the subject of subscribing twenty-five thousand dollars to the 
Lafayette, Bloomington & Muncie railroad, which resulted in favor of 
such subscription. 

In 1877 two voting precincts were established, dividing the town, 
as near as possible, in the center, the eastern precinct voting at East 
Lynne, and the western at Rankin. This makes it very convenient for 
the voters, as it was fully thirteen miles from Jesse Piles' residence to 
the voting-place at East Lynne, when the election happened to be there. 

EAST LYNNE. 

East Lynne was laid out in 1872, upon land belonging to W. P. 
Moore, in the southeast quarter of section 10 ; T. J. Yan Brunt, in the 
northeast quarter of 10 ; John P. Dopps, in northwest quarter of 11 ; 
and Aiken and White, in the southwest quarter of 11 (23-13). Dopps 
and Moore sold out about this time and moved away. The plat cov- 
ered about forty acres. Henry Ludden was appointed first station 
agent and first postmaster, and was the first to commence selling goods 
there. He is still postmaster. 

The first business house was built by Win. McReynolds, the same 
now occupied as a hotel. Palmer Brothers were for a time engaged in 
mercantile business. N. R. Hall opened up in lumber, hardware and 
implements. O. E. Wilson commenced the grocery trade, and con- 
tinued it for three or four years. Messrs. Aiken, Hall, French, Morey and 
Gardner have been engaged in purchasing grain, which is the principal 
business. A good two-story frame school-house was erected, and a 
good school has been maintained, with an average attendance of about 
fifty. 

The Methodist church was built under the preaching of Rev. J. 



BUTLER TOWNSHIP. 1009 

Muirhead, in 1875. It belonged, as now, to the Hoopeston circuit, and 
preaching is regularly maintained by the preacher on that circuit, once 
in two weeks. Kev. Mr. Haff is the present preacher in charge. 

The Christian church occupies the building on the alternate Sab- 
bath, by a kind of christian comity which is fast becoming the rule in 
this western country, Elder Houghton preaching, and the entire com- 
munity join in a union Sabbath-school, which is well maintained. Mr. 
J. S. Hall was first superintendent. The church edifice is 36 x 46, and 
is a very neat and pleasant building. 

A Baptist society has been formed, which proposes to move a church 
building now at Ludden to East Lynne. 

The grain trade has been, and continues to be, one of considerable 
importance here. It is the center of one of the finest corn-raising dis- 
tricts in the county, and as there are few cattle-feeders among the new 
farmers in this vicinity, most of the corn must go to market. A large 
steam elevator is about being erected to supply a long-felt need, and 
will be in readiness for the fall trade. 

RANKIN. 

The pleasant little village of Rankin, which to-day is as quiet as a 
May morning, was brought into being amid a war of location, which 
must be remembered by those who were participators in it as long as 
they remember anything. The "war" was long, exhaustive of pa- 
tience, and expensive, finally making it cost each party all its results 
were worth, and resulted in a drawn battle. The captains-general who 
marshaled the hosts were "W. A. Rankin and "W. H. Pells, the former 
proprietor of a large landed interest, amounting to five thousand acres, 
the latter with a local interest of only about eighty acres, but a seat in 
the board of directors of the railroad which was being built. The con- 
struction company, of which Col. Snell was the head, had the right 
under their contract to designate the depot, but were also authorized 
to receive payment for the same sufficient to cover the expenses of side- 
track, depot, switches, etc. When Mr. Rankin went to negotiate for 
the location he presented the arguments that as the whole township 
was taxed for the road, a location should be selected that was as nearly 
equidistant as possible, and that the location he proposed was the 
same distance from the western boundary of the township as East 
Lynne was from the eastern ; that more of the people of this township 
would be accommodated by this location than any other; that he was 
ready at any time. to pay the $2,500 required for putting in the job, 
and any other little matters required could be easily arranged. ( >o the 
other hand, Mr. Pells plead the custom of the road, which had been to 
64 



1010 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

permit each director to name a depot ; that every other director had 
been accorded that privilege, and that the farmers around the proposed 
location would give as much or more'for the location. The citizens in 
the vicinity of Pellsville raised $3,500 by subscription, and got their 
depot ; the Rankins paid their subscription, and got theirs. It then 
became a question for the railroad company to decide which one should 
be retained, and Mr. Boody was appealed to by both parties. At one 
stage of the contest a proposition was made to locate the depot midway 
between the two present sites. This was accepted by one party, but 
declined by the other. After the matter had come into the jurisdiction 
of Mr. Boody, he proposed a plan which was very likely to decide mat- 
ters, but just then the road was put into the hands of a receiver, who 
decided that he had no authority in such matters, and would not decide. 
It is now just passing into the hands of the new company, and the old 
question is likely to come up like a chancery case for final hearing 
nearly ten years after its inception. Tile village of Rankin was laid 
out in June, 1872, by A. Bowman, county surveyor, and J. R. Bowers, 
making twenty-four blocks, each of which were 240 x 250 feet. The 
streets are eighty-five feet wide. It was laid out one-half on the land 
of D. and W. A. Rankin, in section 12, and one-quarter on each of the 
lands of George Guthrie and Mrs. Johnson. The Guthrie portion was 
sold to Prof. Joseph Carter, of Peru, Illinois, who still owns it. The 
two open strips between the blocks and the track were left for public 
use. 

The first building was commenced by Mr. E. "Wait, who lived in 
Loda, intending to go into the grain and coal trade. Before it was 
completed he was killed on the construction train between Paxton and 
this station. Mr. F. A. Finney took Wait's interest and completed 
the building, which was afterward sold to Mr. Chapman. Rankin & 
Thompson put up the next building — a grain office. C. H. Wyman 
put up a store and put in a stock of drugs. Milton Holmes, from 
Bloomington, built most of the buildings that were put up the first 
year. He and his hands had to camp out, sleep under work-benches 
or wherever they could find a chance, for there was no boarding place 
here. Cowell & Weaver built several. There was no lumber yard, 
here, and the freight from Paxton was fifteen dollars per car. All the 
stone brought here for building purposes came from Kankakee. While 
the construction company retained the control of the road no less 
freight could be obtained, and thus it was necessary to pay at Paxton 
as there was no office here. Holmes built the drug store and grain 
office, and six dwelling-houses for Mr. Rankin, a store and the hotel 
the first season. His family were the first persons who came here to 



BUTLER TOWNSHIP. \ n \i 

live. They resided in the Wait house. J. T. Wickham was the second. 
They resided in the Wilson house. 

The Campbell house, which was put up among the very first build- 
ings, is the only hotel Eankin has ever known. It was built for, and 
has been continuously occupied by, Mr. J. F. Campbell, and is without 
doubt -the finest hotel-building in the county outside of Danville. His 
house, barn, ice-house, etc., cost $5,500. 

J. R. Bowers, who, since the Hist opening of business here, has been 
one of the solid men of Rankin, came to make a farm on section 7, two 
miles southeast of Rankin, in 1865. He remained there until the vil- 
lage was commenced, and then brought the old flax warehouse from 
Blue Grass and went into business. Flax had been for some years a 
leading crop here, and to accommodate the business the Lafayette firm, 
which was interested in the business, had erected a warehouse at Blue 
Grass, which was then the great central point of trade and traffic. The 
farmers had no conveniences for saving the seed from one year to an- 
other, as it required careful cleaning and safe preservation to make it 
fit for seed. The plan adopted by the firm was to loan seed on con- 
tract to buy the crop. This required a warehouse, and as soon as the 
railroad was built it was moved to Rankin, and has since been in charge 
of Mr. Bowers. 

Rankin & Thompson were first to open in the grain trade. D. & 
W. A. Rankin built the main part of the elevator, 30x52, 40 feet 
high. They sold it to Birch & Hall, a firm residing and doing business 
in Oxford, Indiana, who have increased its capacity, and now run it. 

The war between Rankin and Pellsville occasionally broke out from 
its smothered condition. The first store building put up in the latter 
place, known as Scott's store, was purchased by Mr. Rankin and moved 
to this place in the face of some pretty loud prairie breezes, which were 
kept in check by the timely aid of the sheriff, backed by|the broad 
warrant of the "People of the State of Illinois." Henry Jones had 
kept a blacksmith-shop a few miles south of the town, and got out the 
timbers for a shop and brought them to Rankin. He afterward re- 
ceived a "communication" which led him to change his mind, and he 
hauled it away to Pellsville amid a storm of anything but applause 
from this end, and the booming of triumph at the other. To one party 
Jones was several degrees below an ordinary " nincompoop," to the 
other, the hero of the hour. 

The United Presbyterian church was organized in 1866. Rev. J. D. 
Whitham, of the Bloomington Presbytery, began preaching toja few 
scattered families a few miles southwest of Rankin, in the spring of 
that year. In September following he organized the church by com- 



1012 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

mission of presbytery, in Ford county, consisting of nineteen persons. 
James Campbell and family, "William McClintoek and family, J. T. 
"Wilson and family, were of the number. "When Rankin was laid out, 
they having no house of worship in the county, and finding in the 
Messrs. Rankin, who were of that faith, strong friends, decided to 
build here. The church edifice is 36x50, and cost about $3,500. Rev. 
Mr. "Whitham continued to preach for them nine years. Rev. J. T. 
Torrance, his successor, is still ministering- to the church here. An 
interesting Sabbath-school is maintained. 

The Methodist church was built in 1874, at a cost of $3,000. It is 
36x55, and nicely seated. Rev. "W. H. Musgrove was the first 
preacher. A large Sabbath-school is maintained ; Mr. C. Bowers, 
superintendent. This church was really the successor of the first class 
organized in this town, at Dopp's house, which appointment was long 
in the Paxton circuit. 

The Sweeds, who are quite numerous in the country around Rankin, 
have organized a Lutheran church, and have purchased the school- 
house for a church building. They have regular service in their own 
language, bringing their pastor from Paxton on a hand-car after he has 
finished his service there. 

The Rankin Lodge, No. 725, Freemasons, was instituted June, 1874. 
The first officers were: John S. Hewins, W.M. ; B. R. Cole, S.W. ; 
W. H. Schwartz, J.W. ; R. W. English, Sec. ; A. D. Beckley, Treas., 
who, with Thomas McGill, James Wardlow and George Stamp con- 
stituted the charter members. The present officers are: J. S. Hewins, 
W.M. ; B. R. Cole, S.W. ; J. R. Bowers, J.W. ; C. W. Babcock, Sec. ; 
M. D. Sprague, Treas. ; M. J. Chapman, Senior Deacon. 

The people of Rankin have been very fortunate in not being much 
troubled with places where the " ardent " is dealt out for drink. They 
will not tolerate any such in their neighborhood. The Messrs. Rankin 
are decided temperance men, and in this view they are in hearty sym- 
pathy with the unanimous sentiment of their little village. One man, 
who is now carrying on a bakery in Leadville, tried the temper of the 
citizens by engaging in the traffic for a short time, but he soon found 
that public sentiment would not permit it, and left. 

PELLSVILLE. 

Pellsville was laid out and platted on the 20th of July, 1872, by 
W. H. Pells, of Orleans county, New York, and A. F. Wardlow. It 
consisted of twenty-seven blocks in the north half of southeast quarter 
and the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 10 (23-14). 
Mr. Pells had been for some years engaged in trade at Paxton, and 



BUTLER TOWNSHIP. JQ18 

was a director in the road then being built. There was a" post-office at 
Sugar Creek, which for some years had been kept at the store at the 
cross-roads, south of Pellsville. J. W. Shilling commenced the store 
about 1869. He sold to Mr. Jones, who died, and Mrs. Phillips kept it 
awhile after his death, when Mr. J. B. Lucas bought it, and continued 
in business about six months, and then moved it to Pellsville, and built 
the first business house in the new town. The building was afterward 
sold to Rankin, who moved it to Rankin, as a kind of trophy of the 
chase. Lucas moved the post-office here at the same time, and its 
name was changed to suit the changed locality. Mr. Pells put up a 
good two-story building, and leased it to Travis Brothers, who are still 
in business here. 

Lucas continued postmaster awhile, and was succeeded by Marion 
Daniels, he by C. T. Daniels, who is postmaster at present. 

The Odd-Fellows lodge was organized in 1876. They have a fine 
hall over Daniels' store. It has a membership of twenty-four. 

The Methodist church was built in 1873 and 1874. It is about 28 
X 36, plain, and cost $1,500. This church belongs to the Rankin cir- 
cuit, and is served by the same preachers that preach at Rankin. 

The citizens in the vicinity of Pellsville subscribed $3,500 to secure 
the station there, and had a long and exciting contest to secure it. 
Her business men are energetic and wide awake, and their business is 
prosperous. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

F. M. Smith, East Lynne, farmer, section 4, was born in Vermilion 
county, Illinois, on the 7th of March, 1833. In 1861 he enlisted in 
Co. K, 33d Ind. Vol. Inf., and was in the battle of Springhill and 
several skirmishes. He served three years, being on detached duty 
most of the time, and was mustered out at Atlanta, Georgia. He was 
married on the 18th of February, 1874, to Mary C. Swisher. They 
have two children by this marriage: William T. and Eliza A. Mr. 
Smith has held the offices of school director and commissioner of high- 
ways. He is a very industrious man, and well respected by the people 
in the neighborhood in which he resides. He is a republican in poli- 
tics. Mr. Smith owns one hundred and twenty acres of land, worth 
$30 per acre. 

William A. Laflen, East Lynne, physician, was born in Vermilion 
county, Illinois, on the 14th of January, 1838. He spent his boyhood 
days on the farm. At the age of eighteen he commenced teaching 
school. He taught ten winters. In 1861 he enlisted in Co. F, 4th 
Iowa Inf., and served three years. He was in the battle of Pea Ridge. 
Mr. Laflen attended Rush Medical College two years, at the expiration 



1014 HISTORY OF VERMILION" COUNTY. 

of which time he received a diploma for the practice of medicine. He 
commenced practice in Pilot township, and his labors have been at- 
tended with much success ever since. He was married on the 29th of 
March, 1868, to Sarah J. Legg. She was born in "Will county, Illinois, 
on the 13th of July, 1844. The Doctor is a very enterprising man, 
and bids fair to rank high in his profession. He owns three hundred 
and sixty-one and a half acres of land, worth $30 per acre. 

T. M. Layne, Rankin, farmer, section 11, was born in Putnam 
county, Indiana, on the 26th of March, 1827. He was married in 
Indiana, to Eliza Bittle, on the 27th of December, 1859. She was born 
in Seneca count}', Indiana, on the 11th of November, 1843. They are 
the parents of seven children, three of whom are living: Elmer T., 
Henry and Frank. The names of the deceased are Jasper, Melville, 
Laura and Willie. Mr. Layne has held the office of school director six 
years, and trustee in the church. He owns eighty acres of land, worth 
$30 per acre. His parents are natives of Kentucky; Mrs. Layne's 
parents, of Virginia. 

C. T. Daniel, Pellsville, grocer and confectioner, was born in 
Logan county, Ohio, on the 1st of April, 1836, and spent his early days 
on a farm. He moved with his father from Ohio to this state in 1844, 
and settled in Champaign county. He came to this county in 1874, 
settling in Pellsville, where he still resides. Mr. Daniel enlisted in 
the late war, in 1861, in Co. D, 3d Mo. Cav., and was in the pursuit of 
Price and in the battles of Hartswell (Missouri), Springfield and Pilot 
Knob. He was married on the 7th of December, 1864. His wife was 
born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 30th of November, 1845. 
They are the parents of three children : Thomas W., Priscilla W., and 
Mary. Mr. Daniel has held the office of school director five years. He 
is a republican and a Methodist. 

Elam H. Beals, Rankin, farmer, was born in Randolph county, In- 
diana, on the 3d of May, 1835. His early life was spent on a farm, 
obtaining the education that could be had from a common district 
school. He came to this state in 1846 and settled in Vermilion county, 
remaining but two years, when he returned to Indiana and stayed until 
the year 1856, at which time he came back to this county, and has since 
remained. He was married to Amelia Parker, on the 2d of January, 
1856. She was born in Highland county, Ohio, on the 6th of Decem- 
ber, 1837. They have had by this union seven children, four of whom 
are living: Demetrius, Jennie, Sherman and Cora. The deceased are 
Grant, Ellsworth and George. Mr. Beals has held the office of con- 
stable seven years, of deputy sheriff seven years, and has been assessor 
since 1872. 



BUTLEE TOWNSHIP. [Q15 



lie on 

:is 



Frank W. Hall, Rankin, farmer, section 25, was bora in Mai 
the 6th of March, 1844. His father moved to this state when he w„ 
but three years old. He enlisted in 1802 with Co. C, 1st 111. Light 
Artillery, and served two years and eleven months. He was in the 
battles of Chickamauga, Corinth, Stone River, Lookoul Mountain, Mis- 
sion Ridge, Atlanta, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Dallas (Texas), Peach- 
tree Creek and Jonesboro, 'and was mustered oul at Springfield. He 
was married in the spring of 1872 to Elisabeth Johnston, who was 
born in Ohio in 1852. They are the parents of two children: Carrie 
B., born May 10, 1876, and Augusta M., horn February 26, L879. 
Mr. Hall has held the office of school-director and road commissioner 
five years, and this position he still fills. 

John F. Campbell, Rankin, inn-keeper and real-estate agent, was 
born in Monongalia county, Virginia, on the 11th of December, L821. 
His early life was spent on a farm engaged in the ordinary duties that 
attend an agriculturist's occupation. He came to Edgar county, this 
state, in 1846, and settled near Paris, and in 1848 removed to Danville. 
He has been twice married : first to Elisabeth David, on the 14th of 
October, 1847. She was born in Vermilion county in 1827, and died 
in 1849. Jennie was born to them. Mr. Campbell was united, in 
1860, to Margaret Baxter, who was born in Shelby county, Indiana. 
Mr. Campbell came to Rankin in 1872, and built the first hotel, which 
he has been running since; also, in addition to this, he has been doing 
a good real-estate business. He is a republican and a Methodist. 

Jesse S. Piles, Pellsville, farmer, section 11, was born in Preble 
county, Ohio, on the 14th of August, 1824. His father died when he 
was but thirteen years of age, and, until he reached the age of twenty- 
two, he helped his brothers to manage the farm. In 1854 he came to 
this state, and settled on the farm which he still holds, being the first 
settler in Butler township. He was married in Indiana, in 1857, to 
Phcebe Bales. They have had five children : John H., Margaret, 
Emily, Nancy and Anna. Mr. Piles has held the office of postmaster 
three years. His political views are republican, and in religion he is a 
Methodist. 

H. M. Ludden (of the firm of H. M. Ludden & Co.), East Lynne, 
dry-goods and grocery merchant, was born in Franklin county, Massa- 
chusetts, on the 3d of August, 1843. He built the first store-house in 
East Lynne, and started the first store. He enlisted in 1862 in ( !o. 1\. 
76th 111. Inf., and served three years. He was in several skirmishes. 
Mr. Ludden came to this state in 1855, and remained until 1865, when 
he returned to Massachusetts and there stayed till 1872. He was mar- 
ried in August, 1872, to Evaline Barr. She was horn in Vermonl in 



1016 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. ' 

1850. They have one child: Eva L. Mr. Ludden is at present justice 
of the peace, deputy postmaster and U. S. express agent. East Lynne 
owes much of its success as a business place to the energy of Mr. Lud- 
den, who is regarded as one of the best citizens of Vermilion county. 
He owns forty acres of land, worth $40 per acre. 

F. D. Travis, Pellsville, dry-goods and grocery merchant, was born 
in Indiana county, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of April, 1836. He 
commenced teaching school at the age of twenty, and taught six years 
in succession. He came to this state in 1856 and commenced the mer- 
cantile business. He was married in Indiana to Mary L. Jones, on the 
21st of April, 1859. She was born in Illinois on the 25th of March, 
1841. They had two children by this union, both deceased : William 
A., born on the 4th of January, 1860, and died on the 19th of Septem- 
ber, 1867, and Walter, born on the 26th of October, 1868, and died on 
the 25th of September, 1869. Mr. Travis has been on the school board 
since the district was organized. He feeds and ships some hogs. Mr. 
Ti'avis is regarded as one of the best business men in Vermilion county, 
and is respected by all. He is a democrat and a Presbyterian. 

J. H. Schwartz, Rankin, farmer, section 30, was born in Lancaster 
county, Pennsylvania, in July, 1809, and early learned the hatter's 
trade. He came to this state in 1856 and commenced farming. He 
was one of the first settlers in Butler township, and was its first 
supervisor, and held the office of road commissioner two years. He 
was married in 1831 to Catharine Wyand. She was born in Pennsyl- 
vania in October, 1806. They had by this union nine children, three 
of whom are living: Elisabeth E., now wife of Lewis John, of this 
township ; Daniel A. and William H. Mr. Schwartz lost one son in 
the late war. He is one of the most useful men in this county, taking 
an active part in every enterprise that comes up. He stands well in 
the church to which he belongs, and in the community at large. He 
owns two hundred acres, valued at $30 per acre. He is a republican 
and Methodist. 

Elbridge G. Hancock, Rankin, farmer, section 11, was born in Mer- 
rimack county, New Hampshire, on the 4th of December, 1840. His 
father died when he was but three years old. He lived three years 
with his uncle and three with his guardian, working on the farm during 
the summer and attending school during the winter. He came to 
this state in 1858 and settled in Tazewell county. He was married 
on the 17th of November, 1863, to Jemima Griffith. She was born in 
this state on the 26th of May, 1846. They had by this marriage two 
children, one living: Nettie B.; deceased, Frank. Mr. Hancock has 
held the office of school director ten years, assessor one term, collector 



BUTLER TOWNSHIP. 



K>17 



one term, and road commissioner one term. He owns a farm of one 
hundred and sixty acres, valued at $30 per acre, and ships a few hogs 
for the Chicago market. He is a democrat and Methodist. 

Henry Jones, Pellsville, blacksmith, was born in England, on the 
5th of March, 1838. He learned his trade when quite young, and in 
1856 came to America, and to this state in 1858, settling at Blue Grass, 
where he remained several years, and in 1873 came to Pellsville. He 
was married on the 10th of September, 1861, to Susan B. Lionberger, 
born in Virginia, on the 21st of December, 1814. They are the parents 
of three children: Emma T., born on the 7th of August, 1862, who, 
though not yet seventeen years old, is a graduate of the high school at 
Hoopeston, having attended four years; John T., born on the 16th of 
March, 1865; Grace T., born on the 29th of November, 1869. Mr. 
Jones is an enterprising citizen. He owns one hundred and twenty 
acres of well-improved farm land in Middle Fork township, worth $25 
per acre ; two town lots, blacksmith shop and a dwelling. He is a repub- 
lican and Methodist. 

T. T. Daniels, Pellsville, hardware and agricultural implements, was 
born in Logan county, Ohio, on the 2d of February, 1839. He re- 
mained on the farm until nineteen years of age, at which time his 
father died. He came to this state in 1844, and settled in Champaign 
county, where he remained until 1858. On the 29th of July, 1861, he 
enlisted in Co. 1, 2d 111. Cal. Vol., and was in the battles of Holly 
Springs, Franklin, Clinton (Louisiana), Greenville (Alabama), and at the 
sieges of Vicksburg and Ft. Blakely, also in several skirmishes. He 
has been twice married : first, to Elisabeth J. Lucas in 1870. She was 
born in Indiana in 1845, and died in 1873. They had one infant, now 
deceased. He was then married to Emma J. Hankins, on the 2d of 
February, 1876. She was born in Indiana in 1849. They have by 
this marriage one child, Marse, born on the 4th of March, 1878. Mr. 
D. is a good business man, and well respected in this community. 

J. L. McCauley, Kankin, dry goods and groceries, section 10, was 
born in Ohio on the 1st of August, 1845. His father died when he 
was quite young, leaving him to the care of his mother. He came to 
this state in 1860, and commenced business in Rankin when the village 
first started. He bought the first load of corn sold in the place. He 
has been in the dry goods and grocery business in Rankin for three 
years, and is getting a first-class trade. He owns 80 acres of land, 
worth $40 per acre, two lots, a storehouse that cost $1,400, one dwell- 
ing-house, and a half interest in one hundred acres of land in sec- 
tion 19. 

James H. Applegate, East Lynne, Farmer, section 10, was born in 



1018 HISTOEY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

Montgomery county, Indiana, on the 16th of May, 1838. He was mar- 
ried to Mary A. Armantrout on the 24th of December, 1858. She was 
born in Indiana on the 7th of April, 1836. They are the parents of 
four children : Henry E., Edwin A., Simon L. and Ezra H. Mr. Apple- 
gate came to Illinois in 1860, and now owns a farm of two hundred 
acres, valued at $30 per acre. ,He is a deacon in the Christian church, 
and is regarded as one of the best of citizens. Mrs. Applegate's par- 
ents are natives of Virginia. 

C. D. Dewey, Pellsville, farmer, section 3, was born in La Salle 
county, Illinois, on the 28th of May, 1841. He spent his boyhood days 
on a farm, where, by his habits of industry and economy, he learned 
not only how to save property but to accumulate it. He was married 
on the 22d of April, 1863, to E. F. Blodgett. She was born in Seneca 
county, Ohio, on the 7th of July, 1840. They have two children : 
Walter H., born on the 10th of August, 1864; Frank E., born on the 
31st of May, 1868. Mr. Dewey makes a specialty of handling fine 
stock, having at present some of the best in the country. He had, 
when married, no property, and now owns one hundred and sixty acres 
of land, worth $40 per acre. He is a republican, and in religion a 
Methodist. 

John R. Bowers, Rankin, grain merchant, was born in Hamilton 
county, Ohio, on the 11th of August, 1823. He moved with his father 
to Indiana when fourteen years old, and in 1858 came to this state and 
remained one year. He then returned to Indiana, where he remained 
until 1864, at which time he returned to this state, where he has re- 
mained since. He commenced the grain trade in 1872, and handled in 
one year $25,000 worth of grain. He has been twice married : first, 
to Phoebe Hains, in 1848. She was born in Ohio in 1826, and died in 
1863. They had five children, four now living : John H., Charles L., 
Warren C. and William. The deceased, Lizzie. He was then married 
to Laura Pine in 1864. She was born in Indiana in 1843. They have 
had seven children, four living: Henry C, Mary E., Lina, Edward, 
and three infants deceased. 

O. F. Taylor, Pellsville, physician, was born in Champaign county, 
Ohio, on the 21st of March, 1841, and remained home with his parents 
until twelve years of age. He came to this state in 1849, and com- 
menced the study of medicine in 1864. He attended the Bennett Med- 
ical College one term, and the Rush Medical College two terms, at the 
expiration of which he received a diploma for the practice of medicine. 
He first practiced in Peoria for six months, and then came to this 
township, where he has been since, and has had quite an extensive 
practice, which has been attended with good success. He was married 



BUTLER TOWNSHIP. [QJ9 

on the 31st of December, 1867, to Nellie Clark, who was born in Ver- 
mont, on the 10th of May, 1845. They have had two children by this 
union, one living: Freddie, born on the 16th of September, 1873." The 
Doctor is a republican and a Methodist. 

Charles Stamp, Pellsville, farmer, section 14, was born in Steuben 
county, New York, on the 14th of October, 1842. In 1865 he enlisted 
in the late war, in Co. E, 149th 111. Inf. Vol. He served one year, 
doing picket duty. Was married to Lizzie Jones in 1867. They are 
the parents of three children : Rosa, Frank and John. Mr. Stamp has 
held the office of constable one term. He had but little property with 
which to start out in life, but by economy, industry and good manage- 
ment, now owns one hundred and sixty acres of well-cultivated land, 
worth $35 per acre. He is a republican, and as regards religion, enter- 
tains liberal views. His parents were natives of New York. 

John L. Anderson, Pellsville, farmer, section 3, was born in Sweden, 
on the 4th of April, 1841. He came with his father to America in 
1852, settling in Indiana, where he remained until 1866. In 1862 he 
enlisted in Co. H, 72d Mounted Inf., and served three years, being in 
the battles of Chickamauga and Atlanta ; was in a skirmish with the 
guerillas, and was with Wilson on one of his raids. He belonged to 
the division that captured Jeff Davis, and was mustered out at Nash- 
ville, Tennessee. He was married on the 6th of June, 1868, to Ida 
Bergren, born in Sweden, on the 29th of June, 1859. They are the 
parents of six children, four of whom are living: Charles A., John E., 
Oscar V. and Augustus T. ; the deceased are Joseph and one infant. 
Mr. Anderson is a republican, and in religion a Lutheran. He owns 
eighty acres of land, worth $30 per acre. 

B. L. Adamson, Pellsville, farmer, was born in Marion county, Ohio, 
on the 18th of June, 1849. For some years he assisted his father in 
farming and running a saw-mill, and then moved to Indiana, where he 
remained some time, and then went back to Ohio, and after staying 
awhile, in 1869 came to this state, and settled in Champaign county, 
where he stayed three years. He carried the United States mail one 
year from Paxton to Rossville, and then went into mercantile business 
in Rankin, but after being in this business three years was burned out. 
However, he rebuilt, and continued his business for one year, and then 
went to farming. He was married on the 10th of August, 1871, to 
Mary Wilson. She was born in Indiana in 1848. They are the 
parents of four children: Anna M., Maude, Emma G. and Alice J. 
Mr. Adamson is a republican ; is an industrious young man, and highly 
respected by the community. 

George Stamp, Pellsville, farmer, section 10, was born in New York 



1020 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

on the 7th of August, 1828. He came to this state with his father in 
1854, and settled near Chrisman, Edgar county, where he remained 
fifteen years. He then, in 1869, came to this township, where he has 
since remained. He was married to Sarah Bacon in December, 1855. 
She was born in New York state. They have had six children, five of 
whom are living : Charles A., Edward B., Riley, Ira and Arthur B. 
Mr. Stamp has held the offices of school director and road commissioner. 
In 1863 he enlisted in the 79th 111. Inf. Yol., and was in the battles of 
Buzzard's Roost, Dalton, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta and Jonesbor- 
ough. He was captured by Wheeler's men, and paroled. He served 
three years, and was mustered out at Nashville, Tennessee. He owns 
eighty acres of land, worth $30 per acre. He is a republican and 
Baptist. 

Andrew F. Wardlaw, Pellsville, farmer, was born in Warren county, 
Kentucky, on the 5th of June, 1827. He came to this state in 1841, 
and settled in Putnam county, where he remained until 1869, when 
he removed to Vermilion county. He was married on the 5th of Sep- 
tember^ 1850, to Nancy J. Moon, who was born in Menard county, 
Illinois, on the 26th of March, 1831. They are the parents of three 
children: Sarah J., born on the 16th of June, 1851, now wife of W. 
H. Lyon, of Butler township; Artiemissa, born on the 23d of January, 
1854; Charley T., born on the 29th of June, 1858. Mr. Wardlaw has 
held the office of school director five, and pathmaster four years. In 
1862 he enlisted in the war, in Co. E, 4th 111. Cav., and was wounded 
in the shoulder in the battle of Coffeeville. He was in several skirm- 
ishes, and served two years and nine months. Mr. Wardlaw is a 
republican and a Presbyterian. 

Owen S. Rollins, Pellsville, mechanic and carpenter, was born in 
New Hampshire, on the 25th of May, 1836. He worked in his father's 
mill until tyenty-one years of age. He then learned the cabinet- 
maker's trade, and then that of the carpenter. He came to this state 
in 1866, settling in Bureau county, where he remained till 1868, when 
he removed to Champaign county, and there stayed two years. He 
then moved to Blue Grass, and then to Pellsville. Mr. Rollins has 
been twice married : first to Louisa A. Tilton, on the 14th of Decem- 
ber, 1855. She was born in New Hampshire, on the 26th of Septem- 
ber, 1835, and died in 1865. They had one child, which died in June, 
1856. Mr. Rollins was then married to Izalinda Moore, in September, 
1869. She was born in 1847. They have by this marriage five chil- 
dren : Harry, Berton, Eddy, Helen B., Halycon. Mr. Rollins is a 
republican and a Methodist. 

M. C. Small, East Lynne, farmer and stock-dealer, section 23, was 



BUTLER TOWNSHIP. 



lM'Jl 



born in Montgomery county, Indiana, on the 10th of October, 1833. 
He came to this state in 1870. He was married on the 21st of Decem- 
ber, 1869, to Sarah M. McA lister. She was born in Indiana in 1842. 
They have two children: Laura E. and Charley E. Mr. Small has 
held the offices of school trustee and school director; has also been 
deacon in the Christian church. He fattens and ships from fifty to one 
hundred head of hogs a year, and handles some cattle. He is a repub- 
lican in politics. 

George Ensminger, Pellsville, wagon-maker, was born in Perry 
county, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of November, 1836, and came to 
this state in 1872, settling in Pellsville. He has been twice married : 
first to Angeline C. Snyder, in 1862. She was also born in Perry 
county, Pennsylvania. She died in 1870. They had two children by 
this marriage: Mary S., born in 1863, and Aaron B. S., born in 1864. 
He was then married to Matilda J. Casise, in 1873. She was born in 
Perry county, Pennsylvania. Mr. Ensminger is doing a good business, 
being the only wagon-maker in the village. He owns seven lots, a 
dwelling and wagon-shop in Pellsville. He is a democrat, and in 
religion entertains liberal views. 

Benjamin R. Cole, Rankin, dry goods and groceries, was born in 
St. Joseph county, Indiana, on the 9th of February, 1841. His father 
died when he was fifteen years old. In the late war he enlisted in Co. C, 
73d. Ind. Inf., as private, but was soon after promoted to orderly ser- 
geant. He served thirty-five months, and was in the battles of Perrvs- 
ville, Kentucky, Stone River, and several other battles. He was taken 
prisoner near Richmond, and was taken to Indianapolis and exchanged. 
Mr. Cole was married to Elisabeth Hays on the 27th of May, 1866. 
She was born near Crawfordsville, Indiana, on the 24th of June, 1846. 
Mr. Cole has held the office of town clerk one term, and has been post- 
master for the past four years. He commenced the mercantile business 
in Rankin in 1874. A few years ago he had but little property, but 
by his honesty, perseverance and economy, now owns eighty acres of 
land, worth $2,000, and has about $7,000 invested in his store. He is 
a republican and Methodist. 

F. M. Hall, East Lynne, grain merchant, was born in Maine, and 
was raised on a farm. He came to this state in 1848, and first settled 
in La Salle county. He remained there twenty-seven years, and then 
came to this county, and, in 1878, went into the grain business in East 
Lynne. He enlisted in the late war in August, 1862, in Co. D, 104th 
111. Inf. Vol., and served until the close of the war. He was in the 
battles of Hartsville, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge 
and Resaca. Mr. Hall has been twice married: first, to Addie L Kel- 



1022 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

ley, in October, 1865. She was born in Ohio in 1843. They had three 
children : Arthur, Eva R. and Claudie B. He was then married to 
Ella F. Wilson on the 26th of April, 1877. She was born in Illinois 
in 1856. Mr. Hall has held the office of constable one term, and town- 
ship collector one term. He owns two hundred acres of land half a 
mile from East Lynne, valued at $35 per acre. He is a republican and 
a Baptist. 

Bradley Butterfield, Rankin, farmer and carpenter, was born in Ben- 
nington county, Vermont, on the 24th of December, 1829. He came 
to this state in 1854, and settled in Putnam county, where he remained 
for sixteen years, working at the carpenter's trade. He came to this 
county in 1870. He was married on the 14th of February, 1861, to 
Priscilla Gurned, born in 1829. They are the parents of two chil- 
dren, one living, Edwin S. ; deceased, James W. Mr. Butterfield has 
held the office of township collector and constable. He is at present 
supervisor. He owns one hundred and forty-five acres of land, worth 
$35 per acre. His father was a native of New Hampshire ; his mother, 
of Massachusetts. He is a republican. 

Justin S. Hall, East Lynne, farmer, section 15, was born in Maine, 
on the 24th of April, 1840. When he was eight years old he came 
with his father to this state, settling in La Salle county, where he re- 
mained twenty years, farming and teaching. He then moved to Liv- 
ingston county, where he stayed six years, and came to this county in 
1874. He enlisted in 1862 in Co. B, 104th 111. Inf. Vol., and was in 
the battle of Hartsville. He served three months, and was discharged 
on account of sickness. Mr. Hall was married on the 28th of Janu- 
ary, 1869, to Sarah M. Stanford. She was born in La Salle county, on 
the 7th of May, 1845. They are the parents of three children, two 
living: Emery S. and Ralph E. ; deceased, Elber J. Mr. Hall owns 
one hundred and sixty acres of land, worth $25 per acre. He has held 
the offices of town clerk, supervisor of township, and road commissioner. 
He is a republican and Baptist. Mrs. Hall is a Congregationalism 

E. H. Whitham, Rankin, banker and grain merchant, was born in 
Coshocton county, Ohio, on the 8th of November, 1847. He spent his 
early life on a farm, and his educational advantages were only those of 
common district school. He came with his father to this state in 1866, 
and in 1875 settled in Rankin, commencing his banking business and 
grain buying. He was married to Elisabeth George in January, 1879. 
She was born in Ohio. Mr. Whitham is a republican and a Presby- 
terian. His father, a native of Virginia, was a very noted minister of 
Presb}^terian church. He owns sixteen lots and a house and bank in 
Rankin. Mrs. Whitham's parents were natives of Ohio. 



BUTLER TOWNSHIP. . 1023 

N". R. Hall, East Lynne, farmer, was born in the state of Maine on 
the 13th of December, 1844, where he remained until 1848, when the 
family of which he was a member removed to this state, settling in 
La Salle county. Here Mr. Hall was married to S. Augusta Knapp, 
a native of the count} 7 named. They are the parents of three children : 
George W., Lucia K. and S. Lloyd N. In 1875 the family removed to 
East Lynne, since which time Mr. Hall has been engaged in handling 
hardware, lumber and agricultural implements, in addition to his orig- 
inal business — that of farming. By industry and economy he has 
acquired quite a competency, being possessed of considerable propert}' 
in and about the village. 

C. B. Eells, Rankin, farmer, section 25, was born in La Salle county, 
Illinois. His father was one of the pioneers of this county. He was 
with the Indians, and for two years did not see the face of a white 
man. Mr. Eells assisted his father on the farm in La Salle county until 
the year 1875, having been previous^' married to Francis E. Maines. 
She was born in New York on the 24th of July, 1847. They are the 
parents of three children : Nellie, Manford and Milton C. Mr. Eells 
has held the office of school director. His grandfather was in the 
Black Hawk war. 

James Sloan, Rankin, farmer, section 5, was born in Ireland on the 
15th of June, 1846. He came to America in 1854, and settled in 
Ohio, where he remained for a period of twelve years, engaging in 
farming pursuits. He then moved to Cass county, Illinois, where he 
remained ten years, and then, in 1876, came to this county, where he 
has. since resided. He was married to Matilda Simpson in 1875. She 
was born in Ireland. They have two children : John C. and Lillie J. 
Mr. Sloan is a republican, and in religion a Presbyterian. He owns 
eighty acres of land. 

Aaron D. Darnall, East Lynne, attorn ey-at-1 aw, was born in Edgar 
county, Illinois, on the 20th of February, 1847, being a son of the Rev. 
Aaron Darnall, of that county, who was born in Bourbon county, Ken- 
tucky, in 1809, and was one of the pioneers of Edgar county ; also was 
a Baptist minister of considerable note. The subject of this sketch, in 
1875, commenced reading law with R. N". Bishop, of Paris, Illinois. 
After attending Ann Arbor law school one year, he was admitted to 
the bar in 1877, and has been practicing since, bidding fair to rank 
high in his chosen profession. He was married on the 29th of August, 
1878, to Catharine A. Rice. She was born in Putnam county, Illinois, 
on the 15th of January, 1855. They have one child, Oliver Leslie, 
born on the 15th of March, 1879. Mr. Darnall is a democrat, and in 
religion a Baptist. 



1024 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

John B. Hazel, Rankin, practicing physician, was born in Cham- 
paign county, Ohio, in 1843. He remained on the farm until he was 
sixteen years of age, at which time he commenced attending medical 
lectures, first at the Rush Medical College, at Chicago, during one 
course. In 1862 he enlisted in the late war, in Co. I, Zuaves, and 
served until the close of the war. He then resumed his studies, and at 
the expiration of two years received a diploma for the practice of med- 
icine from the college before mentioned. He commenced business in 
Farmer City, Illinois, and then went to Penfield, where he met with 
eminent success for seven years. He came to Rankin in 1878, and is 
here meeting much encouragement. In 1868 he was married to Miss 
D. Rollins, a native of Champaign county. They have one child : 
Hallie. 

N. F. Ketcham, Pellsville, lumber merchant, was born in Roches- 
ter, New York, on the 24th of April, 1829. His chances for an early 
education were good, having attended the Baptist Seminary, of New 
York, and the Methodist Seminary, of Ohio. He was married in 1854, 
to Helen A. Wilkinson, born in Waterloo, New York. They have had 
five children, four of whom are living : D. Ernest, born on the 6th of 
August, 1855 ; Clara A., born on the 4th of June, 1857 ; Lottie, born 
on the 21st of July, 1860 ; M. Cassias, born on the 15th of April, 
1863 ; Charley, born on the 27th of November, 1867, and died in 1868. 
When he came to this state, in 1864, he settled in Kankakee, where 
he was deputy circuit clerk three years. He has in Vermilion county 
held the offices of town clerk and of deputy circuit clerk one term. He 
is steward and class leader in the Methodist church, and has taught 
school twenty different terms. He commenced the lumber business in 
Pellsville in 1878. 



- SIDELL TOWNSHIP. 

The township of Sidell occupies the southwestern corner of the 
county, having Edgar and Champaign counties respectively for its 
southern and western boundaries, and Yance on its northern and Car- 
roll on its eastern sides. Until 1867 it formed a portion of Carroll 
township for political purposes. When it was erected into a separate 
township the name was given to it in honor of Hon. John Sidell, who 
owned an extensive farm here. The valley of the Little Vermilion, 
here an inconsiderable stream, runs nearly through its center, having 
the ridges or strips of high land which bound this valley on the north- 
ern and southern boundaries of the township. This beautiful valley, 



SIDELL TOWNSHIP. 1025 

more of a basin in appearance here, because so nearly destitute of trees, 
encloses within its pale some of the richest farming lands of Vermilion 
county. It was all originally prairie, except six small groves, aggre- 
gating less than two square miles of timber land. For this reason 
alone it failed to attract attention for the first twenty years of the coun- 
ty's history. The little groves had been taken, but the broad expanse 
of prairie, which forms the real wealth of this prairie township, was in- 
habited only by those pestiferous things which are disastrous alike to 
the peace of man and beast. Perhaps there never was, in the same 
range of country, so many inhuman flies as only a few years ago lived 
and made day noxious in the limits of this prairie basin of the Little 
Vermilion, now known as Sidell. "Flies till you couldn't rest" is a 
mild way of putting it. During the month of August people found it 
necessary to travel by night to save their horses from being almost 
eaten up. 

There were a few scattering residents in the township before 1850, 
but it was not until 1855 to 1860 that anything like general cultiva- 
tion can be said to have taken place. In 1853 Michael Sullivant, whose 
recent sudden death, followed so close upon the loss of his large prop- 
erty, was so startling, began making his large entries of land in this 
and the adjoining counties. He entered forty-seven thousand acres 
lying in a body in Sidell township and in Champaign county. About 
the same time he entered over fifty thousand acres in Ford and Living- 
ston counties. The portion which was in Sidell came into possession 
of his son Joseph, and he has from that time been managing it as a 
stock farm until last year. The Sullivant land in Champaign county, 
after having been brought into cultivation, was sold to Mr. Alexander, 
when Mr. Sullivant concluded to bring his large farm, lying in Ford 
and Livingston counties, into cultivation. His ambition was to have a 
large farm arid work it by hired help. No portion of his land was 
leased, and he depended entirely on the grain that he raised and the 
sale of it. 

The farming operations of Joseph, in Sidell, were of a different 
nature. He went largely into cattle feeding with very fair results and 
flattering prospects. About 1867 the attention of farmers here was 
first called to the cheap cattle in Texas and the Indian Nation, where 
upon the large prairies they were raised cheaply until three or four 
years old, and then collected and driven across the country to be grass- 
fed, and then grain-fed. The increasing demand for cattle, the reduced 
range in Illinois, and the other circumstances consequent upon Illinois 
emerging from a " state of nature," had so restricted the supply of 
" stockers " that cattle-men began looking elsewhere for them. The 
65 



1026 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 



"Texan steers" could be bought for about thirty or forty per centum 
less than the high grades which were raised here. They were hearty 
feeders, and when well fatted were worth only a trifle less than the 
short-horns. Here then was a sufficient inducement for men who, like 
Mr. Sullivant, had large tracts like this Sidell farm, to take cattle where 
they could buy them cheapest. It looked like a very sure road to 
fortune. Mr. Sullivant put seven hundred Texans on his farm about 
this time. These cattle, before becoming acclimated, were liable to 
what was familiarly called the "Texan fever," a disease which pre- 
vailed among them during the first summer of their life north, and 
which was so contagious that the natives here contracted it, and great 
numbers died. It was more fatal to the natives than to the Texans. 
This disease, like most of the other prevailing contagions, seems to 
have lost, with time, a portion of its virulence, and is hardly known 
now, or owing to the different treatment of the Texan herds, it has 
60 nearly ceased to exist that the present generation hears nothing of 
it. It was a terrible blow to cattle men in this state. Instances 
occurred where train loads of cattle were unloaded in consequence of 
an accident on the road, and were left to wander over the prairies for a 
day or two, thus carrying the infection, which proved fatal to all cattle 
in the vicinity. The authority of the state was invoked, and the legis- 
lature passed stringent laws forbidding the importation into the state 
of Texan cattle. This proved only a partial remedy, as, when cases 
were tried in the courts, defendants pleaded the unconstitutionality of 
the act of the state legislature, claiming that under that clause of the 
national constitution which gives congress authority " to regulate com- 
merce among the several states," the state could not interfere to regu- 
late or prohibit such importation. This had the effect to protract legal 
proceedings, and gave to the corporations a chance to worry the farmers 
out. Some of these cases are still in court. 

From this disaster Mr. Sullivant was never able to recover, and 
after years of heroic trials he saw his splendid farm sold out, and noth- 
ing was saved out of the wreck of a magnificent fortune. Edward 
Clark became the purchaser of most of the land, and still owns it. 

A few only had found homes in this township before the advent of 
Mr. Sullivant. A man by the name of Boose, about whom little is 
known, beyond that he was one of those uneasy, roving specimens who 
never do much but hunt places and game, made a settlement at Jack- 
son's Grove in 1828, but did not stay long. Bob Cruisan settled at 
Sidell's Grove a year or two later, but soon after went to Douglas 
county. Hammer and Myers were first in Jackson's Grove, but Thos. 
Brewer " entered them out " and they went away. Brewer sold to 



.' 



SIDELL TOWNSHIP. 1027 

Collett when the latter made his purchases of lands in this township. 
Josephus Collett, of Indiana, about 1844, entered the lands which 
covered the small groves along the Little Vermilion, knowing that they 
would first be in demand by actual settlers. These tracts entered by 
him included Sidell Grove, Jackson Grove, Garrett Grove, Rowan 
Grove, and probably Twin Grove. Frank Foos is supposed to have 
made the first permanent improvement in this township in 1851. He 
had lived at Marysville and had heard of the wonderful fertility of the 
valley of the Little Vermilion. When he made his improvement there, 
he was four miles " out from land " — or from neighbors, which is the 
same thing. He built a house there, and after working the place a few 
years traded it to Edward Rowan, who brought it into its present cul- 
tivation. Mr. Foos now lives in Indianola, and the farm is still in 
the possession of the heirs of Mr. Rowan. 

A cheap kind of a character by the name of Tole commenced farm- 
ing operations about the same time at Garrett's Grove, a mile upstream 
from Jackson's Grove. He was in some respects a sample of the then 
existing fault-finders, who never saw any good in their present condi- 
tion, but are always "hoping for better things." With thousands of 
acres of the best land lying around that needed only to be plowed to 
produce the most luxurious crops without further work, he spent his 
time during all the early spring, cutting off the fine timber in that 
grove, and when planting time came he went off several miles to get 
men to come and help him roll up the logs which he was unable to 
handle, so that he could burn them up. By the time he had his logs 
nicely burned up it was too late to plant ; the frost caught his crop 
when it was nicely in "roasting ears" ; and he made up his mind that 
this country was not adapted to farming, and went off to Missouri or 
some other haven for the disappointed, where he could find logs to roll 
at all seasons of the year, and where they were small enough for him 
to " skid " them. 

At that time people supposed it took six or eight yoke of oxen to 
break prairie, and did not know that the red root could be destroyed 
by hitting it with the sharp edge of a plow, even without cutting it off. 
A person who could not command a " breaking team," or pay two dol- 
lars and a half per acre for " breaking," must get along without. A 
gentleman who decided in his own mind that he could break prairie 
with a horse team, by dodging around the " red roots " as he would 
around stumps or stones, aroused so much ridicule (this was about 1853) 
that men went miles to see the trial, and to laugh at the new-fangled 
notions of a book-farmer. This was Hon. W. T. Stackpole, who has 
recently given to the world a system for the permanent improvement 



1028 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

of rivers, which is destined to work a revolution in the navigation of 
the western rivers. 

The Jacksons (Adam, William, Thomas and James) had been in 
the employ of Mr. Josephus Collett in various employments, and con- 
cluded to try farming for a while. Mr. Collett had a lot of cattle out 
on the prairies, and wanted some one to look after them. The "Jack- 
son boys" were industrious and saving, and were trusted by Mr. Col- 
lett — a trust which they never betrayed. After making a farm at 
Jackson's Grove, and remaining there a few years, somebody put it 
into their heads to think that Mr. Collett was getting the best of the 
bargain. They adopted some of the ideas of recent reformers in regard 
to capital oppressing labor, and abandoned Mr. Collett and his place, 
and purchased a small farm in Carroll township. Soon they concluded 
that they could do better on Collett's job, and came back to the Grove, 
where they have since made their home. Adam, who died in 1860, 
purchased about seven hundred acres of this land at and around the 
Grove, and it still remains in the family. The widow and children of 
Adam, and a sister, reside here. William died last year. They were 
in some respects a singular family. They would never take township 
office, and would never assume any of the responsibilities which lead- 
ing citizens usually assume. They kept their money hid away, and all 
attempts to get them to loan it " where it would do the most good " 
were unavailing. It is believed that they had gold hidden away all 
during the time of greatest inflation, only to bring it out again when 
the premium had disappeared. 

John Stark came here with his large family in 1852, and took up 
land in section 29. He was an enterprising and successful farmer, and 
much respected. He died a few years since. William still lives here, 
and his brother, J. M., is in Colorado. Two other children are in 
Colorado. Mrs. Barnett is in Indianola, and Mrs. Bennett in Sidell. 
William Gray came in 1858, and settled on section 30 in the south 
part of the township. Archibald McDowell, who was among the first 
young men who came to live in Carroll township, made his home here 
on section 33, in the south part of the town, about 1855. W. H. 
Sconce has been in the county fifty years, and has seen it grow from a 
wilderness to its present condition of wealth and importance. His 
father first settled at Brooks' Point, and in 1858 bought the land on 
section 16 of Ward H. Lamon for seven dollars and fifty cents per acre. 
William H. still remains on the farm. 

Hon. John Sidell, after whom the town was named, at the sugges- 
tion of Mr. John C. Short, owns a beautiful farm of about three thou- 
sand acres, on both sides of the Little Vermilion. He commenced life 



SIDELL TOWNSHIP. 1029 

as a carpenter, in Ohio, and advancing cautiously, with the aid of his 
clear judgment, he found himself in 1861 in possession of sufficient 
means to carry on a more extensive business in a newer country. He 
had been up and down the river a good deal, had beeu nine times to 
Iowa, and had looked over the country pretty thoroughly, until he 
found here just the place which would suit him. Alexander Kowan 
had some years before this purchased the Collett Grove property — 
about thirteen hundred acres — of Josephus Collett, and was improving 
it, when Mr. Sidell bought him out, and added to it by the purchase of 
nearly six thousand acres more. While living in Danville his wife 
died. After that he removed to the Grove, and has made this his 
home ever since. In 1873 he sold off a portion of his land to the 
amount of one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars' worth, and with 
the bounds thus reduced, he has carried on one of the largest, if not 
the largest, cattle business in Vermilion county. 

The Danville & Charleston railroad has been graded through the 
township, running almost directly in a westerly direction through it. 
There is a prospect that it will be built soon. 

The only post-office in Sidell is the one at Sidell's Grove, established 
about two years ago, of which Mrs. Sarah Webster is postmistress. 
The office is served with tri-weekly mail from Indianola. 

There are three church organizations, but none of them have church 
buildings. The Sidell appointment of the Methodist church was or- 
ganized in 1870. For some years it belonged to the Dallas circuit, but 
is now a separate appointment. Rev. J. H. Williams, a local preacher, 
is in charge, and arrangements have been made to build the corning 
season. Mr. Williams has shown great zeal and energy in his work, 
and is meeting with marked success. 

The Cumberland Presbyterian church was organized at the Sheridan 
school-house in 1875, by Rev. H. H. Ashmore. In the fall of 1874 he 
commenced preaching there on each fourth Monday. In January, 1875, 
he protracted his meeting over two Sabbaths, at which time nineteen 
persons were enrolled for membership in a church organization. The 
following persons were the first members: William Hinton and wife, 
James Allison and wife, E. Douglass and wife, A. Abbott, wife and 
two daughters, Mrs. Rawlins, Miss S. Rawlins, Miss T. Rawlins, Mrs. 
Grimes, Mrs. McDaniel, daughter and son, A. Nebb, James Hinton and 
J. Barnes. The church chose the name of Sheridan church, and was 
duly recognized by the Foster Presbytery at its session in April, 1875. 
Mr. Ashmore was chosen to supply its pulpit one fourth of the time. 
James Allison and William Hinton were elected first elders, and a year 
later David Eaton was added to the eldership. A Sabbath-school is 



L080 HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

maintained. After three years Mr. Ashmore resigned his charge, and 
Rev. James Wbitlock was employed to supply the church. 

The Methodist Episcopal "No. IV so called from being organized 
in school district No. 9, was organized in September, 1866, by Rev. 
Benjamin F. Newman. The leading members of this class were Mr. 
Welch, James Thomas, John Talbert, II. B. Gibson and Thos. Gibson. 
James Currant is class-leader, and William Ray is steward. The class 
numbers seventeen members. The Sabbath-school numbers fifty. 

The township was cut off from Carroll in 1867. W. A. Moore was 
the first supervisor, and was twice reelected. H. E. P. Talbott was 
elected in 1870, and James Thomas in 1871-2. John Sharp was 
elected in 1873, and resigned. W. A. Moore was appointed in his stead. 
H. E. P. Talbott has served since. H. Gibson was the first clerk, 
serving two years; J. II. Oak wood, one; John Smoot, three, and 
Alfred Gray, five. W. P. Witherspoon served four years as assessor, 
John Smoot three, and Mr. Witherspoon continually since. The 
justices of the peace have been Win. Gray, R. R. Smith, J. G. Colburn, 
H. E. P. Talbott, W. A. Moore and S. Gray. The commissioners of 
highways: Wm. Gray, J. M. Sul'ivant, R. E. Page, John J. Jackson, 
Win. Stark, Matthew Trimble, J. E. Allison and J. H. Parish. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

A. McDowel, Indianola, tanner and stock-raiser, section 33, was 
born in Todd county, Kentucky, on the 13th of September, 1814, and 
came with parents to Crawford county, Illinois, in about 1817. He 
came to Vermilion county in 1827. His father was a native of Green- 
brier county, Virginia, and died in Crawford county, Illinois. His 
mother also was a native of Virginia. Mr. McDowel has been twice 
married. His first wife was Mary V. llildreth. She was a native of 
Bourbon county, Kentucky, and was born in 1813. They were mar- 
ried in 1838, and she was a faithful wife and mother until her death, in 
L854. Mr. McDowel the second time married S. A. Seals, in 1800; a 
native of Edgar county, Illinois, born on the 6th of January, 1S42. 
He has live children by his former wife: Louisa, wife of Mr. Epley; 
Margaret, wife of Wm. Parish, during his life; Columbus William and 
Nancy A. James II. is deceased. By his present wife he is the father 
of John I., Alice J., Amanda, Thomas, Cyrus and Ora, and two de- 
ceased : Mary M. and George B. Mr. McDowel has been a hard 
working and energetic man, commencing without anything but good 
health and a determination to have a home. He has succeeded, for he 
now owns a tine farm of four hundred and fifty acres under good culti- 
vation, which was accomplished by his own industry. 



BIDELL TOWNSHIP. 1081 

W. W. Stark, Sidell's Grove, farmer, section 29, is a son of John 
and Mary Stark, who were natives of Bourbon county, Kentucky. 
They removed to Parke county, Indiana, at an early day. From there 
he came to Vermilion county, in about 1 828, and settled at the old 
Sandusky farm at Brook's Point, where W. W. Stark was horn, on 
the 17th of October, 1432. They removed to Side!! township in 1855, 
where they lived until their death. Mr. Stark was married on the 
10th of November, 1868, to Miss Mary, daughter of Dr. J. B. Mc- 
Hoffee; they have three daughters and one son : Viola, Blanche, Daisy 
and James P., — William B. died. Mr. Stark has crossed the plains 
several times. He went to Pike's Peak in 1859, and returned in 1862. 
He made a trip to Montana in 1804, and hack in L866, and to the 
Black Hills in 1870, where he had a fight with the Indians. He then 
went to Colorado, and spent the summer, ami then returned home, 
where he has been engaged in farming. Mr. Stark is a member of 
the A.F. & A.M., and in politics is a democrat. 

William P. McDowel, Indianola, Illinois, farmer, section 29, was 
born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 7th of September, 1839. 
His father is one of the early settlers of the county. Mr. McDowel 
married, in 1804, Miss Sarah Ramsy, daughter of Thomas Ramsy 
She was born in Miami county, Ohio, in 1844, and the result of their 
union is six children: Ella, Effie, Evaline, Jessie, Tillie, Nellie, living, 
and two deceased: Katie and Pell. Mr. McDowel owns two hundred 
and eighty acres of land, and his political views are democratic. 

H. E. P. Talbott, Sidell's Grove, farmer, section 9, is a son of Au- 
gaustine and Drusilla (Parker) Talbott, who were natives of Kentucky. 
They came to Madison county, Ohio, in 1820, where the subject of our 
sketch was born, on the 7th of August, 1831. His father died in that 
county, and he and his mother came to Vermilion county, in 1851, 
where his mother died, in 1804. Mr. Talbott served in the late war, 
in Co. G, 79th Ind. Vol. He was in the battle of Perryville, and was 
discharged on account of disabilities received. He returned to Indi- 
ana and remained one year, and then came to Vermilion again in 1800. 
Mr. Talbott was united in marriage in 1807, to Miss Lucy E. Utter- 
back, daughter of H. Utterback. She is a native of Ralls county, Mis- 
souri, born in 1841. The result of this union is two sons and one 
daughter: Augustine, Hugh II. and Sarah E. Mr. Talbott is a mem- 
ber of the Capitol Lodge, Indianapolis, Indiana, 124, I.O.O.F., and 
Mrs. T. is a member of the M. E. church. Mr. Talbott has been hon- 
ored by the citizens of his township with the office of justice of the 
peace and supervisor. He is a staunch republican. 

William Gray, Palermo, Edgar county, farmer, section 30, is a son 



1032 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

of Lewis and Mary Gray, who were natives of New Jersey, but of 
English descent, and came to Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1800. They 
then went to Butler county, Ohio, where ¥m. Gray was born, on the 
9th of May, 1816. Mr. Gray remained at his birthplace until after his 
marriage, in 1841. His wife was Miss Sarah A. Harmon, daughter of 
Samuel and Mary Harmon, who were of German and Scotch descent, 
and came to Warren county, Ohio, in an early day. This was the 
birth-place of Mrs. Gray, who was born on the 14th of October, 1822. 
Mr. Gray removed to Clinton county, Indiana, in 1844, where he en- 
gaged in farming for some time, and in 1859 removed to Vermilion 
county, Illinois, where he has been known as an energetic and public- 
spirited man, and respected by the community in which he lives. He 
has raised a respectable family of one son and four daughters : Mary J., 
wife of J. Mills ; Alfred ; Elizabeth A., wife of J. Wilson ; Clara L. ; 
Alice, wife of S. Gurthrie. The deceased members of his family are* 
Harvey, who died while in the rebellion ; William H., Milton and 
Sarah. Mr. Gray served the people as justice of peace seven years, 
and in other minor offices of the township. He is in his political views 
a republican. 

What is usually termed genius has little to do with the success of 
men in general. Keen perception, sound judgment and a determined 
will, backed by persevering and continuous effort, are essential ele- 
ments to success in any calling, and their possessor is sure to accom- 
plish the ends hoped for in the days of his youth. Our subject is 
another example of what can be accomplished by honest, steady and 
industrious application to business, and his name is worthy a place in 
history. John Sidell was born in Washington county, Maryland, on 
the 27th of June, 1816. His father died when he was eight years of 
age, and he remained in his native county until nineteen years old, 
working by the month on a farm. For the first month he received 
one and a half dollars, and, not being satisfied, in 1838 he came to 
Greene county, Ohio, which place he reached with but nineteen dol- 
lars and a limited supply of clothes. He was soon engaged to work 
on a farm for twelve dollars per month, and as soon as he had saved 
enough money, came west on horseback, passing through Illinois and 
into Iowa, not finding a location at that time. He returned to Ohio, 
this time taking a contract to cut wood for thirty-three and one-third 
cents per cord, this being the hardest work he ever undertook. This 
was his starting-point of success, for from that time on he became a 
dealer in stock, and since he came to this county (1860) has been one 
of the largest stock-dealers in the county. Mr. Sidell has been twice 
married. His first wife was Elizabeth Cline. They were married on 



SIDELL TOWNSHIP. 1033 

the 20th of January, 1846. She was a native of Greene county, Ohio, 
born on the 16th of December, 1823, and died on the 1st of May, 1854. 
He was married the second time to Miss Ada B. Eansom, on the 20th 
of January, 1857, a native of Canada, born on the 15th of June, 1837, 
and remained his wife until her death, on the 4th of October, 1868. 
He is the father of one son and one daughter by his first wife: George 
A. and Allie E., and, by his second wife, three: Jennie H., Joseph 
J., and Lula B. Mr. Sidell has served the people of the county as 
representative. He was a whig until the organization of the republican 
party, when he joined its ranks. 

W. P. Witherspoon, Fairmount, farmer, section 20, was born in 
Morgan county, Alabama, on the 4th of November, 1825, and came 
with his parents to Gibson county, Indiana, in 1828, where his occupa- 
tion was that of a farmer. He remained there until 1861, and then 
removed to Vermilion county, where he has resided, as one of the 
prominent citizens of Sidell township. His father was born in Virginia 
in 1798, and died in Gibson county, Indiana, in 1862. His mother 
was a native of Alabama, and was born in 1833. Mr. W. has been 
three times married. His first wife was Julie Lynn, and they were 
was married in 1847. She was a native of Gibson county, Indiana. He 
married the second time, to Sitha McDaniel, in 1850. She was also a 
native of Gibson county, and was born in 1834, and died in 1877. 
Both wives died with consumption. His present wife was M. Orr, a 
native of Indiana, and they were married in 1878. He is the father of 
eight children by his second wife: John D., George W., Lawrence M., 
Hattie R., Elmer E., Mable, Nora R., Lillie A., and two dead: James 
M. and William C. Mr. W. has served as assessor of Sidell township, 
and collector, and other offices of the township. He and his wife are 
members of the M. E. church, and he is a republican. 

A. W. White,' Broadlands, Champaign county, farmer, section 35, is 
a descendant of the first of the Whites that came to America on the 
Mayflower. They were of English descent. Mr. A. W. White was 
born in Pickaway county, Ohio, on the 20th of March, 1843. He came 
to Champaign county in 1861, but returned soon after, and attended 
military college, from which he graduated in 1863. During this time 
he was in active service under McClellan in the summer of 1862, and 
in the spring of 1863 he was commissioned first-lieutenant of the 7th 
Ohio Cav., and was detached as body-guard to the President during the 
war. He was at the siege of Richmond, and was engaged in the second 
battle of Bull Run and Harper's Ferry. Mr. White returned to Illi- 
nois after the close of the war, and in 1870 was married to Miss Lora 
J. Stevens, daughter of Dr. H. Stevens. She was born in Champaign 



1034 HISTOKY OF VERMILION COUNTY. 

count}', Illinois, on the 7th of July, 1850. They have three children : 
Rena E., Clara E., and Florence. 

C. L. Eaton, Broadlands, Illinois, farmer, is the son of Benjamin 
and Hannah Eaton, who were of English descent and were natives of 
Massachusetts. They removed to Ross county, Ohio, in about 1818, 
where C. L. Eaton was born in 1820. He received his education and 
remained there until 1854, then made a trip to Europe and Australia, 
and returned in 1860. In 1861 he came to Champaign county, Illinois, 
where he was manager of twenty -five thousand acres of land for the 
Broadland estate until 1871. He then came to Vermilion county. Mr. 
Eaton represented Franklin county, Ohio, and the city of Columbus 
in 1853-54 in the legislature of that state. He was formerly a whig 
until the organization of the republican party; he then joined its 
ranks, where he has acted without any cause of regret. Mr. Eaton has 
the confidence and respect of those with whom he comes into business 
relations. He has seen much of the world, and is wide awake to all 
matters of public concern. 






BUSINESS DIRECTORY. 



DANVILLE. 

Abdill Bros., dealers in hardware, 

stoves, tinware, paints, etc., 57 

Vermilion st. 
Abdill L. B., bookseller, stationer 

and music dealer, 55 Vermilion 

street. 
iEtna House, W. G. Sherman, 

proprietor. 
Amber Mills, D. Gregg, proprie- 
tor. 
Arkansas and Texas Railway 

Land Co., 2d floor 105 Main st. 
Bandy Win., money broker, 41 

Vermilion st. 
Baldwin C. V., dentist, Opera 

House, Vermilion st. 
Bahls Wm., dealer in boots and 

shoes, 166 Main st. 
Baum W. F., dealer in drugs, 

fancy goods, etc., north side of 

square. 
Beard John, dealer in groceries, 

provisions and glassware, corner 

South and College sts. 
Beyer Peter, manufacturer and 

dealer in boots, shoes and hides, 

73 Main st. 
Black & Blackburn, attorneys- 

at-law, 99 Main st. 
Black Bros., dealers in dry goods 

and groceries, 109 Main st. 
Blankenburg & Bro., proprie- 
tors of the ^Etna House billiard 

hall and saloon. 
Blankenburg A., dlr. in watches, 



clocks and jewelry, 60 Vermilion 
street. 

Bowers Samuel, proprietor City 
Mills. 

Bowman Alex., surveyor and 
civil engineer, adjoining court- 
house, Main st. 

Brand Wm. F., dealer in mill- 
inery and fancy notions, 54 Ver- 
milion st. 

Brandenberger Matthias, 
plain and ornamental painter. 

Breedhoft Bros., dealers in gro- 
ceries and provisions, 153 E. Main 
street. 

Brown W. A., physician and sur- 
geon. 

Burroughs Eph., blacksmith. 

Button F. W., manufacturer of 
steam boilers, office and factory 
near Wabash depot. 

Carnahan W. M., dealer in gro- 
ceries and provisions, cor. Mill 
and Bridge sts. 

Clark H. H., physician and sur- 
geon; specialties: surgery and dis- 
eases of the eye, Gernand's block. 

Clark Joshua M., dealer in staple 
and fancy dry goods, 66 Vermil- 
ion st. 

Clements W. A., dealer in gro- 
ceries and provisions, 54 Vermil- 
ion st. 

Goffeen & Pollock, successors to 
H. A. Coffeen, booksellers and 
stationers, 101 Main street. 



1036 



BUSINESS DIKECTORY. 



Cox A. J., proprietor of the Globe 
Shoeing Shop. 

Daines George W., real-estate 
agent, Gernand's block. 

Danforth E. R. & Co., dealers 
in groceries and provisions, 36 
Vermilion st. 

Danville Foundry, Machine 
and Boiler Works, William 
Stewart, proprietor, office and 
works at Danville Junction. 

Danville Lumber and Manu- 
facturing Co., E. A. Leonard, 
president. 

Danville Woolen Mills, corner 
Mill and Madison sts., Riggs & 
Menig, proprietors. 

Dickason & English, dealers in 
grain and railroad timber. 

Dent & Black, attorneys-at-law, 
Major Block, cor. Madison and 
La Salle sts., Chicago. 

Doll E. J., manufacturer of pegged 
and sewed boots, 121 E. Main st. 

Donnelly F. & J., dealers in gro- 
ceries and provisions. 

Draper E. J., dealer in groceries 
and provisions. 

Dudenhofer Geo., dealer in ci- 
gars and tobacco, 76 Main st. 

Dwight C. R., dentist, Lincoln 
Opera House block. 

Elliott Thomas J., dealer in dry- 
goods and notions, 70 Main st. 

Ellsworth Coal Co., A. C. Dan- 
iel, superintendent. 

Evans D. D.,attorney-at-law,over 
First National Bank. 

Feldkamp Charles U., manu- 
facturing confectioner and dealer 
in fruits and tobacco, Vermilion 
street. 

Fenton C. B., dealer in hardware, 
stoves and tinware. 



Field J. E., merchant tailor, Main 
street. 

First National Bank, J. G. Eng- 
lish, president. 

Fithian Wm., physician and sur- 
geon, Lincoln Opera House build- 
ing. 

Frantz J. S., druggist and apoth- 
ecary, 135 East Main st. 

Ganor M., dealer in delphi, white 
lime, cement, etc., cor. Main and 
Hazel sts. 

Garland A. C, prop, of stone 
saw-mill and tile factory. 

Giddings C. H., dealer in ice. 

Giddings & Patterson, dealers 
in iron, steel, carriage and wagon 
stock, corner Main and Franklin 
streets. 

Gillam I. N., physician and sur- 
geon. 

Gillett R. W., physician, ^Etna 
House block. 

Glindmeier C. & H., cooperage 
and cooper's stock, near Wabash 
railway depot. 

Good & Cowan, dealers in har- 
ness and saddles, 38 Vermilion st. 

Guy Asa H. & C. V., abstracts, 
court-house. 

Hall J. A. &, Son, druggists and 
pharmacists, 68 Vermilion st. 

Hankey & Hooton, dealers in 
lumber, west end of Main st. 

Hacker C. F. &. Bro., dealers in 
dry goods and groceries, 141 Main 
street. 

Hawes & Williams, china, glass 
and Queensware, 78 Main st. 

Henton C, D., physician. 

Hesse Chas., contractor and pro- 
prietor of the Hesse House. 

Hill J. L., contractor and builder. 

Holden John G., lumber mer- 



BUSINESS DIRECTORY. 



1037 



chant, east side of Hazel, between 
Main and North. 

Hollaway S. B., proprietor of the 
Omnibus line, half square north 
of ^Etna House. 

Holloway J. R. & C. B., dealers 
in dry goods and notions, north- 
west corner of Main andWalnutst. 

Holt on G. L., gardener and coal 
operator, west side North Fork, 
one mile from court-house. 

Hull & Hulce, dealers in agricul- 
tural implements and seeds, 125 
and 127 Main st. 

Irwin F. G., druggist, cor. Main 
and Hazel sts. 

James L., contractor and builder. 

Johns & Giddings, dealers in 
groceries and queensware, 115 
Main st. 

Jones Geo. Wheeler, physician, 
26 West North st. 

Joslin A. J., photographer, 112 
Main st. 

Kaufmann & Bachrach, manu- 
facturers of men's and boys' cloth- 
ing. 

Kahn H. & Co., clothiers and 
gent's furnishers, 51 Vermilion st. 

Kamper Geo., newsdealer and 
stationer, rear First National Bk. 

Kimball N. A., undertaker, 59 
Main st. 

Kimball H. M., dealer in gro- 
ceries and miners' supplies, 61 
Vermilion st. 

Kimbrough A. H., physician and 
surgeon, cor. North and Vermil- 
ion sts. 

Klingenspor Gustav, florist, east 
end of Main st. 

Klugel G. L., manufacturer of 
galvanized iron cornices, west end 
of Main st. 



Kuykendall Bros. & Craig, 

props. ./Etna House livery stable. 
Lawrence W. R., attorney-at- 

law, Main st. east of court-house. 
Leseure C. F. & Co., dealers in 

hardware and cutlery, Main st. 
Lemon Theo., physician and sur- 
geon. 
Leseure O., homoeopathic physi- 
cian, Short's block. 
Leverenz Carl, dealer in boots 

and shoes, 69 Vermilion st. 
Lewis J. A., contractor and bldr. 
Lindsey &, Kimbrough, attor- 

neys-at-law, over First National 

Bank. 
Long John, proprietor of Long's 

Gaiety Theatre, 147 Main st. 
Lowell John W., attorney-at- 

law, opp. First National Bank. 
Mabin G. G., attorney-at-law, 

G-idding's block. 
Mann Win. & Co., dry-goods and 

carpets, 74 Main st. 
Mann, Calhoun & Frazier, 

attorneys-at-law, 53 Vermilion st. 
Maier Gottlieb, leather, hides 

and shoe findings, 145 Main st. 
Martin E. B. & Co., wholesale 

and retail grocers, 91 Main st. 
Martin A., abstracts of title and 

real estate, court-house. 
Mater R.H., contractor and bldr. 
McDonald R. D., attorney-at- 
law, 82 Main st. 
McDonald M. A., hardware and 

cutlery, Main st. 
Mengle John C, dealer in fresh 

meats, cor. North and Vermilion 

streets. 
Miller & Son, manufacturers of 

organs, 204 and 206 East Main st. 
Miller X., saloon and billiard 

room, 108 Main st. 



1038 



BUSINESS DIRECTOKY. 



Moore Alex., saloon and billiard 
hall, Main st, opp. court-house. 

Moore W. J., physician and sur- 
geon, Lincoln Opera building. 

Monroe S. N., pioneer jeweler, 
07 Main st. 

Morgan William, justice of the 
peace and insurance agent. 

Moran Charles, groceries, pro- 
visions and canned goods. 

Myers & Hesse, staple and fancy 
groceries, 68 Main st. 

Myers W. T. & Co., proprietors 
of livery, feed and sale stable, 29 
West Main st. 

Oberdorfer A., dealer in dry- 
goods, carpets and oil cloths, 
Schmitt's block. 

Outland James A., attorney-at- 
law, First National building. 

Palmer L. T. & C. J., money 
loan and note brokers, First Na- 
tional Bank building. 

Phillips J. A., photographer, 85 
southwest corner square. 

Pollock A., physician and surgeon. 

Porter Isaac, dry-goods and no- 
tions, Short's block, Main st. 

Porter R. L., physician and sur- 
geon. 

Price Bros., proprietors of livery 
stable, southeast of Wabash depot. 

Rainier H., merchant tailor, pub- 
lic square. 

Rudolph A., saloon and restau- 
rant. 

Schario John, dealer in guns, 
pistols, fishing tackle, etc. 

Shipner Jos. & Son, dealers in 
groceries and provisions, 67 Ver- 
milion st. 

Sieferman A., manufacturer and 
dlr. in cigars, in Tremont House, 
Main st. 



Sirpless J. M., dealer in groceries 
and provisions, corner Pine and 
Madison. 

Smith & G-iddings, props, of the 
Lustro Mills, and dealers in grain. 

Stein John, proprietor of City 
Brewery. 

Thompson & Pollard, props, of 
the Great Western Machine Wks., 

• and manufacturers of portable 
and stationary steam engines. 

Timm John, dealer in groceries, 
College st., bet. South and Main. 

Tincher Joe., hats, caps and 
gent's furnishing goods, Main st. 

Tincher G-. F., attorney-at-law, 
First National Bank building. 

Tuttle J. E., physician and sur- 
geon, Metropolitan block, oppo- 
site Clerk's office. 

Vaughn D. C, dealer in and man- 
ufacturer of hardwood lumber. 

Vermilion Co. Bank, William P. 
Cannon, president. 

Villars Bros. & Co., proprietors 
of the Chicago Store, and dealers 
in dry-goods, boots, shoes, etc., 53 
Vermilion st. 

Walsh Peter, attorney- at-law, 
99 Main st. 

Walz G-eorge, manufacturer and 
dealer in furniture, coffins, etc., 
opposite the Arlington House. 

Watson Bros., proprietors of the 
Western Meat Market, and sau- 
sage manufacturers, 45 Vermilion 
street. 

Webster A. &., dealer in gro- 
ceries and provisions. 

White J. H., wholesale dealer in 
fish, oysters, confectioneries, etc. 
etc., 56 and 58 Vermilion st. 

Whitehill Wm., carriage and 
wagon manufacturer. 



BUSINESS DIKECTORY. 



1039 



WilberP., general real estate and 
collecting agent, justice of the 
peace and notary public, 51 Ver- 
milion st. 

Winslow, E. C. dealer in drugs, 
paints, oils, etc., 107 Main st. 

Winslow J. C, dentist, Vermilion 
st., Opera House building. 

Wolf Louis B., grocer, baker and 
dealer in provisions, southwest 
cor. Pine and Madison sts. 

Woodbury D. K., manufacturer 
of and retail dealer in harness, 
saddles, etc. ; also, dealer in hides, 
pelts, tallow and furs, 49 Vermil- 
ion st. 

Woodbury W. W. R., druggist 
and bookseller, Lincoln Opera 
House building. 

Woods Wm., dealer in hats, caps 
and gent's furnishing goods, New 
Store, Vermilion st. 

Yeomans & Shedd, dealers in 
builders' and general hardware, 
pumps, saws, etc., 63 Main st., cor. 
Walnut. 

Young & Penwell, attorneys-at- 
law, over 106 Main st. 

GEORGETOWN. 

Alexander Wm. H., grocer. 

Citizen's Bank, E. Henderson, 
president ; William Henderson, 
cashier. 

Cloyd J. P., physician. 

Cook House, S. J. Cook, prop. 

Cowan W. B., grocer. 

Cowan & Cloyd, druggists. 

Cowan W. C, druggist. 

Frazier A. & Son., dealers in 
general merchandise. 

Hawes A. M.-C, physician. 

Holloway, dealer in general mer- 
chandise. 



Jumps Bros., dealer in general 
merchandise. 

Leseure A., grocer. 

Lockett J. H., miller. 

Mendenhall P.W., physician. 

Mendenhall W. O'Neall, phy- 
sician. 

Morris Z., grain buyer. 

Richie & Thompson, dealers in 
general merchandise. 

Shepler J. D., miller. 

Yapp & West, dealers in hard- 
ware, lumber, etc. 

ROSSVILLE. 

Allen Chas. A., attorney-at- 

law. 
Armstrong Thos., manufacturer 

of drain tile. Factory, one half 

mile west of Rossville. 
Davis Addison M., justice of 

the peace and collecting agent. 
Davison John, justice of the 

peace and collection agent. 
Demaree Wm. S., dealer in agri- 
cultural implements,garden seeds, 

etc. etc. 
Gilbert Elias M., proprietor of 

livery and feed stable. 
Hacker Wm. R., manufacturer 

and dealer in harness, saddles, 

bridles, etc. etc. 
Henderson W. J., dlr. in stock, 

grain, dry-goods, clothing, boots 

and shoes, groceries, etc. 
Lee & Lamb, dlrs. in dry-goods, 

clothing, hats and caps, groceries, 

etc. 
Lefever & Cunningham, dlrs. 

in general merchandise. 
Livingood John R., physician, 

office on Chicago ave. 
Livingood M. T., physician and 

surgeon. 



1040 



BUSINESS DIEECTORY. 



McElroy John J., physician and 

surgeon. 

Milligan John, grain -dealer. 

Phillips W. W., dealer in lum- 
ber, lime and coal. 

Ross Charley M., dealer in drugs, 
medicines, fancy goods and no- 
tions. 

Salmans G. W., attorn ey-at-law. 

Shannon Harry, insurance agent 
and notary public. 

Smith John R., dealer in general 
merchandise. 

Thomas Wm. M., manufacturer 
of drain-tile. 

Thompson Louis M., dealer in 
live-stock. 

Williams R. A, S., teacher of vo- 
cal and instrumental music, and 
piano and organ tuner and agent. 

"Watson W. &, Co., bankers, in- 
surance agents and loaners of 
money. 

Vining Wm., fruit-grower, j 

HOOPESTON. 

Anderson L. W., physician and 
surgeon. 

Bedell David & Co., dealers in 
general merchandise. 

Clark W. R., dealer in general 
hardware and agricultural imple- 
ments, Main st. 

Cunningham James A., stock- 
dealer. 

Dallstream J., dealer in and man- 
ufacturer of boots and shoes, 51 
Main st. 

Dyer H. H., attorney and coun- 
selor-at-law. 

Frankeberger Henry, dealer in 
drugs, medicines, paints, etc. 

Glaze Wm., money-loaner and 
dealer in flax-seed and other grain. 



McDowell A. E., attorney and 
counselor-at-law. 

McFerren J. S., banker, corre- 
spondents, First National bank, 
Chicago, and Geo. Opdyke & Co., 
New York. 

Moore & McFerren, real estate 
agents and loan agents, office in 
bank building. 

Powell J. S., prescription drug- 
gist and dealer in wall-paper, 
school-books, etc., 70 Main 
street. 

Stites B. F., cabinetmaker and 
undertaker, N. Market st. 

Taylor R. R., dealer in general 
hardware. 

Trego & Jones, dealers in lum- 
ber and coal. 

Wallace Dale, publisher of the 
Hoopeston Chronicle and propri- 
etor of job office. 

FAIRMOUNT. 

Bradway C. F., dealer in drugs, 

paints and oils. 
Dougherty A. H., dealer in grain, 

and projmetor of the Fairmount 

mill. 
Holladay E., dealer in drugs, 

paints and oils. 
Jack Reuben, manufacturer of 

boots and shoes and justice of the 

peace. 
Mott B. F., physician and sur- 
geon. 
Ray Robert B., physician and 

surgeon. 
Rice W. J., buyer and shipper of 

stock. 
Stalons Z., dealer in groceries and 

provisions. 
Simpson Isaac, manufacturer and 

repairer of wagons. 



BUSINESS DIRECTORY. 



1041 



Tilton Charles, dealer in general 

merchandise. 
Wilcox I. N., dealer in dry-goods 

and groceries and grain-buyer. 
Wilkins J. M., physician aud 

surgeon. 

CATLIN. 

Jones Bros., dealers in groceries 
and provisions. 

Payne & Crutchley, dealers in 
dry -goods and groceries. 

Tilton G. W., dealer in dry- 
goods and groceries. 

Tilton Samuel R., dealer in 
drugs, groceries and millinery 
goods. 

INDIANOLA. 

Adams W. H., tile manufacturer. 
Ralston J. W., physician. 

ALVIN. 

Akers Geo. W., physician and 
surgeon. 

Bartges S. I., dealer in drugs, ci- 
gars, wines, etc. 

Bartges Mrs. S. I., dealer in mil- 
linery and fancy goods. 

Williams J. A., dealer in lum- 
ber, hardware, lime, etc. etc. 



BISMARK. 

Gundy & Bushnell, dealers in 
general merchandise, live-stock 
and grain. 

Peters Ezra, physician and sur- 
geon; specialty, consulting and 
operating surgeon for diseases of 
the eye and car. 

WESTVILLE. 

Duke John, buyer and shipper of 

grain. 
Lockett J. W. & Bro., general 

store. 

STATE LINE. 

Bonebrake Benjamin F., dealer 
in general merchandise. 

Marple B. F., dealer in drugs, 
groceries, school-books, wall-pa- 
per, etc. ^ 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Burgoyne J. H., brickmuker, kiln 
tW'> miles northwest of Danville. 
Campbell Corydon H., breeder 

of blooded horses, short-horn cat- 
tle and fine breeds of hogs, six 
miles northeast of Danville. 
Norris Nathan J., physician 
and surgeon, one mile south and 
two miles east of Bismark. 



